Talk:Jim Cuthbert Smith

[Untitled]
I have created this page and just wanted to declare my interest, as I am the librarian of NIMR where Jim Smith is Director. The Institute has published a book on its history this year and it is available freely on this website: http://www.historyofnimr.org.uk/ Some biographies of individuals have been excerpted there too. --Fnorman-london (talk) 17:25, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

Template choice
This diff shows what Infobox person/Wikidata looks like on this page. There are deficiencies in every line of this invocation save name and image: Given these issues, which would necessitate supplying locally almost every parameter of the current template, I suggest converting to infobox scientist, which is already embedded as a module. Nikkimaria (talk) 20:18, 15 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Birth date lacks age, which is provided locally via birth date and age
 * Alma mater is incorrect. He did not attend University College London; he attended a school that was subsequently folded into UCL.
 * Employer presents postdocs as equal to staff positions, and also falls short of the best practices outlined by MOS:ACCESS
 * Marriage lacks the functionality provided locally by marriage
 * Awards conflates degrees and actual awards, and includes honours more appropriately represented as post-nominals.

Common name is Jim Smith, should be mentioned somewhere
The subjects name, that most people will refer to him by, is Jim Smith (rather than the birth_name James Cuthbert Smith). Consequently, this wikipedia page should mention JIM SMITH somewhere, and the "name" property is a reasonable place to put it (especially as the page title is the subjects rarely used full birth_name) Duncan.Hull (talk) 23:54, 20 November 2016 (UTC)
 * If you believe the subject's common name is Jim Smith, suggest starting a move request. Nikkimaria (talk) 02:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Alma mater is UCL (University of London)
According to Template:Infobox scientist the alma_mater property describes the "University or universities where scientist obtained their degree or degrees". Smith's PhD was awarded by University College London (see http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.473165) not Middlesex Hospital Medical School so the alma_mater property should be UCL. Duncan.Hull (talk) 23:54, 20 November 2016 (UTC)
 * However, this source says it was Middlesex Hospital Medical School. Do any of the offline sources specify? Nikkimaria (talk) 02:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)
 * It has been common in the past for some institutions in the UK to teach courses leading to a degree, but require another institution to award the degree for archaic reasons. If Smith studied for his doctorate at Middlesex Hospital Medical School in 1979, it would have been perfectly possible for the degree to have been actually granted by UCL. But that would be a technicality; I'm pretty sure that alma mater was intended to describe the institution where the person actually studied. --RexxS (talk) 15:04, 21 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks - I've switched this back for the moment. If it's too confusing we can always remove the parameter and leave the more detailed explanation in the article. Nikkimaria (talk) 00:32, 22 November 2016 (UTC)
 * The British Library, (http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.473165) OCLC (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/940320520) and University of London (http://catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/record=b1582812) all confirm the PhD was awarded by the University of London. The text in the Education section of this edit makes that clear "He was awarded a PhD in 1979 by University College London (UCL) for research supervised by Lewis Wolpert at Middlesex Hospital Medical School" . But the infobox has no room for such nuances, which strictly speaking should say alma_mater = University of London Duncan.Hull (talk) 14:26, 22 November 2016 (UTC)
 * No, my wife's degree in Education was awarded by the University of Wolverhampton, but she never studied there. The UCL record document states that UCL awarded the degree, while the same document and other sources make it clear that he conducted his doctoral work at Middlesex Hospital Medical School, which was a separate institution and did not merge with University College Hospital until 1987. An alma mater ("nourishing mother") has always meant the institution where studies took place. There's no nuance about where Smith studied, and the infobox should say Middlesex Hospital Medical School. The original version of the article, created by, "the librarian of NIMR where Jim Smith is Director", makes no mention of UCL, but clearly states "Smith ... completed his PhD at Middlesex Hospital Medical School in 1979". I suppose we could ask him to ask Jim Smith where he considers his alma mater to be. --RexxS (talk) 15:31, 22 November 2016 (UTC)
 * No, my wife's degree in Education was awarded by the University of Wolverhampton, but she never studied there. The UCL record document states that UCL awarded the degree, while the same document and other sources make it clear that he conducted his doctoral work at Middlesex Hospital Medical School, which was a separate institution and did not merge with University College Hospital until 1987. An alma mater ("nourishing mother") has always meant the institution where studies took place. There's no nuance about where Smith studied, and the infobox should say Middlesex Hospital Medical School. The original version of the article, created by, "the librarian of NIMR where Jim Smith is Director", makes no mention of UCL, but clearly states "Smith ... completed his PhD at Middlesex Hospital Medical School in 1979". I suppose we could ask him to ask Jim Smith where he considers his alma mater to be. --RexxS (talk) 15:31, 22 November 2016 (UTC)

Usually "Jim Smith"
The subject is usually referred to as "jim smith" not "jim cuthbert smith" see e.g. and  this page needs to mention somewhere that the subject is called "jim smith" and the "name = Jim Smith" seems the best place to do that.

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://archive.is/20141124184214/http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/news/jim-smith-awarded-the-waddington-medal/ to http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/news/jim-smith-awarded-the-waddington-medal/

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