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SPRI Public Lectures: previous lectures

SPRI has a long history of public lectures - an archive of listings since 1996 is below.

Penguins

Return to the list of forthcoming seminars.

# Saturday 24th November 2012, 7.30pm - By Wind Power Across Antarctica by Ramon Larramendi
Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start
Michaelmas Term Lecture 4
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road
# Saturday 10th November 2012, 3.30pm - Frozen Planet - the making of the TV Series by Vanessa Berlowitz
Doors open at 3pm for a 3:30pm start - note this is an afternoon talk and will finish at approx. 5pm
Michaelmas Term Lecture 3
Venue: Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre at the Department of Chemistry (off the SPRI car park)

Vanessa Berlowitz was the Series Producer for the BBC series ‘Frozen Planet’.

This special lecture costs £15 (£10 for Friends of SPRI)

# Saturday 27th October 2012, 7.30pm - Henry 'Birdie' Bowers - Captain Scott's Marvel by Anne Strathie
Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start
Michaelmas Term Lecture 2
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road
Anne Strathie will speak on her new biography of Henry ‘Birdie’ Bowers
# Saturday 13th October 2012, 7.30pm - The Third Reich in Antarctica – the story of the Third German Antarctic Expedition of 1938-39 by Colin Summerhayes
Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start
Michael Term Lecture 1
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road
# Saturday 14th July 2012, 12.30pm - In the spirit of Scott. by Lt. Col. Edwards
For lunch attendees only - pre-booking required
Summer Lunch Talk
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

A talk by the leader of the British Services Antarctic Expedition 2012.

See your latest Polar Bytes to book a place

# Saturday 17th March 2012, 7.30pm - Robert Burton
Lent Term Lecture 4
Shackleton’s month at South Georgia
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

7:30pm for 8pm

# Saturday 10th March 2012, 6.45pm - David Baillie
Lent Term Lecture 3
Title to be confirmed
Venue: Trinity House, London

Lecture 3 will take place at the Scott Centenary Dinner. Please see the Friends’ Events page for further information.

# Saturday 25th February 2012, 5.30pm - Gareth Rees
Please note the earlier start time. Lent Term Lecture 2
How vulnerable is reindeer herding in the European Arctic?
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

5:30pm for 6pm

# Saturday 11th February 2012, 7.30pm - Dr Lewis Halsey
Lent Term Lecture 1
The physiology of man-hauling in the Antarctic: could Scott have survived?
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

7:30pm for 8pm

# Tuesday 6th December 2011, 7.00pm - Dr Peter Donaldson
Please note earlier start time. Doors open at 18:30. A chance to preview the These Rough Notes exhibition.
Sir Joseph Hooker and the Ross Antarctic Expedition
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Michaelmas Term Lecture 4

Sir Joseph Hooker, in many ways the forgotten man in the story of Evolution, was a great scientist, plant collector and explorer. He wrote the Floras of the Antarctic, New Zealand, India and Tasmania with a major introduction to the Flora of Australia. This talk will mainly focus on his participation as Assistant Surgeon and Botanist on board the Erebus, one of two ships on the Ross Antarctic Expedition.

The speaker, Dr Peter Donaldson, has for the past three years been making a major documentary on the life and travels of this great Victorian scientist. Filming has been completed in the Himalayas, the subantarctic Auckland and Campbell islands, Morocco, the UK, New Zealand and Australia.

The talk will chart the gradual development of Hooker’s ideas of Southern Hemisphere plants having evolved from an ancient Antarctic landmass. This was many years before the discovery of continental drift and Gondwanaland.

Peter will also show some of Hooker’s original sketches and type specimens from the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and Hooker’ first sketch of Mount Everest which Peter located during his research in the archives at Kew.

# Saturday 26th November 2011, 8.00pm - Melanie Challenger
On Extinction: Natural and unnatural disappearances from the old whaling stations of Antarctica to the Inuit camps of the Arctic
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Michaelmas Term Lecture 3

From our destruction of the natural world to the human cultures that are rapidly dying out, Melanie Challenger’s forthcoming book ‘On Extinction’ is an exploration of these disappearances and why they should concern us. Challenger asks questions about how we’ve become destructive to our environment, our emotional responses to extinctions, and how these responses might shape our future relationship with nature.
The book narrates her travels to the abandoned whaling stations of South Georgia, the melting icescape of Antarctica, and the Inuit camps of the Arctic, where she traces the links between human activities and environmental collapse.

Melanie Challenger was International Fellow at the British Antarctic Survey for International Polar Year 2007–8 and studied the Inuit community of Pangnirtung under a British Council Darwin Award. ‘On Extinction’ is published in the UK by Granta Books in October 2011.

# Saturday 29th October 2011, 10.15am - Various Speakers
Amundsen and Scott: Lives Explored
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

An all day event in place of Michaelmas Term Lecture 2.

See the Museum Events page for further information and how to book

# Saturday 15th October 2011, 8.00pm - Angie Butler (Author)
Angie Butler: The Quest for Frank Wild
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Michaelmas Term Lecture 1

Angie has recently published a book “The Quest for Frank Wild”.

Quest for Frank Wild website

# Saturday 26th March 2011, 8.00pm - Dr Jonathan L. Watkins, BAS
Variation and change in the Southern Ocean eco-system
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Abstract not available

# Saturday 12th March 2011, 8.00pm - Bryan Lintott, SPRI
The British Graham Land Expedition, 1934-37
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Abstract not available

# Saturday 26th February 2011, 8.00pm - Dr Mike Sparrow - SCAR
Antarctic Science and Policy Advice in a Changing World
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Abstract not available

# Thursday 17th February 2011, 8.00pm - Bryan Lintott - SPRI
The British Graham Land Expedition, 1934-37
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Abstract not available

# Saturday 12th February 2011, 8.00pm - Professor John Turner - BAS
Recent Antarctic Climate Change
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Abstract not available

# Saturday 20th November 2010, 8.00pm - Robin Back, Chairman, Friends of Scott Polar Research Institute
Doors open 7:30PM
The Northern Party – in the shadows of the heroic age?
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Originally named the Eastern party, a small group of seamen under the command of Lt. Victor Campbell with one scientist, Geologist Raymond Priestley, intended to land and explore King Edward VII land to the East of the Ross ice barrier in 1911. Things turned out somewhat differently… Faced with disaster and starvation, the party overwintered in an ice cave ‘living off the land’ but all survived in an extraordinary tale of courage and endurance.

# Saturday 13th November 2010, 4.00pm - Bryony Dixon, Curator Silent Film, British Film Institute
Unique first preview of the digitally remastered, official record of Scott's Terra Nova expedition 1910-13
The Great White Silence
Venue: BMS Lecture Theatre, School of Chemistry, Lensfield Road

A brief discussion of the techniques followed by a viewing of Herbert Ponting’s Official record of Captain Scott’s heroic journey to the South Pole. Digitally remastered by British Film Institute experts, Ponting’s original instructions including tinting of his original film stock before release are described by Bryony Dixon, Silent Film Curator at BFI. Tickets are £10.00 each available from Friends of SPRI, Lensfield Rd. Cambridge CB2 1ER tel:01223 336540

# Saturday 30th October 2010, 8.00pm - Dr. Colin Summerhayes, a marine geologist, is a past Director of the UK's Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory and a former Deputy Director of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.
Doors open 7:30PM
Melting ice - rising seas: Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Despite global warming, the ozone hole is keeping Antarctica colder than it would be otherwise and making sea ice grow. The Antarctic Peninsula is warming, affecting penguins; East Antarctica, however, is still cold. Warm ocean currents reach the continental shelf off West Antarctica, melting glaciers from beneath and making them speed up. Antarctica and Greenland are now both losing land ice, making sea level rise faster than expected. In future the continent will warm more, land ice will melt, sea ice will shrink, and penguin productivity will drop. There are significant implications for coastal communities in the impending sea-level rise.

# Saturday 16th October 2010, 8.00pm - Jim McNeill, Explorer and Adventure Travel organiser
Doors open 7:30PM
“Sir Hubert Wilkins – Forgotten Hero?”
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Highly accomplished explorer, award winning cinematographer, record breaking sub-mariner and pioneering aviator, Australian born Sir Hubert Wilkins was a true hero of his time with ticker tape parades in New York and global news coverage celebrating his amazing acts of derring-do and serious exploration. Why is it then that few, today, have heard of him and even fewer know of the length and breadth of his exploits? Jim McNeill presents a thought provoking potted history and relates it to modern-day exploration.

# Saturday 20th March 2010, 8.00pm - Robert Headland, Scott Polar Research Institute and South Georgia Association
Free lecture in conjunction with South Georgia Association
The South Sandwich Islands
Venue: Pfizer Lecture Theatre, School of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, Cambridge

The South Sandwich Islands are one of the remotest chains of eleven volcanic islands, (one of which recently erupted). From their discovery in 1775 by Captain Cook to current events, this lecture will cover their geography, history, volcanology and biology, and include James Cook, Bellingshausen, Larsen, whaling, ‘Discovery’, Argentines, BAS and politics in 1982.

# Saturday 6th March 2010, 8.00pm - Fiona Cahill BA(Hons)
Free Lecture
Extreme conservation - living and working in Antarctica
Venue: Pfizer Lecture Theatre, School of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, Cambridge

The conservation of objects from Shackleton’s Hut at Cape Royds, over-wintering in Antarctica and the conservation work being carried out at SPRI for the new museum displays.

# Saturday 20th February 2010, 8.00pm - Paul Goldstein
For non-members of the Friends of Scott Polar Research Institute, there is an entry fee of £5 payable at the door.
Penguins to Polar Bears
Venue: Wolfson Lecture Theatre, School of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, Cambridge

An illustrated lecture on polar fauna by a master of wildlife photography in the polar regions.

# Saturday 6th February 2010, 8.00pm - Isobel Williams, Doctor and Biographer
Free Lecture
With Scott in the Antarctic, Edward Wilson - Explorer, Naturalist, Artist
Venue: Pfizer Lecture Theatre, School of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, Cambridge

Abstract not available

# Saturday 28th November 2009, 8.00pm - Dr. David Wilson
Copies of Dr.Wilson's book for sale at this event. Doors open 19:30:
"Nimrod Illustrated: Pictures from Lieutenant Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition 1907-1909"
Venue: Pfizer Lecture Theatre, School of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, Cambridge

A lecture to mark the centenary of one of the most celebrated expeditions of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, that of Ernest Shackleton’s ‘Nimrod’ expedition. This reached within 100 geographical miles of the South Pole, conquered the South Magnetic Pole and made the first ascent of Mount Erebus, earning Shackleton his knighthood.

# Saturday 25th November 2006, 8.00pm - Professor Elizabeth Morris
Warnings from the Inland Ice
Venue: SPRI Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road

Professor Morris is one of the most senior British glaciologists and has worked on problems of climate change both in the Antarctic and in the Arctic. After working for the British Antarctic Survey as Head of the Ice and Climate Division and as the NERC Arctic Science Advisor she has recently become a Senior Associate of SPRI. She was appointed OBE in the Millennium Honours List for services to Polar Science. Tonight she will talk about her fieldwork on the Greenland Ice Sheet and how the ice sheet is responding to rapid climate change.

# Saturday 11th November 2006, 5.00pm - Ranulph Fiennes
Tickets £12.50, available in advance from the Scott Polar Research Institute, Lensfield Road
Living Dangerously: My Life as an Explorer
Venue: BMS Lecture Theatre, Department of Chemistry

Since 1969 Sir Ranulph Fiennes has led numerous expeditions. Described as the “World’s Greatest Living Explorer”, his exploits have pushed the limits of human knowledge and endurance. In the process he has achieved some legendary polar records. In 1993 he was appointed OBE for ‘human endeavour and charitable services’; and in 1995 a second clasp to his Polar Medal in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in polar exploration. Sir Ranulph is also a renowned author and speaker.
This is a fund-raising lecture for the Diamond Jubilee of the Scott Polar Research Institute’s Friends. Tickets £12.50 are available from the Institute.

Earlier listings