Bespoke Sculpture Marks Scientific Innovation

The Oxford Trust has presented its founders with a personalised sculpture designed by David Harber to mark their 90th birthdays and contribution to science.

The piece is a scale model of the entrance sculpture David Harber created for the Oxford Trust's new educational centre. The brief was for a piece of outdoor art that celebrated not just the Woods’ 90th birthdays but also their contribution to science and innovation.

The resulting sculpture is personalised in several ways:

• It is in the iconic donut shape of an MRI scanner, which the couple were pivotal in the development of at their company Oxford Instruments.
• It is made from two glistening stainless steel rings representing Sir Martin and Lady Audrey, each ring encircled with ninety small copper rings to reflect the couple’s ages.
• The sculpture is also in the shape of an Ohm, the unit of electrical resistance, referencing the super-conducting magnets that Sir Martin worked on – which are also a fundamental component of an MRI scanner.