Easter 2008

This term we will be exploring science and poetry.

In the first three meetings, we will look at Robert Crawford (ed.), Contemporary Poetry and Contemporary Science (OUP, 2006). A copy of the book is available on reserve in the Whipple Library. We will explore the whole book, but in particular the following:


28 April

• Miroslav Holub, "Rampage, or Science in Poetry" (pp. 11-24).
• Robert Crawford, "Biology", with introduction by Rona R. Ramsay (pp. 69-71).

12 May

• Jocelyn Bell Burnell, "Astronomy and Poetry" (pp. 125-140).
• John Burnside, "Steinar Undir Steinahlithium", with introduction by R. M. M. Crawford (pp. 107-109).

26 May

• Kay Redfield Jamison, "Contemporary Psychology and Contemporary Poetry: Perspectives on Mood Disorders" (pp. 191-203).
• Paul Muldoon, "Once I looked into your eyes", with introduction by Warren S. Warren (pp. 167-169).

Please feel free to bring along other poems that you would like to discuss...


9 June

• The final meeting will be a creative writing workshop.
• Please bring along your own poems and writings! We hope to have a creative writing tutor present, to facilitate the discussion.

We meet on Mondays from 7.30 to 9pm in the upstairs seminar room of Darwin College. All are welcome!

Cultures of Climate Change - Poetry Event

The Cultures of Climate Change warmly invites you to its fourth and final event of Lent 2008

Melanie Challenger - The Boundless Main: On Poetry and Frost

Monday 10 March, 17:00 - 18:30
Main Seminar Room, CRASSH, 17 Mill Lane

Melanie Challenger won an Eric Gregory Award in 2005, and her first collection, Galatea (Salt), was nominated for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. She is the British Antarctic Survey Artist in Residence for International Polar Year 2007-8, and returned from three months in Antarctica in February. Melanie will read some of her work and speak about her experiences; discussion and a wine reception to follow.

For more information on all our events please visit http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/2007-8/climatechange.html, or email Bradon Smith (btls2@cam.ac.uk) or Benjamin Morris (bam32@cam.ac.uk).

Next term - contemporary poetry and contemporary science

Dates for our meetings next term have been confirmed as Mondays 28th April, 12th and 26th May, and 9th June, from 7.30-9pm in the upstairs seminar room at Darwin College. We'll be reading selections from Robert Crawford (ed.) Contemporary Poetry and Contemporary Science (Oxford University Press, 2006).

CFP: Women in science, women of science

4-6 June 2009
Université Stendhal Grenoble III
UFR d'Etudes Anglophones CEMRA 3016

International pluridisciplinary conference

Women in science, Women of science: figures and representations from 18th
century to present.

Scientific knowledge has always been, both empirically and politically, a
masculine stronghold. Since the mid-19th century, however, despite
institutional and cultural resistance, women have progressively gained
access to scientific studies and careers.

The first theme of study will focus on emblematic female scientists of the
18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Papers may concentrate on historical,
social and political analyses of how, why and when women "infiltrated" the
scientific world and (re-) appropriated scientific discourse at different
moments in History. Another possible approach is to analyse the reactions
of the scientific community/ the press… to such women.

The second theme of study will analyse the evolution of (pseudo-)
scientific discourse on women and women's condition (for example medical
or eugenist discourse, etc).

The third theme will be devoted to fictional representations: how does the
popular culture construct and vehicle images of women of science and women
in the world of science? From the famous scientist's wife/daughter to the
androgynous cyborg of feminist science-fiction, to what extent have these
representations evolved over time? What impact did the feminist movement
of the 1970s have on how women are seen and how they see themselves in
relation to the sciences? Papers which include studies of television,
cinema and various genres of pulp-fiction will be welcome.

The conference will be followed by a publication.

Deadline for submissions: November 14th 2008

Please send a 300- to 350- word abstract (in French or in English) to the
co-chairs

Donna.Andreolle@u-grenoble3.fr
Veronique.Molinari@u-grenoble3.fr
And to the research secretary
Agnes.Vere@u-grenoble3.fr with the heading «WS abstract, copy»

BAVS 2008

The call for papers for the 2008 Conference of the British Association for Victorian Studies, which will be held at the University of Leicester from 1-3 September, is available here.

The conference theme is 'Victorian Feeling: Touch, Bodies, Emotion' and plenary speakers include Paul White and Rebecca Stott.

"This interdisciplinary conference seeks to address all aspects of nineteenth-century tactile, emotional and embodied experience. Drawing on three decades of rich attention to Victorian bodies inspired by thinkers as diverse as, for example, Bakhtin, Foucault, and Poovey, this event pursues and endeavours to contribute to new developments in the ways that we can conceive of physical and psychical experience in this period. Alongside attention to personal feeling and its expression in verbal, visual and aural culture, we encourage contributions that address collective and (anti)social experiences, political, philosophical, economic, scientific and religious sensibilities, cultures of feeling and interpersonal relations."

The deadline for paper proposals is 31st March 2008.

3rd March

Join us for our final meeting of term from 7.30-9pm in the upstairs seminar room at Darwin College as we discuss two stories about multiple worlds and uncertainty:

• Jorge Luis Borges, "The garden of forking paths" (1941). Several English translations available, e.g. by Helen Temple and Ruthven Todd in Ficciones, ed. A. Kerrigan. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962, pp. 89-101.
• Fred Hoyle, "A jury of five". In Element 79. New York: New American Library, 1967, pp. 114-132.

All welcome!

18th February

Our next meeting will take place in the upstairs seminar room of Darwin College from 7.30-9pm on Monday 18th February. We'll be reading some literary uses of the new physics, all of which can be found in the photocopied packs in the Whipple Library boxfile:

• Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves, Part V, Chapter 1. London: Chatto and Windus, 1925, pp. 339-348.
• Robert Frost, "Version" (1962). We will use the complete text of this poem, as published in The Poetry of Robert Frost, ed. E. C. Lathem. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966, p. 427.
• Michael Roberts, "On mechanical hallelujahs, or how not to do it". Poetry Review, Vol. XIX, 1928, pp. 433-8 (esp. pp. 437-8).
• Robert Frost, "Education by Poetry" (1931). In Selected Prose of Robert Frost, ed. H. Cox & E. C. Lathem. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966, pp. 33-46 (esp. pp. 36-41).

All welcome!

Darwin Day 2008

DARWIN DAY 2008

TUESDAY, 12th FEBRUARY 2008, from 9.00 a.m.

Arthur Thomson Hall, The Medical School, University of Birmingham

Please find the updated programme for the University of Birmingham Darwin Day 2008 here.

Professor Dame Gillian Beer DBE will be participating, giving a repeat performance of her
recent Romanes lecture. In addition, Emma Darwin (novelist and Darwin descendant) will be
contributing a few words.

Competition: Designing Darwin

DESIGNING DARWIN

Prize competition, organized by the British Society for the History of Science
Outreach & Education Committee. Details and poster available here.

The year 2009 sees both the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th birthday of his most famous work, On the Origin of Species.
In anticipation of the celebrations, the BSHS Outreach & Education Committee is
offering prizes for original designs that best illustrate the significance of either (or both) of these anniversaries.

Format of the entry
Entries may submitted in one of the following electronic formats:
i) A poster up to A3 in overall size
ii) An illustrated essay of 500 words
iii) A PC screensaver

Entries may be submitted as jpeg files or in other standard formats including a digital photograph or a digital scan (for any entry prepared initially on paper). The file size should be no more than 500kB to ensure that the winning entries can easily be downloaded from the BSHS OEC website.

Entry categories
There are three age categories for entrants, a prize of £100 being awarded in each category:
i) 11-14
ii) 15-18
iii) 19+
For categories i) and ii) the age of the entrant must be confirmed by a responsible adult (parent, guardian, teacher) and the entrants' age should fall within the relevant category by the competition deadline of May 6th 2008.

Submission
The entry should be emailed by May 6th 2008 as a file attachment to outreachcompetition2008@bshs.org.uk

In the body of the email you should include the name, address, and other relevant contact details for all the entrant(s) who have contributed to the submission.

The winning entries will be announced at the BSHS/CSHPS/HSS conference at Keble College, Oxford, 5th July 2008.

Enquiries about this competition should be directed to outreach@bshs.org.uk

CFP: Lawrence Durrell: a Writer at the Crossroads of Arts and Sciences

CALL FOR PAPERS

Lawrence Durrell: a Writer at the Crossroads of Arts and Sciences July 1st - 5th, 2008 - Université Paris X - Nanterre CREE (CREA EA 370)

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true arts and science," Albert Einstein, "What I believe," 1930.

The aim of this conference is to explore Lawrence Durrell's universe at the crossroads of arts and science, but also to explore the world of Paris between the wars as the artistic and intellectual magnet that drove so many artists to become expatriates.

The sessions will focus on the relationships between Durrell's works and the aesthetic context as well as the development of scientific research. Contributions dealing with the Parisian intellectual and artistic crucible, the arts of politics, artistic intertextuality (drama, music, painting, philosophy), the scientific fabric (Durrell's investigations into quantum theory and psychoanalysis) are particularly welcome. But other propositions on wider fields are welcome as well.

Submissions for papers including a 250-word abstract, a short biography, and possibly a bibliography, as well as any request for specific material (recorder, videoprojector or other) should be sent by April 1st, 2008 to Corinne Alexandre-Garner (corinnealexandre-garner@voila.fr), or Murielle Caplan-Philippe (murielle.philippe@u-paris10.fr) or Isabelle Keller-Privat (isa.kellerprivat@free.fr).