In this article, Paul Black reflects on his career's enrichment, due to the commitment of Kevin Keohane in the 1960s and 70s to reform the school science education. Black's commentary is based on a paper written by Kevin Keohane, ("Physics Education--21 Years On," 1987 "Phys. Educ." 22 142) where Keohane recalls the innovations in physics teaching, funded by Nuffield, that had produced radically new courses. Originally, Keohane was not optimistic, in part because of a lack of funding to support teachers' work, but mainly because he saw no hope of attracting enough physics graduates into teaching. Keohane's paper argued that what was needed was a radical change in the post-16 curriculum. Paul Black notes that Keohane's contributions to this journal, to the Nuffield projects, and the establishing of the Chelsea Centre for Science Education, were all instrumental for his career because of an emphasis on recruiting staff from outstanding school teachers, and on work to support educational improvement rather than to study education from a detached academic standpoint.