Public Lectures kick off with Election Special
Posted on 2 May 2001
On 2 May, Peter Bull, from the Department of Psychology, an expert on body language and interview techniques, will give a detailed examination of the discourse of political interviews based on the General Elections of 1997, 1992 and 1982.
The Election Special is followed by three series of lectures which cover such diverse subjects as Gardens, Alcuin and Railways. The Gardens, Landscape and Heritage series will look at these three interconnected themes and consider them in painting, literature and as physical realities. Talks include John Watkins on English Heritage's programme of introducing new high quality elements into historic gardens and sites, and Peter Goodchild, University of York, on the history of the use of trees and shrubs in English gardens since the seventeenth century.
The series, York in the Age of Alcuin, has been planned to accompany the 'Alcuin and Charlemagne' exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum (6 April to 26 September). Alcuin, an eighth-century scholar and teacher at York Minster, and advisor to the Emperor Charlemagne was arguably the most important figure ever to emanate from York. This series will explore Alcuin's life and times and seek to place the objects in the exhibition in context.
In Two and a Half Millennia of Railways, experts will explore the development of the railways from the stone rutways of ancient civilisations to the emergence of the 'modern' steam railway in 1830 and beyond to the railways decline, and a glimpse into what the future might hold.
To supplement these lectures, there will be a repeat of the popular 2001 Merchant Adventurers' Science Discovery Lecture. Entitled Is Science Chaotic?, this lecture, which has won an Institute of Physics Public Understanding of Science Award, takes the form of a dialogue between a progressive young scientist and a sceptical professor who believes that traditional physics does not need updating. In the dialogue that follows it becomes clear from the behaviour of insects and the motion of pendulums that traditional scientific concepts need modification. The progressive view prevails and soon Chaos is being observed in areas as diverse as weather and astronomy.
Notes to editors:
- An Election Special
- Tuesday 2 May, Dr Peter Bull,
Department of Psychology 8pm, room V/045, Vanbrugh College
- Tuesday 2 May, Dr Peter Bull,
- Gardens, Landscape and Heritage
- Thursday 17 May, 'Landscape painting and imagery in Rome in the early 17th century; the prelude to Claude, Poussin and Gaspard' Clare Ford-Wille, Freelance Art Historian and Lecturer
- Thursday 24 May, 'Paradise, The Garden of Eden and Arcadia: in the mind and on the ground' Professor Graham Parry, Department of English and Related Literature
- Thursday 31 May, 'Historic Parks and Gardens and contemporary design' John Watkins, Head of Gardens and Landscape, English Heritage
- Thursday 7 July, 'Wildernesses, woodland gardens and shrubberies; some aspects of painting design from the 17th century to the present.' Peter Goodchild, Harewood Fellow (Landscapes and Gardens), Department of Archeaology
- Thursday 14 June, 'An exotic gardener; Prince Puckler-Muskad in England and Germany' Michael Brey, Art Historian, Dresden, Germany
All lectures at 7pm, room V/045, Vanbrugh College
- York in the Age of Alcuin
- Wednesday 6 June, 'Alcuin' Mary Garrison, University of York
- Wednesday 13 June, 'Alcuin and Charlemagne' Jinty Nelson, King's College London
- Wednesday 20 June, 'The Church in the Age of Alcuin' Catherine Cubitt, University of York
- Wednesday 27 June, 'The visual arts in the Age of Charlemagne' Dominic Tweddle, Past Forward
All lectures at 8pm, Tempest Anderson Hall, Museum Gardens, York
- Two and a half millennia of railways
- Tuesday 1 May, 'The foundations are laid, 600BC-1559' Dr Michael Lewis, Department of History, University of Hull
- Tuesday 8 May, 'Second faltering steps; the railway in Britain, 1600-1829' Andrew Scott, Head of the National Railway Museum
- Tuesday 15 May, 'The 'Railway Age', 1830-1900' Dr Ralph Harrington, Institute of Railway Studies
- Tuesday 22 May, 'The Railway faces competition, 1901-1939' Professor Colin Divall, Institute of Railway Studies
- Tuesday 29th May, 'Railway Policy; the changing times, changing the rules and ruling the times, 1948-2001' Jonathan Tyler, Passenger Transport Networks, York
- Tuesday 5th June, 'Two and a half millennia of railways; what next? 2002-2100' Professor Rod Smith, Head of Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College, London
All talks will be at 6.30pm in the Gibb Theatre, National Railway Museum, Leeman Road, York. Please enter the Museum by the Car Park Entrance at the end of the site farthest away from the city centre. Space is limited and will be made available on a first come basis. The Museum doors will be closed no later than five minutes before the advertised starting time.
- Is Science Chaotic?
- Tuesday 12 June, Professor Jim Matthew and Dr Sarah Thompson
Department of Physics 7pm, room P/X001, Physics
- Tuesday 12 June, Professor Jim Matthew and Dr Sarah Thompson