Science Aimed at Surprising Audiences
by Mark Wilkinson
Review of Science Happens in Surprising Places,
a talk by Adam Hart-Davis
given on March 20th, 2004
as part of Newcastle Science Festival 2004
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2004 reviews
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!
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