Evening Planetarium Lectures
Beginning Sep 2002 I initiated a programme of evening lectures which gradually grew in popularity.
Read Lucrative Lectures!, the 2003 end-of-year summary

The core of attendees come from my free electronic mailing list, which I started after the launch of the planetarium in Feb 2002

*NEWS FLASH*
In Dec 04, a week after leaving GSC, I heard that our bid to receive PPARC Small Award funding to continue
running these lectures was successful! (ie. £5000 over 2005 & 2006)
 

Oct

Sep

Aug

Jul

Thursday Jun 24th
Great Moments in Astronomy - A Personal Retrospective - Prof Archie E. Roy (Professor Emeritus, Dept of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow)
Illustrated presentation and planetarium show [90 min]
Attendance: 45

Thursday May 27th
Captain Cook and the Cosmic Yardstick -  Dr Martin Hendry (Head, Physical Sciences Graduate School, Dept of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow)
Illustrated presentation and planetarium show
Attendance: 20

Thursday April 29th (postponed and delivered on Thu May 6th)
Esbat and Sabat - The Discovery Of The Coligny Calendar - Robert Hughes (Glasgow Science Centre and Astronomical Society of Glasgow)
Illustrated presentation and planetarium show
Attendance: 20

Thursday March 11th
CTR Wilson, the Ben Nevis Observatory and the Discovery of Cosmic Rays  - Dr Alec McKinnon (Department of Adult and Continuing Education, University of Glasgow)
Illustrated presentation
Attendance: 21

Thursday February 26th
The Fermi Paradox - are we alone in the galaxy? Have we been visited? - Duncan Lunan (writer on astronomy and spaceflight, and Treasurer & Past President of ASTRA [Association in Scotland To Research into Astronautics]
Illustrated presentation and planetarium show
Attendance: 38

Thursday January 29th
The Star Religion of the Pyramid Builders of Egypt - Robert Bauval (world-renowned investigator of ancient Egypt and author of three best-sellers translated into 20 languages: "The Orion Mystery"; "Keeper of Genesis" and "Secret Chamber")
Illustrated presentation and planetarium show  [90 min long]
Attendance: (postponed due to snowstorms and cancelled flights at Heathrow Airport)
 

Thursday November 27th
The Universe for Beginners - Steve Owens (Glasgow Science Centre)
Illustrated presentation and planetarium show
Attendance: 84

Thursday October 16th
The Stones and the Stars - an astronomical monument for Glasgow - Duncan Lunan (writer on astronomy and spaceflight, and Treasurer & Past President of ASTRA [Association in Scotland To Research into Astronautics])
Illustrated presentation and planetarium show
Attendance: 25

Thursday September 4th
Risk and the Space Shuttle - Some Perspectives - Prof. Henry McDonald (Distinguished Professor, Chair of Excellence in Engineering, University of Tennessee; also Chair of the NASA Shuttle Independent Assessment Team which produced a comprehensive report on Space Shuttle safety in 2000)
Illustrated presentation
Attendance: 35

Thursday August 28th
The Pharaoh, The Stars and the Planet Mars - Chris O'Kane (Glasgow Science Centre)
Illustrated presentation and planetarium show
Attendance: 65

Thursday July 31st
The Restless Stars - Dr Bonnie Steves
(School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University)
Illustrated presentation
Attendance: 40

Thursday June 26th
Shadows on the Sun - Dr Lyndsay Fletcher (Astronomy & Astrophysics Group, University of Glasgow)
Illustrated presentation and planetarium show
Attendance: 18

Thursday May 29th
Einstein's Universe - Dr Martin Hendry (Dept of Physics & Astronomy, University of Glasgow)
Illustrated presentation
Attendance: 25

Lucrative Lectures!
Fri 28 Nov, 2003

Hello everyone

Last night Steve Owens broke all records with his Space Theatre presentation The Universe for Beginners. A total of 84 enthusiastic visitors (paying £5 each) attended the last of this year's monthly planetarium lectures - and they were treated to exciting, up-to-date (and somewhat mind-boggling) information about life, the universe and everything. The universe, it seems, is even stranger than we can hope to imagine!

For the record, this was the 8th evening presentation this year, and we finished with a total of 341 visitors - an average of 43 people per lecture - and at £5 per head, that's not bad going. The majority of these after-hours visitors are contacted via our free electronic SPST Interest Group mailing list (which people join after attending regular Space Theatre shows).

Also, it's interesting to note that although the programme this year featured numerous invited speakers (and one international speaker), the three best-attended presentations were all by GSC staff:

Apr (49 visitors) - launch of our planetarium show A Celestial Journey
Aug (65 visitors) - Chris O'Kane, The Pharaoh, The Stars and the Planet Mars
Nov (84 visitors) - Steve Owens, The Universe for Beginners

Congratulations to Steve, Chris, and all the Science Communicators who assisted to make this a successful lecture series!

Next year's programme, you'll be happy to know, is already lined-up and ready to roll.


Mario Di Maggio
Manager: ScottishPower Space Theatre
Glasgow Science Centre
50 Pacific Quay
Glasgow
G51 1EA
0141-420 5010 x310

Inside a planetarium you feel the knowledge at a gut level, even if your mind stumbles - Laurent Pellerin