Programme

On Saturday 6 September, trips to Woolsthorpe Manor, the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton, and to the Cavendish Laboratory Museum are planned. The trip to Woolsthorpe Manor (9am - 2pm) costs £20, which includes coach fare and entrance fee. The visit to the Cavendish Laboratory (9am - 12pm) is free but will entail delegates making their own way to the site in West Cambridge. Please note the trips are mutually exclusive.

Titles of Invited talks

The induction coil: the natural and social history of a physics instrument
Dr Paolo Brenni, CNR, Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica Florence, Italy

Volta, batteries and the marvels of current electricity
Professor Hasok Chang, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Why were Cavendish's electrical researches important to Maxwell?
Dr Isobel Falconer, St Andrews University, Dundee, UK

From Power physics to Pure physics? Reflections on a changing discipline
Professor Graeme Gooday, University of Leeds

History of physics, and what it's good for
Professor John. L. Heilbron, University of California, Berkeley USA

Demystifying Maxwell's demon: Its historical role on the route from thermodynamics to (quantum-) information theory
Professor Dr Heinz Krenn, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria

Physics and Trinity College
Professor Malcolm Longair, University of Cambridge, UK

This splendid apparatus: the material culture of electro-magnetic induction
Professor Iwan Morus, Aberystwyth University

The dynamics of concepts in early electromagnetism
Professor Dr Friedrich Steinle, Technical University, Berlin, Germany

The science museum: a discussion of contemporary issues around the presentation of science and its history in museums, galleries and science centres with the Director of the London Science Museum, Dr Ian Blatchford, and the Director of Wellcome Collection, Dr Ken Arnold, as speakers. Chaired by Professor Jim Bennett, Visiting Keeper at the Science Museum.