2nd Tuesday — Time: 2.00-3.30pm Location: Victoria Hall — First session: 12 October
This is a new group that is an evolution out of the Mathematical Puzzles group.
We shall look at the science behind a whole variety of phenomena, both natural and man-made,
often with a topical relevance.
Members of the group are encouraged to bring issues that interest them,
either to explain to the rest of the group, or to ask the group for answers.
There is a wide variation in level of difficulty, and the science ranges over the interests
and knowledge of the group members.
The current leader is quite strong on the physical sciences, and hopeless on biology.
There is some information on
RSA encryption which is widely used in Internet security.
The practical application of the mathematical theory is made possible by the
Chinese remainder theorem.
9th November 2010 — Successful Investigation of a Disaster
Chris Petrie told us about an interesting incident in his career as a marine engineer -
though this one happened on land.
14th December 2010 — Aluminium
Keith Waterson explained how the particular properties of aluminium
enabled Kit-Kats to be wrapped for decades before the advent of modern polymers.
There was an amazing amount of engineering involved in rolling the foil to 5 micron thickness.
11th January 2011 — Atom
This was by way of an experiment.
We tried using a recording of a most excellent Jim Al-Khalili TV programme to try
to extend our knowledge of atomic physics, and then followed it by discussion.
We also tried a pause in the middle for discussion, but this was less successful.
8th February 2011 — Guinness etc
John Hughes talked about the technology of brewing, both from a historical perspective and in modern times.
He touched on the basics, early processes including /fuluchta fiadh/,
current processes, building and running Guinness' first tropical
brewery (including a novel use for aluminium foil!).
8th March 2011 — Millau Bridge
We used a recording again.
This time it was a programme about the Millau bridge in southern France.
This is both amazingly long and amazingly high, designed by Norman Foster,
and constructed with impressive engineering aplomb.
The group spent some time discussing safety issues that afflict big projects
like this.
We have members with experience in the chemical indistry and in marine engineering.
12th April 2011 — Energy Futures
An open discussion.
10th May 2011 — Plate Tectonics
Paul Cochran provided his view of geology’s Theory of Everything.
The launch of the BBC's Domesday Reloaded (http://www.bbc.co.uk/domesday)
marks the 25th anniversary of the BBC celebration of the 900th anniversary of the Domesday Book,
byt making an electronic version.
I worked on the rebirth of the original 1986 system as an exercise in preservation of digital data.
We produced a very successful demonstrator system, which
I will share this with you, including a demo.
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