Blame Not Our Author at the Corpus Playroom

The imaginative stage set, which made use of detachable shapes and their shadows.

Last week a few members of the Reading Group went to see this unusual perfomance of a long-lost geometric dramatic work. It was a fascinating evening, full of mathematical and early modern (and early modern mathematical) in-jokes: full credit to cast and crew for taking on such a challenging piece of writing!

I have scanned in the historic notes on the play which were made available to audience members, in case they are of interest to readers of this blog (hopefully they are legible):

Lent Term 2017 - Air

This term the Science and Literature Reading Group takes to the air, as we continue our series of meetings exploring the elements. We will focus on late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century pneumatics, from eudiometry to aeronautics, considering how air was philosophised, exploited, and consumed.

Meetings take place on Monday evenings at Darwin College from 7.30-9pm. Please note that this term we will be meeting in the ground floor seminar room of 1 Newnham Terrace. All are welcome to join in our wide-ranging and friendly discussions!

The group is organised by Melanie Keene and Charissa Varma. For recaps, further readings, news, and other updates, please visit our blog: https://sci-lit-reading-group.blogspot.co.uk/. We have also recently joined twitter: you can follow us @scilitreadgrp.


6th February: Atmosphere

• Joseph Priestley, ‘Of Dephlogisticated Air, and of the constitution of the Atmosphere’, from Observations on Various Kinds of Air (1776 2nd edn), Vol. II, 29-61.

20th February: Breath

• Richard Polwhele, ‘The Pneumatic Revellers; An Eclogue’, in Poems (1810), Vol. V, iii-viii and 1-17.

13th March: Flight

• Thomas Baldwin, Airopaidia (1786), as much as you’d like of 1-164 (‘The Excursion throu’ the Air’), especially 1-14, 29-59, 94-97.

Talk - Curious things sent to Charles Darwin in the post

Francis Neary (Darwin Correspondence Project)

Wednesday 1 February, 13:15-13:45, Milstein Room, Cambridge University Library

All are welcome - no need to book. This is part of our ongoing programme of free tours and pop-up talks. Tours are limited to 15 people and can be booked at curiousobjects.eventbrite.co.uk.

Event - "Maps without borders: Stories of civic science in action"

London, 18th February

This storytelling exhibition showcases powerful aerial maps created by citizens using kites, balloons, and point-and-shoot cameras. We explore how people around the world are harnessing the power of Do-It-Yourself techniques to address local environmental, social and political matters. Sitting around a proverbial campfire, we will tell four stories of women and men, unsung heroes in the U.S. and the Middle East, who have crafted tools and gathered evidence that has reconfigured the perception of space, place, and issues that shape their lives. Their maps take us on the journeys that reveal who created them: their challenges, struggles, and successes in achieving change in their communities. These maps lie at the intersection of technology, science, the environment, and social justice; they reveal the power of engagement and how people are creating alternative narratives of place and transformation. Free event. Wheelchair accessible.

More information and RSVP.

Talk - Fantasy Worlds with Frances Hardinge

Wednesday 8th February, 6 – 7pm followed by a drinks reception

G07, Percy Building, Newcastle University

Join us for an exclusive event with Frances Hardinge, as she discusses the borders between fantasy and reality and her inspiration for her writing with Aishwarya Subramanian from Newcastle University’s Children’s Literature Unit. Her latest novel, The Lie Tree, described as ‘a Victorian Gothic mystery with added paleontology, blasting powder, post-mortem photography and feminism” won the Costa Book of the Year 2015 and audiences will also be treated to a reading from the outstanding novel by Frances as part of this very special event.

This event is hosted by Newcastle University’s School of English Literature, Langauge and Linguistics with Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books.

Free event. Please book online in advance at: http://www.sevenstories.org.uk/whats-on/events/122952/fantasy-worlds-with-frances-hardinge

This event complements the Children’s Literature Unit’s Postgraduate Visit Day, which will be hosted earlier that day for prospective Masters and PhD students. For more information and to book, visit: http://forms.ncl.ac.uk/view.php?id=11282

CFP - 'STEM and Beyond? Informal Science Learning Across Disciplines'

Science in Public and Brunel STS Cluster are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract to a forthcoming full day workshop about public engagement in the sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences on 19th May at Brunel University London. Titled “STEM and Beyond? Informal Science Learning Across Disciplines”, we welcome contributions from academics from all fields, science communicators, educational practitioners, and science and technology studies scholars. The event is an opportunity to both reflect upon the impacts of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) agenda on communication in all disciplines, and to present examples of good practice. The event features a keynote presentation by Prof. Martin Bauer of the LSE on science communication across the disciplines.

Full event details here: https://scienceinpublic.org/stem-beyond/

Please submit titles and 300 word abstracts for contributions to Neil.Stephens@Brunel.ac.uk by Monday 6th February. Please put ‘STEM and Beyond abstract’ in the subject heading, and include your institutional affiliation if you have one, although we welcome freelance scicomm and education practitioners to join us to share their ideas and experience.

The event is co-organised by the Brunel Science, Technology and Society (STS) Research Cluster and the Science in Public Research Network (SiP), with support from Brunel’s College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences, Brunel’s Institute of Environment, Health and Societies, and the Brunel STEM Learning Centre.

Scientists and their diaries - workshop at the Royal Society

Friday 27 January, 12:00-17:30

The Royal Society, in association with the Constructing Scientific Communities project, is hosting a one-day workshop on the topic of 'scientists and their diaries'. The full programme for the day is here. Attendance (including sandwich lunch and afternoon tea) is free, but booking is essential - please email library@royalsociety.org to reserve a place.

The workshop will be followed by a public evening event, 'Why we write', with Professor Sunetra Gupta - workshop attendees are very welcome to stay on for this.

CFP - The Preserves of the Imagination in Victorian Science

We invite paper proposals for a panel on "The Preserves of the Imagination in Victorian Science" for NAVSA's 2017 conference. This panel explores the role and domain of the imagination in Victorian science. Topics may include:

• Invitations for readers of scientific texts to imagine experiences or objects
• Thought experiments
• Fictional scientific objects (e.g. the ether)
• Scientific models and modeling in the Victorian period
• Role of the imagination in scientific practice/discovery
• Risks of imagining/hypothesizing
• Scientific creativity
• Imaginative pursuits of Victorian scientists

Papers dealing with Victorian physics are particularly welcomed. Please send 500-word abstracts to krie0210@umn.edu or acobblah@umich.edu by January 13th.

CFP - Water

The Northern Nineteenth-Century Network presents "Water", a day conference at Leeds Trinity University,  Friday 7 April 2017, 10am to 5pm

Keynote Speaker: Professor John Chartres, University of Leeds
Call for Papers: Deadline 30th January 2017

We invite submissions from postgraduate students and academic staff across the humanities from the constituent universities AND other universities (particularly in the Yorkshire and Humberside region) on the theme of ‘Water’.

Paper proposals are invited on topics including but not limited to:

• bodies of water, waterways, & water-related transport (canals, rivers, lakes, seas, streams, barges, boats, ships, ferries, steamboats and trains, lightships)
• communities living & working on or near water (sailors and the navy, bargemen/boat people, fishermen/fishwives, whalers, ports, harbours, seaside towns and tourism, coastal communities, Lake Districts and Fenland communities).
• water in various forms (steam, mist, fog, liquid, ice, frost, snow) and science and medicine dealing with water/water-borne diseases (cholera, biology of water creatures fish, birds, bugs, etc, aquaria, flushing toilets)
• the politics of water (sanitary reform, the provision of clean drinking water, reservoirs and sewers, wells, ponds, privies, public baths, laundry industry, the ‘great unwashed’)
• water mythology and creatures and their cultural representations (the Kraken, Moby Dick, mermaids, naiads, the Lady of the Lake, the Lady of Shallot, Neptune)
• artistic, musical, and literary representations of water, and water-related architecture (seascapes, maritime novels, travel literature relating to the sea/arctic, angling stories, musical events on or featuring water, harbours, piers, bridges, lighthouses)
• religious and spiritual uses of water (living water, baptism, truth in a well, the temperance movement) and material forms of water (watery foods e.g. soups, ice-cream)

The theme of water will be interpreted broadly, as too the chronological range of the nineteenth century (1780s-1920s). Please send an abstract of 250-300 words for a paper of 20 minutes to NNCNWater@leedstrinity.ac.uk

Dates for Lent Term 2017 - Air

The meeting dates for this term's pneumatic discussions will be:

• 6th February
• 20th February
• 13th March

As usual, we'll be meeting from 7.30-9pm at Darwin College: this term in the ground floor seminar room of 1 Newnham Terrace.

Further details of readings to follow!