Overview
Part 1 - Star Birth And Death: The Crucible Of Life
Cosmology is the study of the overall history and development of our universe --- and it is one of the great successes of 20th century physics and astronomy that we can say quite a bit about what happened when, and construct a timetable for the growth and ageing of our universe. Dr Visser will try to explain key features of the big bang in clear language, and relate them to Einstein's miracle years of 1905 and 1915.
Dr Matt Visser, Victoria University of Wellington
Part 2 - Keeping Time: The Ancients
The smooth functioning of an ordered society depends in part on the possession of a technology which can measure the passage of time, and of a calendar by means of which a society can organise its activities.
This is as true of tiny, subsistence-level societies as it is of large, highly urbanised ones. Different interests - agricultural, religious, political, economic - produce different means of coordinating human activities and the natural passage of the days, the seasons and the year.
Different technologies may emphasise one view of time over another. In this lecture, Robert Hannah will examine the different means which have been developed by various societies in ancient Europe. He will pay particular attention to Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Italy, as the developments there influenced time-keeping theories and mechanisms down to the present day.
Associate Professor Robert Hannah, Otago University.
Part 5 - Galileo's Dilemma: Science and Religion
In June 1633 the Roman Catholic Inquisition forced the great Italian scientist Galileo Galilei to recant his public support for the heliocentric (sun-centred) cosmos advocated by Nicholas Copernicus in 1543. To many in the modern West, Galileo's trial has come to symbolize the way in which organized religion has fought to suppress free scientific enquiry over the centuries.
In this lecture, John Stenhouse shows why this 'science versus religion' interpretation adequately explains neither the Galileo affair, nor the general historical relationship between science and Christianity. Taking listeners from seventeenth century Italy to the Darwinian debates in modern New Zealand, he illuminates a far richer, more complex and more interesting past. Along the way, he challenges certain popular modern myths and legends.
Dr John Stenhouse, Department of History, Otago University.
Part 4 - Age of The Earth: The Victorians
How is the age of a rock or a fossil determined? The answer has much to do with the amazing discoveries of Lord Rutherford and Albert Einstein. Thanks to the amazing intellect of these scientists and their Victorian colleagues, humanity discovered how to decipher Earth's history. No longer could rock be perceived as dusty, boring, hard grey matter and geologists as quaint nutters with hammers. Rocks, minerals and fossils are the memory banks of our planet.
Hamish Campbell will discuss a number of exciting earth science research projects: the age of New Zealand's oldest rocks, the origin of New Zealand's oldest sedimentary rocks, the age of the New Zealand land surface, the age of the Chatham Islands, the characterisation of New Zealand nephrite (pounamu) on the basis of age, and not least, the age of the Earth itself.
Dr Hamish Campbell, Geological and Nuclear Sciences/Te Papa.
Part 5 - To See What Cannot be Seen: Rutherford and The Discovery of the Atom
The atom was an idea from antiquity. Democritus conceived of the idea, 2000 years ago, but it wasn't really picked up until the 18th century, with the birth of the steam age and the understanding that chemical reactions followed mass proportionality rules. Atoms were a useful device to explain both the gas pressure in the steam engine and the combination rules of the chemical elements.
Yet, until the modern era, no one had ever seen an atom and a great debate raged about their existence, a debate which was not resolved until the start of the 20th century, when two giants of science, Albert Einstein and Ernest Rutherford, left us in no doubt.
And so the great revolution of 20th century science began, a revolution which has given us modern chemistry with its remarkable pharmaceuticals and new materials, and which has taken us deeper into the heart of matter to the realm of quarks; a revolution which explains the processes of life itself through molecular biology , and which has given us electronics and information technology, and the tools by which we may at last view atoms themselves.
This lecture will traverse historical themes surrounding the atom, as well as touching on the new challenges of the 21st century.
Professor Paul Callaghan, MacDiarmid Institute.
Part 6 - Einstein: Who Was He, and What Were His Ideas About the Universe?
In this joint presentation Richard and Lesley Hall will bring their own theoretical perspectives to a discussion of this complex man.
Richard will explain the development of Einstein's revolutionary thinking about the nature of the universe, including relativity for beginners and Lesley Hall will discuss some of the other facets of this iconic figure: the student, the academic and the pacifist.
Richard Hall, Phoenix Astronomical Society and Dr Lesley Hall, Victoria University.
Part 7 - The Mad, Mad World of Schrodinger's Cat: Why no one Understands Quantum Mechanics
Professor Tom Barnes from The University of Auckland explains the confused state-of-being of Schrodinger's cat and other mysteries of Quantum physics.
