Invasive species, plants and animals across the world that have been accidentally or deliberately introduced into other countries, have in many cases caused drastic ecological effects in their new homes,...
With conflicts raging in Ukraine and Gaza, the West is facing numerous challenges over how best to defend and protect its interests, from making sure it has the military resilience...
Another talk to illustrate notable (and in this instance, local) links with BRLSI’s bicentenary! Whilst researching the life and times of her ancestors, the Houltons of the Farleigh Hungerford estate, Dr Mary Redmayne uncovered important links between Colonel John Houlton (1773-1839) of the Somerset Militia and BRLSI. A lively story emerged, from Joseph Houlton (a...
Ready for a talk with some live music? Bluegrass, an American musical style, which started in the 1940s, is still going strong. Most of us recognise the sound of banjo-led bluegrass from films such as O Brother Where Art Thou and Bonnie and Clyde, and some will remember The Beverley Hillbillies on 1960s television. Up until the 1970s...
What have the philosophers ever done for psychology? Psychology is as old as humanity itself and we have been asking questions about ourselves for millennia. This talk charts the fascinating origin of psychology and draws on numerous themes, structuring the journey via the central theory developed by the psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist (author of The Master...
Ensuring many views in Bath look as they did 250 years ago is key to the unique experience of walking through our World Heritage City. How does the magic happen? Over the last 25 years a special fund has invested nearly £500,000 on 200 separate projects to help burnish the little details that make such...
What are the current status and future prospects of sustainable hydrogen technologies? In the latest talk in our Sustainability series, discover the entire hydrogen value chain - from production, storage, distribution and end use, as well as alternative carriers such as ammonia. Cross-cutting aspects such as safety and social, environmental and economic sustainability will also...
In 1916 Albert Einstein predicted that his new theory of gravitation, now called General Relativity, included wave modes which could propagate in vacuum a little like electromagnetism. These modes - the “gravitational” waves - were predicted by Einstein to be so weak that they would “never be detected”. With the development of electronics, lasers and...
Have you ever wondered what Mr Hyde actually did when he wasn’t Dr Jekyll? Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde gives very little detail about Dr Jekyll’s evil double, Mr Hyde, except in general reports of his wrongdoings. Duncan McGibbon will explain how the secret of Hyde’s misdemeanours lies in...
What can ancient Greek myths teach us about the troubles and challenges of our post-truth times? Environmental degradation, mass migration, war, inequality, exclusion, authoritarianism, and perplexing technological possibilities have been enduring themes since ancient times. Using some of his favourite myths as points of departure, Yiannis Gabriel invites us to think and experience the world...
A four-talk collaboration between BRLSI and the University of Bath to explore how new research and innovative products can impact and improve the lives of people around the world. We want everyone to be able to enjoy & learn from this series - so please choose a free ticket, or if you’re happy to pay £3...
From Hogarth’s vivid depiction of the gin craze and as pubs and beer shops grew up in Victorian England there arose a desire for self-improvement combined with Evangelicalism as an alternative. This led to taking the pledge for temperance becoming a movement for total abstinence by the 1830s and the talk will cover its origins...
BRLSI’s Victorian Literature Group discusses Charlotte Brontë’s novel Villette, exploring loneliness, love, and the struggle for independence in a pensionnat in Brussels. Villette follows the story of Lucy Snowe, a young Englishwoman who moves to the fictional town of “Villette” (her name for Brussels) to teach at a girls' school after a series of personal...
Winston Churchill was a figure cartoonists loved to ridicule, boost or lampoon - sometimes all at once! Funnily enough, Churchill was not hurt by unfavourable cartoons, but rather enjoyed them and had some of them framed and hung around the walls of his home at Chartwell. To mark the 150th anniversary of his birth,...
Like BRLSI, The Athenaeum Club was founded two hundred years ago and also like BRLSI, its members had a huge impact on Britain’s scientific, creative and official life. Find out more about the club’s compelling history in our latest bicentenary talk! When it was founded in 1824, the Athenaeum broke the mould. Unlike in other...
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony had its premiere in May 1824 - the same year as BRLSI was established. Best known for its iconic choral finish, based on Schiller’s Ode to Joy, it became the gold standard for symphonies for composers in and beyond the German-speaking world. Find out the background to this extraordinary work in an...
He’s been called the voice of his generation, but people have not always been complimentary about the voice of Bob Dylan. To many, Dylan’s songs sound better when sung by other people, but this talk presents the argument that Bob Dylan’s vocal talents are as central to his art as his song writing. With the...
IWM’s Blavatnik Art, Film & Photography Galleries Caro Howell (Director-General, Imperial War Museums) This is a Historical Association event - for further information please email mikeshort20@btinternet.com
The book arts can be many things; from purely conceptual, commercially printed books like Ed Ruscha’s Twentysix Gasoline Stations, to the monumental lead book sculptures of Anselm Kiefer. Whether the artist intends to reject the limitations imposed by physicality, or to investigate and embrace them, each book is nonetheless forced to reckon with its corporeal...
Exploring a cosmos as vast as ours is bound to result in a few surprises! In this talk, Chris Lintott (BBC Sky at Night/University of Oxford) explains how astronomers stumble across their discoveries. From the rich diversity of worlds in our Solar System to the edge of the observable universe, he will explain that what...
All living things on Earth are related; they share a common ancestor (LUCA). Recent work has allowed us to determine when LUCA lived, its way of life, and what kind of genes it had, thus firmly placing LUCA in the context of the tree of life and Earth’s history. In this talk Dr Ed Moody...
Everything is a something – or is it? Professor John Dupre considers the difference between substantialist and processualist metaphysics in this talk on the nature of "things". Following Aristotle, philosophers have generally assigned organisms to the category of a substance or – roughly, a kind of “thing”. Professor John Dupre of the University of Exeter...
An art insider’s look at artists such as Richard Dadd, Georgiana Houghton and the “Elizabethan Magus” John Dee, who all claimed their work was a direct manifestation of spirit-world intelligence. Sean Jefferson shares his investigations into artists who say their work has been assisted by guiding hands from the spirit world or uncensored expression direct...
A four-talk collaboration between BRLSI and the University of Bath to explore how new research and innovative products can impact and improve the lives of people around the world. We want everyone to be able to enjoy & learn from this series of four talks - so please choose a free ticket, or if you’re...
Go to any ancient building and there will often be exciting and romantic stories of secret passages to distant places, hidden rooms and staircases, ship timbers used in buildings, blocked doors in churches to keep the Devil out and claims to be the oldest pub in the country. In this talk, archaeologist James Wright will...
In the past fifty years, economists have had more influence over politics and society than any other social science. But where do their ideas come from? In this talk, Nat Dyer will tell the story of David Ricardo, Adam Smith’s only real rival as the “founder of economics”. Following a chance discovery in Bath, Ricardo...
By 1824, the composers of the Baroque and Classical eras were long dead and the Romantic Era was dawning. This talk by Margaret McAlpine and Cliff Haresign will focus on works composed or premiered in 1824, especially the music of Schubert and Beethoven. Vienna was still the centre of the musical world at this time,...
Francis Fukuyama’s utopian dream of the end of history, culminating in the dominance of the neo-liberal world order, has been well and truly shattered. Professor John Gray and Andreas Wasmuht explore the origins of liberalism, how it was instrumental to the shaping of the modern world and how it has been overturned by geopolitics...
A four-talk collaboration between BRLSI and the University of Bath to explore how new research and innovative products can impact and improve the lives of people around the world. We want everyone to be able to enjoy & learn from this series of four talks - so please choose a free ticket, or if you’re...
In a year of worldwide democratic choices, distinguished researcher Dr Michael Kranert speaks about the relationship between language and politics in right-wing populism in contemporary Germany. He will also discuss the main differences from political language in the UK. Michael will use linguistic research methods from the field of discourse studies in order to analyse...
