Friday Evening Lecture Series
Commencing Friday 5th October 2012Lecture Theatre B, School of Physics and Astronomy, North Haugh
The lectures begin at 8.00 pm and last until approximately 9.00 pm, followed immediately by the opportunity for questions and discussion for a further 15 minutes.
Course fee for the academic year: £45
SEMESTER ONE
23 November 2012
Diocletian’s Split Personality: a Roman emperor in retirement
Dr Roger Rees, School of Classics
Whether it was in their beds, on the battle field or at the hands of conspirators, Roman emperors always died in office. That is, until Diocletian, whose retirement from office in 305 was the last of many radical decisions as Roman Emperor. He retired to a palace at Split on the Croatian coast where he lived on for a further decade. This illustrated lecture will use a variety of sources, including the palace at Split itself (now a UNESCO heritage site), to look at Diocletian in retirement, looking back at his years in office – was he a man fulfilled, content with a successful career? or, as some would have it, bitter and despairing?
30 November 2012
The atomic theory of matter: from Democritus to the quantum computer
Dr Chris Hooley, School of Physics and Astronomy
The idea that the world might ultimately be made up of indivisible lumps of matter (“atoms”) is thousands of years old. However, it is only in the past three centuries that we have really started to gather credible evidence of it. By 1912 it had become clear that while atoms do exist, they are certainly not indivisible. In the subsequent century’s work, probing the sub-atomic structure of the universe, we have made some very surprising discoveries, the practical applications of which are yet to be fully exploited. This lecture will review the development of the atomic theory, beginning with the Greeks and early periodic tables, and ending with the latest developments in the exploitation of quantum mechanics.
7 December 2012
Echoes of empire: fifty years on
Dr Stephen Tyre, School of History
In recent years, dozens of formerly colonised nations have commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the end of European colonial rule. Fifty years after the abrupt and rapid collapse of formal empire, we have the opportunity to take stock of the significance and lasting legacies of a phenomenon that has profoundly shaped the modern world. What did empire mean to the people of Britain, France and other colonial powers: a source of national pride; an exotic adventure; or something distant and unknown? How can we assess the impact and legacies of European rule in the former colonies? And why have recent years seen a revival in controversies relating to imperialism and its lasting importance: are we only now beginning to appreciate its long-term effects on both the former rulers and those they ruled?
SEMESTER TWO
1 February 2013
Guddling among the graves
Hamish Brown
From Solway to Shetland, Hamish frequently pops into old graveyards and from these visits has put together a fascinating lecture covering likely and unlikely topics. Social history is strongly represented and there is much artistic interest, as well as unending stories – amusing or tragic (one date of death shows April 31). This mix of enthusiasm and erudition rushes through bloody Covenanting days, the Porteous Riots, the Tay Bridge Disaster, modern murder and the oldest recorded lifespan, with much on the weird symbolism and the beautiful artwork on the Trade Guild stones of the 18th Century. This unexpectedly memorable entertainment is also in book form: A Scottish Graveyard Miscellany.
8 February 2013
Dickens and Food
Honora Bartlett BPhil, School of English
As a child Charles Dickens knew what it was to be hungry, and perhaps this gives a particular intensity to his treatment, in fiction, of food and eating: from Oliver Twist's 'Please, sir, I want some more!' to Pip's robbing the pantry of a pork pie, the novels present many scenes of hunger, and many of glorious eating: after Mr Scrooge's change of heart, his first gesture is to buy a great big Christmas turkey for the hungry Cratchit family. Food is an index for Dickens of generosity and also of meanness: this talk will explore the symbolism which Dickens' writing gives to food, and celebrate some of his most notable feasts.
15 February 2013
Gardens are for people…… and other radical concepts in landscape design
Jos Finer BA Dip PSGD
‘Gardens are for people’ is the title of a 1955 book by Thomas Church, an influential California Modernist. Along with his contemporaries he created a whole new approach to garden design that broke with centuries of tradition, and which continues today. During this talk, Jos Finer will discuss current practice in garden design in this historical context, and explore different ways in which this approach has led to the professionalisation of garden design and to great diversity in modern landscape design.
22 February 2013
Freedom in the Forest
Jonathan Falla
What are the minimum requirements for an independent state? With a referendum looming for Scotland, this is a pressing question – one with which the Karen people of Burma have been struggling for fifty years.
The Karen are a large ethnic group within Burma, a people whose loyalty to the colonial British was fierce. After Burmese independence, the Karen declared their free state of Kawthoolei along the densely forested border of Burma with Thailand. Although unrecognised by anyone else, Kawthoolei has much of the machinery of a state: departments of forestry, education and health, a church and an army to protect them against an oppressive regime.
Jonathan Falla spent an illegal year in Kawthoolei training village paramedics. His examination of the Karen Free State will be illustrated by numerous slides, with revolutionary Karen music.
1 March 2013
“I’d rather have music”: impacts of music for people with dementia and their carers
Claire Garabedian
Music can access parts of the brain that remain unaffected by dementia; thus providing an avenue of communication and engagement, and possible enhanced quality of life for people with dementia and their carers. As the lifespan of people in developed countries continues to expand, the demand for non-invasive and non-pharmaceutical ways of providing care and support for people who have dementia and who are very frail is also increasing. However, this population remains under-researched due to complex ethical and communication issues involved. Results from fieldwork conducted at five care/nursing homes in Scotland will be discussed, exploring the potential effects of live and recorded self-chosen music on people with dementia who are very frail and on their carers.
8 March 2013
Ludwig van Beethoven - A Life in 32 Piano Sonatas
David Mowle BMSc(Hons), MBChB, FRCS(Eng), FRCS(SN)
Beethoven (1770-18270) was one of the greatest of pianist-composers. He produced 32 piano sonatas during the course of a tempestuous lifetime. His personal life was often difficult, with family and financial problems and his later years were blighted by deafness, but instead of blunting his musical output this paradoxically seemed to open new creative vistas.
David Mowle is a consultant neurosurgeon at Ninewells Hospital but is also a passionate amateur pianist who has performed many of Beethoven’s piano works since childhood. In this lecture recital he will play excerpts from the piano sonatas illustrating the major personal and musical events in Beethoven’s life.
15 March 2013
Walter Sickert & the ‘New Drama’, c.1905-c.1915
Dr William Rough, School of Art History
Whilst Walter Sickert’s interest in the theatre is well known, particularly through his paintings of music-hall scenes of the 1880s and 1890s and his Shakespeare inspired works of the late 1920s and 1930s his interest in the theatre of the early 1900s has often been overlooked. In fact the paintings he composed during the ‘Camden Town’ period are equally indebted to the stage. This talk aims to explore the thematic and visual links between Sickert’s Camden Town paintings and the theatre of the ‘New Drama’ of the 1900s and 1910s.
5 April 2013
"I'll sing thee songs of Araby"
Ian Taylor BSc MA LTh DipEd
It is generally believed that while a lady may prefer to be escorted to the Opera by a bass, once in the theatre she will fall in love with the tenor on stage. This talk goes further to suggest that in the fields of operetta, concert hall, ballads, folk-song....the tenor exerts an impact on the emotions of men as well as women, to a degree far greater than any other voice. See for yourself if the uniquely individual quality of each singer has the power suggested by the poet - "to cheat thee of a sigh, or charm thee to a tear".
12 April 2013
Scottish Wildlife Trust reserves in Fife
Dr Jean Stewart
Further information to follow