Seniors and Sixth Form
Open Lecture Series 2015-6
Mr Gary Fildes – Infinite Inspiration: An introduction to the night skies above Kielder
On Thursday 28th January, the Newcastle School for Boys Open Lecture 2015-16 Series continued with a superb lecture from Mr Gary Fildes, the director and lead astronomer of the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland.
The lecture was very well attended, including a number of our own boys and parents, and they were treated to a visual and intellectual masterclass of material relating to the fields of astronomy and the science of the universe. Gary started by delving into the Earth’s immediate vicinity and our own Solar System, then gradually extended his scope right through to the very edges of the universe and the evidence of multiple other galaxies and star systems. The imagery, including some pictures of the very furthest known points of our universe, were stunning and perhaps only matched in their impact by the challenging concepts of the 4th dimension (time) and its influence on the continual expansion of the universe. Our very sincere thanks and gratitude go to Gary, following on from his prior visit to the school as guest of honour at the Prize Day event in July, and we hope to see him again as he continues to develop his facility at Kielder and enthuse about the stars.
The next lecture in the series is due to be held after Easter on Tuesday 19th April at 18.30 in the Main Hall at the Grove and will be delivered by Dr Mirela Cuculescu-Santana who is a Senior Lecturer in Biology at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Northumbria University. She is going to speak about her current research into the impact of change global environmental factors, such as global warming, on animal life. As always, tickets are free and all are welcome to attend.