Café Scientifique Brighton
science for the sociable

Café Scientifique is an international movement

meetings are usually on the Third Tuesday of the month, at 7:30 for 8pm start (NB from  Feb 2010 on THURSDAYS)
usually at The Latest Music Bar, Manchester St, Brighton BN2 1TF  map

Meetings are FREE (although a contribution to expenses is appreciated)

Tuesday December 8th 2009

Branch Tavern, London Road

Rob Iliffe (University of Sussex)

“Natural theology: freewill, self-motion and the divine cosmos in the thought of Isaac Newton”

Forthcoming speakers
Tuesday December 8^th2009 Branch Tavern, London Road (tel. 606088)	Rob Iliffe (University of Sussex) click	“Natural theology: freewill, self-motion and the divine cosmos in the thought of Isaac Newton” Few people are generally aware that Isaac Newton (1642-1727) believed that his most significant scientific research concerned the relationship between the mind and the body, rather than mathematical physics of the Principia.  By understanding how we moved our own bodies, Newton believed that we could understand both how God had created the world, and also how he intervened in the cosmos on a daily basis.  This private research embraced his early alchemical work as well as later work written up in drafts of the 'Queries' to the various editions of his Opticks. Hosted by Paul Tofts
Tuesday January 19^th 2010 Latest Music Bar	Simon Goodwin (University of Sheffield) click	"Are We Alone? Looking for Life on Other Planets" Simon will talk about the possibility of finding life on other planets around other stars. The interest in aliens has recently moved beyond science fiction with the new science of 'astrobiology' and plans to build telescopes that could find alien life. What are the chances of finding other life forms? What might they be like, and could they be intelligent?  Hosted by John Gribbin     click click
Thursday February 18th 2010 Latest Music Bar (Brighton Science Festival)	Alasdair Beal click click	"Polymaths - who needs them?"         Polymaths - those brilliant people who range across all kinds of subjects - can be very entertaining but what have they done for science? Are they just dilettanti, 'jacks of all trades but masters of none'? The orthodox view is that real progress comes from the sustained efforts of specialists who concentrate their efforts on a limited area of research in order to make breakthroughs.  Alasdair Beal challenges this view and discusses the achievements of some of history's great polymaths, including the Italian Leonardo da Vinci and the Englishman Thomas Young.        Alasdair Beal is a consulting civil and structural engineer and also former journals editor for the Society for Interdisciplinary Studies. Hosted by Jim Grozier
Thursday March 18th Latest Music Bar	Louise Serpell (University of Sussex) click	“How proteins change their shape: insights into Alzheimer's disease”
Thursday April 15th Latest Music Bar	Philip Moriarty (University of Nottingham) click	“Scientific progress and the economic impact fallacy” Hosted by Adrian Ely
Thursday May 20th The Latest Music Bar (Brighton Festival Fringe)	Philip Burrows (University of Oxford) click	“Particle Accelerators: Making Small Stuff Go VERY Fast!” Hosted by Jim Grozier
Thursday June 17th The Latest Music Bar	Phil Uttley (University of Southampton) click	“Bad Science”
Thursday July 15th
August & September 2010: No café
Thursday October 21^st	Joe Cain (UCL)

If you have any enquiries please email: Jim Grozier j.r.grozier@btinternet.com 

previous  topics  (going back to March 2004) click

other interesting local meetings    Philosophy in Pubs Brighton Lit and Phil Catalyst Club

last updated November 23rd  2009;  maintained by Paul Tofts www.cafe-scientifique-brighton.org.uk