Object 7 - Geology Collections
Wendy Kirk, curator of the Geology Collections, talks about an igneous rock and the story of Dr Johnston-Lavis' late 19th century photographs of Mount Vesuvius.
A Crucial Difference (UCL)
Jackal skulls, mice skeletons, microfossils and volcanic rocks all comprise 'A Crucial Difference', the new exhibition in UCL's North Cloisters.
At first glance each object may appear to be the same. But in natural history there are no duplicates every specimen is unique. As part of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, this exhibition celebrates some of that variety within our collections.
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's very best universities. As a multi-faculty, research-intensive university in central London, our research helps tackle global challenges and feeds directly into outstanding degree programmes. Visit us at ucl.ac.uk
UCLESDating of the British Isles - Earth Science Week 2015
The event attracted a large number of not only students and staff from the Earth Science department and UCL but external visitors who found out about our event from the Earth Science Week 2015 site. All visitors were interested in the rocks, minerals and fossils that we have exhibited and entertained by our in-house geologists Drs Ruth Siddall and Wendy Kirk. This was a hands-on exhibition where visitors were encouraged to examine the specimens themselves and check them out under the scope.
Some had a go at being a geochronologist for the afternoon and attempted to determine the age of rocks with a use of an software application under a skilled tutelage of Dr Pieter Vermeesch, our resident geochronologist and statistician who de-mystified the fission tracks formation, explained how radioactive isotopes are used for dating and gave us a preview of what equipment he uses in his London Geochronology Centre.version 1.0
Grant Museum otter: Little-known objects in UCL Museums and Collections - no. 1
The Grant Museum is is part of Public and Cultural Engagement at UCL.
Otters in UK city rivers? Might not be as far off as you think, according to Alison Fairbrass, a PhD candidate at UCL's Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research. This is the first in a series of four short films on how researchers at UCL use little-known objects in our Museums and Collections.
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Additional footage of otters on CCTV from Manchester Evening News.
Further info:
Lewis is a Geology, Geography and Maths Tutor in London
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I am a bright and enthusiastic Masters student currently studying at Imperial College London. I have a 1st Class degree in Geology from Imperial, and A-levels in Maths, Geology, Geography and Biology. Based in Fulham/Chelsea, I am seeking work as a tutor for primarly geology and geography, but also in maths and science. I have experience as a tutor for geology undergraduates, and have experience working with children aged 8 to 16.
UCL ISH Jan 2016 Guest Lecture Norman MacLeod - Setting the Modern Biodiversity Crisis in Context
UCL ISH Guest Lecture Jan 2016 In association with SEAHA
Prof. Norman MacLeod, Natural History Museum - Setting the Modern Biodiversity Crisis in Context
Abstract
With its biblical overtones the phenomenon of extinction has intrigued and puzzled religious leaders, philosophers and scientists for millennia. In the 1800s direct evidence from the fossil record made it clear that the Earth has been inhabited by a vast succession of unique creatures, the overwhelming majority of which are now extinct. Thus, from an evolutionary perspective, extinction is a perfectly natural process second only to speciation in its frequency. But concern over the state of the meagre remnant of all that once was is both pertinent and pressing. While a surprisingly small number of species have been documented to have been driven extinct over the last 400 years, projections of extinction rates that will occur over the next 200 years if steps are not taken to preserve and conserve them remain matters of serious social, political, economic and moral concern. Moreover, a comparative analysis of ancient mass extinction intervals suggests that the modern world is in a decidedly extinction-prone state. While new evidence suggests that the intrinsic diversity of modern ecosystems may have prevented large numbers of extinctions from having occurred to date, it is an open question whether this resilience will provide sufficient time to make the changes in human social priorities necessary to avoid precipitation of a human-caused mass extinction event.
Biography
Norman MacLeod is Dean of Post-Graduate Education and Training at The Natural History Museum (London), Honorary Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, and Honorary Visiting Professor at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China. He has worked in the educational, research, and private sectors, taught students at all levels from secondary school to postgraduate, trained and supervised the research of over 20 MSc and PhD students and provided research and consultancy services to a wide range of commercial clients. He is the author of over 400 publications including eight books, most recently Issues in Paleobiology: A Global View (2014 w/ M. R. Sánchez-Villagra), Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Extinctions, Second Edition (2 vols, 2013 w/ J. D. Archibald and P. Levins), and The Great Extinctions: What Causes Them and How They Shape Life (2013).
Cornwall Introduction to Geology at Porth Ledden
South West England 1st Year Field Class to Cornwall, Earth Sciences, UCL. Student Training video.
University Museums and Galleries
Spot UCL locations in this Universities UK video. The video emphasises how museums engage the public with research. Nobody says it better than the schoolboy at 3:02.
Originally listed on Universities UK YouTube:
First X-rays for clinical purposes: Little-known objects in UCL Museums & Collections no. 2
UCL Museums and Collections are part of Public and Cultural Engagement at UCL.
Norman Collie produced some of the first ever X-rays and used the technique for clinical purposes for the first time in February, 1896. UCL's Science Collections holds Collie's original x-rays. In this video, Alwyn Davies, emeritus professor in Organic Chemistry at UCL, examines the life, work and experimental x-ray techniques of the Victorian polymath.
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Further info:
Presenter: Dean Veall, Grant Museum of Zoology, Public and Cultural Engagement
Camera: Rob Eagle, UCL Communications
Editor: Sam Lax, Arts and Sciences BASc student
Object 1 - UCL Science and Engineering Collection
Nick Booth, curator of the UCL Science and Engineering Collections, talks about the experimental valve.
Lunch Hour Lectures on Tour: The Unnatural Nature of Natural History Museums - Jack Ashby
Lunch Hour Lectures are going on Tour at London Zoo this May. Lectures are free to attend and open to all. Find out more about our programme here:
Follow us on Twitter: @UCLLHL
About the talk: Natural history museums are magical places. They inspire awe and wonder in the natural world and help us understand our place within the animal kingdom.
But they are places for people, made by people. We might like to consider them logical places, but if we look close enough we can detect biases in the decisions for which animals are selected for display.
Museums are a product of their own history, and that of the societies they are embedded in. They are not apolitical, and they are not entirely scientific. As such, they don’t really represent reality.
About the speaker: Author and zoologist Jack Ashby is the Manager of the Grant Museum of Zoology at University College London. He is a trustee of the Natural Sciences Collections Association and the Society for the History of Natural History, and regularly writes and comments about the roles of natural history museums in science and society. His new book Animal Kingdom: A Natural History in 100 Objects explores the striking diversity of animal life and delves into some of the most exciting mechanisms in evolution, while shedding a light on life behind the scenes in museums. His main zoological interest is in Australian mammals.
Finding a place to belong outside the comfort zone | Simon Wallis | TEDxNagoyaU
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. To study abroad will be a great experience. It is to get out of the comfort zone. Simon talks about it on the basis of his experience.
In 1988 received his Doctorate in geology from University of Oxford. This was followed by four years as a researcher in Kyoto university followed by 2 years as an investment banker in Tokyo before returning to academia.
He was a faculty member at Kyoto University for several years before joining Nagoya University. He is a professor and the head of the school of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the Faculty of Environmental Studies now. He have acted as the editor in chief for the international journal Island Arc, and served as vice president of the Geological Society of Japan. He also actively involved in developing international relations for the Geological Society of Japan, the Japan Geoscience Union and the American Geophysical Union.
He used to be working as an advisor to the Japanese Foreign office on application to the UN to extend the continental shelf around Japan. Visiting academic positions at Universities of Torino, University College London and Bristol.
Also, he experienced interpreter for German, Japanese and English. Judo 4th dan and former UK universities champion.
About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
A climate of fear: what the past tells us about human responses to climate change (9 June 2011)
Lunch Hour Lecture on tour at the British Museum: A climate of fear: what the past tells us about human responses to climate change
Dr Joe Flatman (UCL Institute of Archaeology)
Linking in with World Environment Day (5 June 2010), archaeologist Joe Flatman uses ten objects from the British Museum to explore what the past tells us about human responses to climate change. The barrage of conflicting information about climate change can seem insurmountable - a mass of data on a problem too big for any one person to understand or any one community to manage. Archaeology offers a key to unlocking this problem: ancient objects from around the world provide us with insights into how people in the past dealt with, perceived of, responded to and ultimately prospered in changing climates. Archaeology thus also provides analogies for how modern society can face the 'climate challenge' in the 21st century -- and beyond.
Apocalypse in 2012? History, myth and science
Dr Francisco Diego Quintana, Honorary Research Associate, UCL Department of Physics and Astronomy
Prof Elizabeth Graham, Professor of Mesoamerican Archaeology, UCL Institute of Archaeology
Did the Classic Maya really predict the end of the world on 21 December 2012? What caused them to record a date that would occur over a thousand years into their future? This lecture reviews a variety of apocalyptic prophecies, specially the one for this year, in the light of scientific research into the formation, development and eventual destruction of entire solar systems, including ours.
The metaphysics of concrete (21 Feb 2012)
Professor Adrian Forty (UCL Bartlett School of Architecture)
Almost three tons of concrete are produced every year for each man, woman and child on the planet. It is now second only to water in terms of human consumption. Yet how has the astonishing take-up of this new medium within little over a century been accommodated into our mental universe? While it has transformed the lives of many people, in Western countries it has been widely vilified, blamed for making everywhere look the same, and for erasing nature. Architects and engineers, although they have primary responsibility for 'interpreting' concrete, are not the only people to employ the medium, and many other occupations - politicians, artists, writers, filmmakers, churchmen - have made use of concrete for purposes of their own. The results are often contentious, and draw attention to the contradictions present in how we think about our physical surroundings.
A place that exists only in moonlight: Katie Paterson & JMW Turner
Hear artist Katie Paterson talk about art and science, space and time. See her awe-inspiring artworks inspired by astronomy and cosmology, the imagination, the natural world and the entire universe.
Paterson’s new exhibition ‘A place that exists only in moonlight: Katie Paterson & JMW Turner’ is at Turner Contemporary from Saturday 26 January - Monday 6 May 2019.
Paterson transforms simple yet seemingly impossible ideas into incredible artworks, from a candle that smells like the universe, to a light bulb that simulates moonlight. Her exhibition at Turner Contemporary features a colour wheel that charts the colour of the universe and a mirror ball shining with the image of every solar eclipse recorded by humankind.
Throughout her career, Paterson has worked with lighting engineers, geographers, geologists, perfumers, biochemists, technicians, biologists, horologists, foresters, paleontologists and other professionals to ensure her artworks are scientifically accurate whilst being philosophically powerful. This film includes three astrophysicists who have worked with Paterson on The Cosmic Spectrum and Totality.
In this film, Paterson also discusses her fascination with JMW Turner’s paintings that relate to the natural world, including moonscapes, glaciers, and mountains, and well as both artists' shared connection with Margate. Paterson notes the astonishing colours of the coastal environment in Thanet, the sunsets and the wild seas.
Find out more about the exhibition on Turner Contemporary's website here:
Featured in film:
Katie Paterson, Artist
Fiona Parry, Senior Curator at Turner Contemporary
Dr Steven Fossey, Senior Teaching Fellow, UCL Observatory
Professor Richard Ellis, Professor of Astrophysics, UCL
Professor Ivan Baldry, Professor of astrophysics, Liverpool John Moores University
Artworks featured in film:
Katie Paterson
The Cosmic Spectrum, 2019
Totality, 2016. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London. A 70th Anniversary Commission for the Arts Council Collection
Ara, 2016. Courtesy of the artist
Colour Field, 2016. Courtesy of the artist
History of Darkness, 2010 – ongoing. Courtesy of the artist
Timepieces, 2014. Courtesy of the artist
Light bulb to Simulate Moonlight, 2008. National Galleries of Scotland. Purchased with help from the Knapping Fund 2011
Ideas, 2015 – ongoing. Courtesy of Ingleby Gallery, James Cohan (New York), Parafin (London), Private Collection, The Art Collection (University of Stirling)
Fossil Necklace, 2013. Courtesy of the artist
Earth – Moon – Earth (Moonlight Sonata Reflected from the Surface of the Moon), 2007
JMW Turner
Orange Sunset, 1840 © Tate
Lowestoffe, Suffolk, 1837 © Tate
Mont Blanc and the Glacier des Bossons from above Chamonix, dawn, 1836 © Tate
The Eruption of Souffrier, St Vincent, at midnight, on the 30th April, 1812 © Victoria Gallery & Museum, University of Liverpool
Coastal Terrain, 1825 © Tate
Storm at Sea, 1824 © Tate
Moonlight on River, 1826 © Tate
Not for profit: UCL Alumni Professional Networking event
UCL Alumni Professional Networking events: Not for Profit - 9th June 2011
This award-winning series of professional networking events is aimed primarily at recent graduates. The events have been designed to connect experienced alumni with recent graduates, and to provide information on career change, or how to break into an industry sector.
Chair
· Lori Manders, UCL's Director of Development and Alumni Relations
Panel Members
Alison Baum (UCL Neuroscience 1994) - CEO of child health charity Best Beginnings.
Tom Dixon (UCL Geology 2002) - Sports Events Manager at Scope
Polly Markandya (UCL History 1994) - Head of Communications at Médecins Sans Frontières
Tessa Murdoch (UCL History of Art 1976) - Deputy Keeper Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass at the V&A
You can read a blog written by one of the event attendees here:
About UCL:
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's top universities. Across all disciplines our faculties are known for their research-intensive approaches, academic excellence and engagement with global challenges. This is the basis of our world-renowned degree programmes. Visit us at
Object 4 - Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
Alice Stevenson, the curator of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, talks about a prehistoric Egyptian pottery vessel and the challenges of bringing together the disperse histories of the objects in the collection.
Help us support the UK's museums and galleries | Art Fund
Everything we do – from championing curators to securing masterpieces for public collections – is made possible thanks to people like you who share our passion for making great art available to everyone. Your support is vital.
To donate, please visit artfund.org/donate
Experimental Archaeology in Egypt with Matthew Szafran
Archaeology is an ever-changing and developing field, and there are new methodologies created and perfected all the time. Come join us as we speak with Matthew Szafran, a researcher who does experimental archaeology on Egyptian Predynastic palettes!
Support the stream:
Matt's References:
Searchable (UK based) object collections:
Petrie Museum:
Manchester Museum:
British Museum:
Aston, B., Harrell, J. and Shaw, I. (2000). Stone, in P. Nicholson and I. Shaw (eds.) Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, pp.5–77. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Ayrton, E. and Loat, W. (1911). Pre-dynastic cemetery at El Mahasna. London: William Clowes and Sons, Limited.
Bloxam, E. and Kelany, A. (2014). Investigating the Predynastic origins of greywacke working in the Wadi Hammamat. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: [Accessed 05 Jan. 2018].
Ciałowicz, K. (1991). Les Palettes Égyptiennes Aux Motifs Zoomorphes et Sans Décoration. Kraków: Uniw. Jagielloński.
Harrell, J. and Storemyr, P. (2009) Ancient Agyptian Quarries — An Illustrated Overview. Inabu-Jaber, N., Bloxam, e.G., Degryse, p. and Heldal, t. (eds.) QuarryScapes: ancient stone quarry landscapes in the Eastern Mediterranean, Geological Survey of Norway Special publication,12, pp. 7–50.
Harrell, J. (2016). Turin Papyrus Map from Ancient Egypt. [online] Eeescience.utoledo.edu. Available at: [Accessed 17 Aug. 2018].
Lee, L and Quirke, S. (2000). Painting materials, in P. Nicholson and I. Shaw (eds.) Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, pp. 104–120. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Manniche, L. and Forman, W. (1999). Sacred luxuries: Sacred Luxuries: fragrance, aromatherapy, and cosmetics in ancient Egypt. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press.
Newman, R and Serpico, M. (2000). Adhesives and binders, in P. Nicholson and I. Shaw (eds.) Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, pp. 475–494. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Patenaude, J. and Shaw, G. (2011). A Catalogue of Egyptian Cosmetic Palettes in the Manchester University Museum Collection. London: Golden House Publ.
Petrie, W. (1895a). Archaeological News in Frothingham, A. and Marquand, A. (eds.) The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts, 10(3), pp. 369-375. Archaeological Institute of America.
Scott, D. (2016). A review of ancient Egyptian pigments and cosmetics. Studies in Conservation, 61(4), pp.185-202.
Serpico, M. and White. R. (2000). Oil, fats and wax, in P. Nicholson and I. Shaw (eds.) Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, pp. 391–429. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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For general information and sources relating to the Ancient Near East, we recommend these websites:
ABZU - (collection of free and open-access data)
University of Chicago Oriental Institute - (great collection of free books and articles)
Livius.org - (general encyclopedia on the ancient world)
ETCSL - (Sumerian literature)
ORACC - (collection of projects relating to Mesopotamia)
EPSD - (Online Sumerian dictionary)
CDLI - (Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative)
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Music: Brak Bnei Original Composition