13th December 2023 -
Note: Date is 2nd Wednesday in December
The Development of British Military Helicopters
Our December talk will be presented by Nick Blackman, a retired Royal Navy Captain,
formerly of the Fleet Air Arm and now an independent aviation consultant. The theme
is the Royal Navy’s pioneering development of British military rotary-
As an amateur historian, Nick was frustrated by the absence of an integrated history
of Royal Navy helicopters, and this inspired an application in 2016 for a scholarship
with King’s College London to undertake a part-
The Second World War saw the Fleet Air Arm come tantalising close to its first rotary-
We will look at the huge scientific effort culminating in around 1961 in the world-
The Falklands War of 1982 saw vindication for many of the policies tenaciously pursued by the Naval Staff. It constituted the “longest period of continuous flying operations carried out by a Carrier Air Group in the Royal Navy, if not elsewhere”.
The first fifty years constituted a remarkable story of the Royal Navy's determination
to pursue a consistent vision through the twists and turns of international events
and ever-
17th January 2024 -
Traffic, Transport, Roads and Safety
Graham Feest’s presentation will explore some of the current and future topics which are driving the traffic, transport, roads and safety agenda including any specific issues appertaining to driver training and testing. This is intended to be an interactive session and there will be time for open debate, questions and opinions.
Graham is a UK based Road Safety Consultant. He is an experienced Road Safety Practitioner, starting his career with Worthing Borough Council in 1974. In 1984 he moved to West Sussex County Council where he became Senior Road Safety Officer with specific responsibilities for Education Development. He was appointed County Road Safety Officer for Northamptonshire in 1989, a post which he held until May 2001, joining the Institute of Advanced Motorists as Head of Road Safety until the end of 2003. He is qualified to teach at both Further and Adult Education Centres.
In addition Graham is an Honorary Life Member of the Association of Road Risk Management, Honorary Member of the Institute of Large Goods Vehicle Driving Instructors and a Fellow of the Institute of Master Tutors of Driving.
21st February 2024 -
Forensics -
In this presentation Gez Mellers will talk about how he got to work in forensics
for Hampshire Police and what "real" crime scene investigators do -
Gez also hopes to explore the science of forensics and particularly the use of DNA. He will conclude by answering any questions or misconceptions around forensics and police investigations that you may have.
20th March 2024 -
Ocean Circulation and Climate
Modern oceanography started 150 years ago with the round-
In about 1950, two fundamental concepts were developed to synthesise the large-
The first leads to an understanding of why the strongest ocean currents (Gulf Stream, Kuroshio) are found on the western sides of ocean basins. The second demonstrates why cold waters are present throughout the deep ocean, even at the equator.
In the talk, we couple the wind-
We describe a large field project to monitor the Atlantic Ocean circulation that we have developed over the past 20 years and we describe the technology used to monitor ocean circulation and present results on the temporal variability in ocean circulation observed over the past 20 years. Finally we show coupled climate models projections for the circulation up to the year 2100.
17th April 2024 -
Science at War -
This is the story of how Worth's scientists and industry didn't connect, despite
the pressures of war -
The ‘technological leap forward’ adopted as Audi’s slogan Vorsprung Durch Technik? was an advance eagerly sought by both Germany and the Allies in the Second World War. In radar, that leap was the massive jump to the use of microwaves, which in one move both yielded more accurate target location and permitted the use of much smaller aerials on aircraft, in ships and in vehicles.
But Germany, a larger nation than Britain and with excellent scientists, did not make this move until too late; while Britain, which made the leap – and immediately shared its secrets with the USA – almost lost its advantage by a breakdown in relationships between scientists and manufacturer.
Dr Phil Judkins and Dr Helmut Klausing’s latest research sweeps away comfortable myths to set out the whole story of facts previously obscured in both nations, revealing how science and power interact in time of war.