Reflections on Water Public Lectures
Highlights in this series of public lectures included:
Sir Arnold Wolfendale, on chronometers and celestial navigation
David Knight, on how Humphrey Davy’s studies of water established the nature of the chemical bond
Roberta Bivins, on modern day water cures Matthew Eddy, on eighteenth-century spas
Questions about the nature of water come close to those about the nature of life. One strand of this exploration came via a workshop on Prebiotic Chemistry (the study of the origins of life, examining how spontaneous chemical reactions may have led inorganic matter to become animate). Working along a similar theme, Stefan Helmreich completed a number of projects during the course of his Fellowship, spinning off from his book Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas. Engagement with IAS Fellows working in the field of astrophysics led Helmreich to begin work on a new paper entitled ‘What Was Life? Answers from Three Limit Biologies.’ This paper, which will appear in the journal Critical Inquiry, explores how we have come to understand life through the scientific study of different worlds, from deep space to the deep ocean.
In pursuing the scientific explanation of what water is and the role it plays in the origins of life, it is important not to overlook the historical element to this question. A popular series of public lectures, entitled Reflections on Water, charted the scientific and cultural history of thought about this question. Delivered by scientists, philosophers and historians from Durham and across the UK, these lectures demonstrated how inquiry into the properties of water has led to unexpected discoveries in fields as diverse as timekeeping, chemistry, atomic bonds, medicine, and industry.
Crosbie Smith, on the writings of Joseph Conrad in the age of steam and sail
Hasok Chang, on water as an element or a compound
David Brown, on water in religious art and architecture
Hugh Torrens, on the history of establishing the infrastructure to supply drinking water to London, Manchester and Dublin
Peter Coates, on the cultural, and sometimes political, significance of river swimming
John Finney, on the structure and dynamics of water that makes it so special
Jonathan Lowe, on water in philosophy
Stefan Helmreich’s article on the metaphor and symbolism of waves in science and society can be read in the IAS Insights journal:
www.durham.ac.uk/ias/insights/volume3/article18
Reflections
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