She has subsequently worked in many roles in many branches of astronomy, working part-time while raising a family. She is now a Visiting Academic in Oxford, and the Chancellor of the University of Dundee, Scotland.\u00a0 She has been President of the UK\u2019s Royal Astronomical Society, in 2008 became the first female President of the Institute of Physics for the UK and Ireland, and in 2014 the first female President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She was one of the small group of women scientists that set up the Athena SWAN scheme.<\/em><\/p>\n She has received many honours, including a $3M Breakthrough Prize in 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n The public appreciation and understanding of science have always been important to her, and she is much in demand as a speaker and broadcaster.\u00a0 In her spare time, she gardens, listens to choral music and is active in the Quakers. She has co-edited an anthology of poetry with an astronomical theme \u2013 \u2018Dark Matter; Poems of Space\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n Photo credit: University of Dundee”<\/p>\n You can view the previous talks here.<\/a><\/p>\n Wednesday 23rd March 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n Dame Professor Jane Francis: ”<\/p>\n Watch the replay here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Thursday 4 March 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n Martin Rees: “The World in 2050 – and Beyond”. Astronomer Martin Rees discusses the topics in his latest book \u2018On the Future: Prospects for Humanity\u2019.<\/p>\n View the recording with Martin Rees on our YouTube Channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thursday 5 March 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr Philip Ball: “Beyond weird: Why everything you thought you knew about Quantum Physics is different”<\/p>\n You can view the lecture online here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thursday 14 March 2019<\/strong> \u2013 view the lecture online here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thursday 15 February 2018<\/strong> Thursday 30 March 2017<\/strong> General Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n For a general, very brief introduction to the figure of Stephen Gray, see:<\/p>\n The above work is written very much with a Canterbury perspective in mind, but constitutes an excellent starting point.<\/p>\n A thoroughly enjoyable account of Stephen Gray’s life and works set in the broader context of late XVII \/ early XVIII century science is offered in the following book:<\/p>\n The book was co-authored by David H Clark, our first Stephen Gray lecturer. You can watch a video of his lecture here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The above book was reviewed by Mark P. Silverman in American Journal of Physics<\/em> 71<\/strong>, 507 (2003), https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1119\/1.1561274<\/a> (also available at http:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/~silverma\/reviews_commentary\/newtons_tyranny.html<\/a>, accessed 4 July 2018) and by M. Peck in Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics<\/em> 27<\/strong>, 734-735 (2004), https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2514\/1.11197<\/a>.<\/p>\n The following web page contains a useful chronology and data sheet on Stephen Gray:<\/p>\n Here are some additional, quite detailed biographical articles on Stephen Gray:<\/p>\n Electrical experiments: <\/strong><\/p>\n Jim Al-Khalili produced an excellent series of short, entertaining TV programmes on electricity for the BBC. His re-enactment of the famous Stephen Gray “Flying Boy” experiment is really worth watching:<\/p>\n You can read more about the above experiment here:<\/p>\n The following articles cover Stephen Gray’s electricity work, particularly his experiments on electrical conduction and insulation, more broadly:<\/p>\n Here is an interesting proposition to use Stephen Gray’s conduction experiments for project-based teaching:<\/p>\n Granville Wheler and Otterden Place:<\/strong><\/p>\n Otterden Place was the stately home of Gray’s collaborator, Granville Wheler, where the historic experiments on electrical conduction were carried out. The following page describes the place (with only a brief mention of the historic experiments):<\/p>\n The following post focuses more specifically on the significance of the site for the history of science. It was written by Charlotte Sleigh, who is the Director of Kent’s Centre for the History of the Sciences, following a visit to the site on the occasion of the first Stephen Gray Lecture:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/spskent\/files\/2023\/01\/Jocelyn-Bell-Burnell.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGreenhouse to Icehouse: fossils of forests and dinosaurs amid icesheets of Antarctica.”<\/h5>\n
\nProfessor Vlatko Vedral: “Quantum Entanglement and the Nature of Reality”<\/a><\/p>\n
\nProfessor Sir Michael Berry: “Nature’s Optics and our Understanding of Light”<\/a><\/p>\n
\nDr. David H. Clark: \u201cStephen Gray –
\nCanterbury’s Forgotten Hero of Science\u201d<\/a> – view the lecture online here<\/a>.<\/p>\nSelected bibliography on Stephen Gray<\/h3>\n
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