The Ageing World

Acknowledgements

Writing the book has been a lonely journey for me. This had to be, as I chose to write in an area, in which I did not have a lifelong association. For this unusual course of action I had the guidelines of the Nobel Laureate physicist Erwin Schrodinger.

‘A scientist is supposed to have a complete and thorough knowledge, at first hand, of some subjects and, therefore, is usually expected not to write on any topic of which he is not a life time master. This is regarded as a matter of noblesse oblige. For the present purpose I beg to renounce the noblesse, if any, and to be freed of the ensuing obligation … Some of us should venture to embark on a synthesis of facts and theories, albeit with second-hand and incomplete knowledge ...