Laurence Picken

Who was Laurence Picken?

Laurence Ernest Rowland Picken was an ethnomusicologist and scientist.

Laurence Picken was born in Nottingham. In 1928 he won a scholarship to study at Trinity College, Cambridge. His PhD, in 1935, was in zoology, and in 1944 he became a Fellow at Jesus College. Between 1946 and 1966 he was assistant director of research in zoology at the university. From 1944 he also started to research in traditional Chinese music, and his many publications show his broad ethnomusicological interests.

Between 1966 and 1976 he was assistant director at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Cambridge University. He was elected to a high number of academic positions, amongst them are: Fellow of the British Academy and Docteur Honoris Causa of the Université de Paris X, Nanterre. Two Festschriften, commemorating his 60th and 70th birthday, indicate his esteem amongst scholars. Some of his papers and his library can be found at the Cambridge University Library.

According to an obituary in The Times Picken was 'accomplished to such a degree that few even in the university could appreciate the range of his achievements in fields that were united in him as in no one else.'