Talks

There is superconductivity to whalesong, Arctic seaweed and Galapagos seabirds, Svalbard’s seas and Colombia’s mountains. There is papermaking, orca sighting, beachcombing, the story of women in shipbuilding, and the boats of Hudson’s Bay … and much, much more in a very full programme of events with what we hope will be something for everyone.

AS FAR AS THOUGHT CAN REACH

September 3, 2020 → 11:00 am11:45 am

In an unstable world, a week has become a long time to look ahead. But when Prof. Tom Stevenson spoke in the first Orkney Science Festival in 1991, he was right on target in introducing a new invention with huge long-term significance – a video camera on a chip, a key part of so much of our lives and links today.

SEAWEED FROM THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

September 4, 2020 → 11:30 am12:15 pm

Off Norway’s coast, right on the Arctic Circle, the cold clean waters around the little island of Træna produce fine seaweed, which the Northern Company harvests and sells. The company’s founder, Zoe Christiansen, describes its sea and laboratory work, in a small fishing community of less than 500 people, amidst spectacular scenery and northern light.

THE SHIP THAT SANK – AND ROSE AGAIN

September 4, 2020 → 2:00 pm2:45 pm

She was one of the most powerfully-armed ships in the world, built for the Swedish king Gustav Adolf’s wars in Europe, but on her maiden voyage in 1628 she capsized and sank. But after more than 300 years underwater she was located, and raised in 1961, and put on display. Her timbers had been wonderfully well preserved through the heavily polluted Stockholm harbour water, and she is the subject of much study – as the Vasa Museum’s research director, Dr Fred Hocker, explains.

MERCURY RISING: MEASURING TEMPERATURE THROUGH TIME

September 4, 2020 → 3:30 pm4:15 pm

It’s an art and a science, say Prof. Graham Machin of the National Physical Laboratory. It started in the 17th century with Galileo’s thermometer and the work of the Florentine Academy of Science. By the 19th century, there were three separate temperature scales. Then with Lord Kelvin came a deeper understanding of temperature and further scales and the concept of absolute zero. What might this century bring?

THE SEAS AROUND SVALBARD

September 4, 2020 → 5:00 pm5:45 pm

Svalbard, far to Norway’s Arctic north, is an island group with glaciers, fjords, reindeer, seabirds and also scientific research. Dr Alison McLure, back from her second expedition, shows images of landscape and wildlife in a sometimes bleak yet breathtakingly beautiful setting.

A HOY AND RACKWICK EVENING

September 4, 2020 → 7:00 pm7:30 pm

Take the ferry from Stromness to Moaness pier, and walk up the brae to the Hoy Kirk for seaweed soup for supper, with a recipe here for you to prepare at home in advance. Then sit back and enjoy some music, with the story of Jimmy o’ the Bu’s Polka, with memories from his grand-daughter Jean Thomson and his tune played by six of his great-great-grandchildren, including the fiddle that he played on. Then we hear the story of settlement in Rackwick from archaeologist Dan Lee.

FINDING PLANETS AROUND OTHER STARS

September 4, 2020 → 7:30 pm8:30 pm

Moray’s astronomy club SIGMA host a visit from Prof. Ken Rice of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh and welcome you to join them and hear about the remarkable speed of discovery of extrasolar planets, or exoplanets.

THE ORKNEY NIGHT SKY FOR BEGINNERS

September 4, 2020 → 10:00 pm10:45 pm

Join Eric Walker to find out what to look for tonight, weather permitting. “It’s for absolute beginners,” he says, “It’s for naked eye viewing and commonly available binoculars – no telescopes required.” Eric, who’s chair of the Highlands Astronomical Society, will present the sky view each day as it would be seen from North Ronaldsay. He says that he’d be interested to hear from everyone, wherever they are, about what they’re looking out for in the night sky tonight.

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