Science Aimed at Surprising Audiences
Review of Science Happens in Surprising Places,
a talk by Adam Hart-Davis given on March 20th, 2004
As you all should know, Adam Hart-Davis is one of the few surviving TV scientists that still do the dying breed of what we call a factual TV programme over the more popular reality TV shows and Soaps. So when I heard he was doing a talk at Newcastle Science festival I couldn’t but help get a ticket. Now I had no idea what the talk was going to be on about, who it would be aimed at or what age range, but I suspected an adult talk. The ticket office for the event was well organised and the venue was brilliant at the Life Centre in Newcastle’s Time Square.
Adam Hart-Davis’ talk was based around his fascination for scientific photography and the Daily Telegraph scientific photography awards. He showed and described a whole range of images from the inside of the gut wall to the process of photographing a drop of water splashing. One of the most interesting collections of photographs he talked about was the process in which a mosquito feeds on blood; it was amazing to see how it quadrupled its body size. He also showed how we can take some of these photographs at home, a part of the talk in which I myself learnt some useful new skills.
Adam Hart-Davis is a man who is fanatical about his science, and his passion for scientific photography made this talk highly interesting. I, however, was a little shocked to see this event advertised and geared towards families and, more so, primary school children. When I sat down at the start of the talk and looked around I would guess 50% of the room was under the age of ten. I think the Centre for Life should have aimed this event at an older audience, as Adam Hart-Davis is more of an adult lecturer in my opinion. I mean, you don’t see him on Blue Peter do you? More like 9pm on a Tuesday Night on BBC2.
There was 10 minutes of question time at the end of the talk, which gave the audience a good opportunity to question the man himself. Overall this talk was most enjoyable. Some of the photographs were outstanding and Adam Hart-Davis is a most entertaining speaker. I was impressed with the organisation, the layout of the talk and the duration. However I am disappointed that this talk was advertised for children when in fact it was more of an adult talk – an equation which resulted in crying children! It would have been nice to have had more of an adult discussion with Adam Hart-Davis during the question and answer session at the end. What the organisers of the science festival should remember is that science isn’t just for children, it’s for everyone! Nevertheless a brilliant talk when the 3 year olds stopped crying!