It is hard to express how sorry I am for the loss of Joseph. He was a great person with an exceptionally good character, very humorous, always happy and kind to people, even when he was very busy or tired. He loved working in the lab with the radio on very loudly. He was such a fan of Radio 4 that I organised a new digital radio just for him and he was extremely happy. It was very easy to please him. He would be happy with very little, a quality in him we were all envious of. 

There was no one in the whole of Imperial College (from cleaner to Professor) who didn’t love Joseph. He was kind, good-natured and respectful of everybody. Joseph never walked slowly in the department. You would guess when he was coming because he had a fast, energetic and noisy walk, like he was always in a hurry. I still cannot believe he will never storm into our office with a big smile on his face. I’m afraid this place will never be the same. 

The day before he went to Bermuda, he came to work soaking wet, having cycled to work in the rain. We had to find some samples in the liquid nitrogen tank and I asked him if he would change and get dry first. He laughed at me and said “You are such  a Mummy, Tata” and insisted we get to work.

Dr Tata Kebadze