1350 Years of Science

The night was a great success and worthy of all the applause ii received. The amount of hard work which was put in behind the scene paid off and we all look forward to another House Entertainment Evenin in the near future. N.M.W.

19th and 20th October, 1977

Those of us who went to Don Hamilton's first lecture, "A Scientific Exploration of Music" expected excellence and found it. How much more difficult then was the task he set himself for the second lecture. with this high standard to maintain and with the truly daunting title of "1350 Years of Science", as appropriate to the School's celebrations this year.

But 1350 years of science proved to be impossible, as Science unfortunately did not begin in the year 627 A.D. So the lecture developed into a history of Science from its earliest beginnings up to the present day. The lecture was presented in two halves, the first mainly historical with a dramatic ending in the form of a short play, the second historical with practical demonstrations. In this way, together with a variety of visual aids and characteristic touches of humour, the attention of the audience was held throughout and interest never flagged.

We were led through the earliest known scientific and mathematical discoveries (illustrated in one instance by some very dubious juggling with figures), to the ancient Greek scientists and philosophers. We followed the decline of scientific knowledge throughout Europe in the Dark Ages, until the eventual flowering of the medieval universities led to a renaissance in all branches of learning. It was not until the 16th century that Copernicus put forward his theory of a heliocentric universe, and it was to be many years later that Galileo suffered for his heretical Copernican beliefs.

We were warned in the programme not to take a simple historical view of the Church as representing mindless opposition to change. This was a timely warning, for in the play that followed, short extracts from Brecht's "Galileo Galilei", adapted by Kit Bird, there seemed little to be said in defence of the Church at that time. Kit Bird took the part of Galileo, and movingly portrayed the young man convinced of the truth of his observations, who is finally reduced in his old age to recanting all his beliefs. The instruments of persuasion were three impassive inquisitors, played by Christopher Bronk, Rupert Brown and David Kaner. Only Pope Urban VIII (John McGrath) retained his humanity. Galileo was not physically tortured, but a chilling description of the rack was given by Michael Johnston as William Lithgow. In somewhat subdued and thoughtful mood the audience at this point adjourned for coffee.

After the interval we found ourselves facing the opposite way and confronted with a formidable array of scientific apparatus. Now we moved on to the great figures of modern science: Newton, Priestley, Lavoisier, Faraday, Darwin, Maxwell. There were demonstrations of all sorts from the simple to the complicated; from the lighting of a 40