Lecture series

[Jim]

Details of the lectures as posted by Tony last night:

Society for Popular Astronomy
http://www.popastro.com/home.htm

April 26, 2008. Khalili Lecture Theatre of the School of Oriental and African Studies. Quarterly meeting, starting at 2:00pm. The main speaker is Prof Ian Morison (Jodrell Bank) on "The Unseen Universe". Additional speakers will include Mike Hezzlewood on "The 2007 Mars Opposition", followed by Jerry Workman presenting "Spirit Rover at Mars".

July 26, 2008. Khalili Lecture Theatre of the School of Oriental and African Studies. Quarterly meeting, starting at 2:00pm. The main speaker is Dr Chris Davis (Rutherford Appleton Lab) on "STEREO and the Sun". Additional speakers will include Ian Morison on "Fun With Refractors".

October 25, 2008. Khalili Lecture Theatre of the School of Oriental and African Studies. Quarterly meeting, starting at 2:00pm. The main speaker is Dr Derek Ward-Thompson on "Star Formation and Long Wavelength Astronomy". 

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Gresham College
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/default.asp

April 3rd, 2008. Staple Inn Hall.  Meeting starting 1pm. Professor Ian Morison on "The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence in the New Millennium".

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Royal Astronomical Society
http://www.ras.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1364&Itemid=146

What the stars have done for us: from astrology to astrophysics
Date: Tuesday 8 April
Time: 13:00-14:00 (doors open 12:45)
Dr Francisco Diego, University College London and STFC Science and Society Fellow.
In his talk Dr Diego will discuss how modern astrophysics explains our intimate relationship with the stars.
For thousands of years, humans have marvelled at the night sky and established fascinating links with the stars, which at first sight seem to be eternal and unchanging. In this lecture, Francisco Diego will deal with early astrological beliefs stating that our destiny is controlled by the stars in some magical way. He will explain how the fascinating discoveries of modern astrophysics show that our relationship with the stars is far more intimate and magical than we could ever have imagined.
Like people, stars have their own lives. Dr Diego will show how the lives of stars relate to not just our own origin and destiny, but to that of everything around us.




The fascination of the heavens: women in astronomy in Britain in an age before equality
Date: Tuesday 13 May
Time: 13:00-14:00 (doors open 12:45)
Dr Mary Bruck, Emeritus Lecturer, University of Edinburgh
Astronomy, and popular interest in it, flourished to a remarkable degree in Britain in the nineteenth century, women being among its votaries. In her talk Dr Bruck will outline the little-known contribution of women to astronomy - from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries.
Enterprising amateur astronomers had private observatories for serious research, assisted in many cases by female family members. Dr Bruck will explain how later on, independently-minded women with university degrees sought proper professional careers in science, with only limited success. The path to equality was to be a very slow one.
Dr Bruck's lecture will describe the lives and contributions of some of these interesting women, including the famous comet discoverer Caroline Herschel (sister of William, discoverer of Uranus and the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society).




Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble: a brief history of the most famous telescope ever made
Date: Tuesday 10 June
Time: 13:00-14:00
Dr Chris Lintott, University of Oxford
Dr Chris Lintott, co-presenter of the 'Sky at Night', STFC Science and Society Fellow and researcher at the University of Oxford, will tell the story of the Hubble Space Telescope.
In August, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis will carry out one of the most difficult repairs in history, with the aim of restoring the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to full working order.
Since its launch in 1990, HST has overcome the problem of its flawed mirror to produce a multitude of important scientific discoveries. This lecture will tell its story, and look forward to discoveries still to be made.