First John Brown Memorial Lecture

The University, with the Royal Astronomical Society, hosted the first John Brown Memorial Lecture on the evening of Dec 5th 2023.

The John Brown Memorial Lectures are named in honour of Professor John Brown, the former Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, and former leader of the A&A group, who passed away in 2019. As Astronomer Royal for Scotland, he was a keen advocate for science communication, with a strong interest in the interface between the arts and science, often incorporating magic tricks into his public lectures. The memorial lectures continue this tradition focusing on the influence of science on art.

The first lecture was given by Professor Randall Stevenson, Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, which focused on public interest in comets between the early 1800s and the early 1900s, a period sometimes referred to as the “comet-crazed century.” The lecture will describe the large numbers of spectacular comets appearing at the time, discussing their effects on literature, art and popular culture, and on the development of cometary science itself.

The event also featured an introduction from Professor Mike Edmunds, president of the Royal Astronomical Society, and a poetry reading from Rab Wilson, one of Scotland’s most accomplished poets and a renowned Burns scholar.