Abstract: Have you ever looked through a microscope? Do you know who coined the word 'cell' ? Robert Hooke was a 17th century scientist, inventor, engineer and artist. He wrote the first scientific best-seller, refined the microscope and co-founded the Royal Society of London. Today, Hooke is largely unknown; Was he overshadowed by his contemporary Isaac Newton? Did Newton try to suppress Hooke's place in history? This lecture examines the life of Robert Hooke, his genius, his disputes and his legacy.

Bio: Graeme Stanley, MA Hons (Edinburgh). Graeme graduated from Edinburgh University in 1998 with a degree in Artificial Intelligence and Linguistics. In 2012, Graeme moved to Adelaide with his wife and young son. He fell in love with the southern sky and joined The Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSA) within months of arriving. Graeme presented the ASSA public lecture in April 2014 on beginners astrophotography and again in 2016 on the topic of Celestial Scales. Graeme is a software developer, specialising in mobile apps for Android.

Adelaide Planetarium
2 nd Floor, Building P
Mawson Lakes Campus
University of South Australia
Cost $10, Concession $8 - Pay on the day


 

Northern outlier to the Flinders Ranges - THE WAY TO WITCHELINA

We are planning next year's long excursion and need your expressions of interest now.

Professor Pat James has offered to show and explain the extraordinary geological features of Witchelina Station. Witchelina is a former pastoral station north west of Leigh Creek in the arid country west of the northern Flinders. As a result, the geology is laid bare. Pat showed us some of the features in a recent talk to the Club when we saw the swirling bands of sediments older than the formations in the Flinders and the extraordinary straight, parallel bands of stromatolites stretching for kilometres. If you go on this excursion you will see hillocks of white quartz where the outcrops have shattered and resemble miniature snow capped peaks. You will see iron concretions that look like cast iron cauldrons.

Witchelina is further away than the Flinders. We expect the logistics to be similar to the arrangements for the recent Flinders excursion with a small bus hired for those needing transport to Witchelina and four wheel drives for travel within Witchelina.

Witchelina is now owned by the Nature Foundation SA. This is a very go ahead South Australian not-for-profit organisation run with significant input from volunteers. They manage properties of which Witchelina is one of two very large former sheep stations that they are returning to a natural environment. We will have exclusive use of their accommodation and campground facilities and they can cater for us at very reasonable cost.

The trip would be at the end of August 2020 (22nd-30th). As usual it would be a week-long excursion including the two weekends each end totalling 8 nights away. We envisage stopping part way for two nights at a location on our way to Witchelina, four nights at Witchelina itself and doing a similar two night stop at a different location on the return home trip.

This is going to be a complex trip to manage. We need plenty of advance information on numbers, for preliminary booking of accommodation and for vehicle availability. We may have to hire 4-wheel drives. (You can drive into Witchelina in a 2WD vehicle towing a caravan).

We are not looking for a firm commitment at this stage but if you would like to be part of next year's long excursion, please could you tell us by the end of this October.

Richard Williams is a member of Nature Foundation SA and has volunteered to take on the major role of organising the logistics of this excursion. He wants to know the answers to the following questions:

- Do you have your own transport or do you require a seat on a bus?

- Will you bring a 4-wheel drive and does it have spare seat capacity for trips within Witchelina and the two night stops?

- Do you require accommodation (mostly shearer quarters, plus overseer's house at Witchelina. Caravan Parks for the other nights.) or will you be camping/caravanning?

There will be a form at the October Club meeting where you can reply to these questions or you can email Richard Williams by clicking the link: Email Richard

He can also be contacted at 0428 885 574