I enjoyed every part of the discussion of the museum that Dr. Conklin gave. I figured it would just be a brief overview of what was in store for when we visited, but it got to be much deeper than that, delving into past European racial issues both socially and scientifically. I think this was my favorite part of the discussion, as it was easy to pay attention to as well as an unexpected talking point.
Author: Brenden Alkire
Dr. Kinghorn – London Discussion | Brenden Alkire
I thought the presentation on London that Dr. Kinghorn gave was incredibly interesting and informative. He brought up a lot of places that seemed very interesting to visit, such as the gardens he presented on and also some of the places he mentioned in his post-presentation discussion. It was obvious that he was very knowledgeable about English culture, and many other cultures around the world as well. I would say that the thing that made this presentation the most worthwhile and successful was the obvious relation to our trip, as well as his enthusiasm when presenting on topics he obviously knows very well.
Dr. Alber – Pasteur Discussion | Brenden Alkire
I found Dr. Alber’s presentation very interesting, especially being so close to watching to movie about him. It was interesting to hear some of the things discussed in the movie be presented in a classroom setting, as it really gave a sense of the class coming in a sort of circle. I have been very interested in vaccination and disease in the past couple years, and this presentation got me even more intrigued. Even with this, I would say my favorite part of the presentation was the discussion about Pasteur’s more personal life, such as his homemade laboratory and his germophobic tendencies with his tiny bed. Overall, I was very interested in everything Dr. Alber discussed and thought it tied into the class very well.
Dale Gnidovec – Orton Hall Meeting | Brenden Alkire
It was noticible right off the bat how much Mr. Gnidovec loved his job at Orton Hall, and that made the whole experience just that much better. This was probably my favorite presentation so far, but that could be impacted due to my interest in prehistory coming into the talk. My favorite part of the entire discussion was when he would talk about specific prehistoric life such as the pterosaurs and mosasaurs. I thought it was also very evident that many people shared this same opinion based just on the amount of questions he got to answer at the end of the presentation, and overall I can say this was a very enjoyable experience.
Black Holes – Dr. Mathur | Brenden Alkire
Dr. Mathur discussed so much more than only black holes, but his talk about black holes was what I thought was the most compelling. Taking an astronomy class in high school taught me a lot about the universe, but I knew almost nothing about any of the topics Dr. Mathur discussed in this presentation. Overall, I could tell that he was incredibly knowledgeable about what he researches and he very much enjoys teaching other people almost as much.
My favorite part of the discussion was the topic regarding where the universe may have originated, and where it could potentially go. I love the idea that it continually expands, but then starts to retract back upon itself until it is essentially a speck with every bit of density at one singular point. I think this is a very compelling theory, but it is also disappointing to know that we will (probably) never know the answer to this question in our lifetime. I was also impressed at how well he did at answering every question posed to him in complete detail.
Science and Religion – Dr. Goldish | Brenden Alkire
I was kind of surprised whenever Dr. Goldish introduced what he was going to talk about, as it seemed to go against what some other speakers have had to say. After thinking about it, however, it didn’t go against what anyone said, as it seems Darwin could possibly be an outlier in the whole debate of science vs. religion. I was excited to see what Dr. Goldish had so say from the beginning, as Angels & Demons is one of my favorite novels of all time, with Dan Brown being my second favorite author and somewhat of an idol for me since I want to be a writer.
My least favorite part of the presentation was the blame put onto Brown for trying to push a false narrative, as his books are in fact fiction writing, so any “fact” presented in a fiction novel must be further researched to determine whether the “fact” is fiction or not as well. I feel that Brown was not trying to intentionally misinform his readers of history, but create a fictional world that is the best to tell his story in. This did not mean that much to me, however, as it was a very minimal part of the presentation and mostly just used as a lead up to the main point.
Overall, I thought this was one of the best presentations and discussions we have had. Dr. Goldish was incredibly knowledgeable about all of the scientists we discussed, and was great at getting across his points. His points were so compelling that they made me want to go home and do more research into the subject myself. Also, it was impossible to look away as he was talking, as he speaks with so much confidence. I really enjoyed this presentation, and would gladly listen to him talk every week.
Dr. Breitenberger – Women in Science | Brenden Alkire
I thought the most interesting part of the presentation was the section dedicated to Mary Anning. This is probably due to my great interest in paleontology and prehistoric life, but that says even more about the credit she receives for what she contributed to the scientific world. If I don’t know much about her, then people who don’t have an interest in the field probably haven’t either. I am glad to have learned more about her and think back to this presentation whenever I see anything about any of the prehistoric animals she helped discover.
Another thing I appreciated about this presentation was how in-depth it was with each of the women, while still getting through a good number of them at the same time. I enjoyed seeing all of the different backgrounds and breakthroughs these women were involved in, but still getting a very knowledgeable presentation on all of them with much detail. A lot of the women talked about were great examples of scientific paradigm shifts throughout the years. The most impressive thing about the presentation was how much information was covered in the time period it took to present it all.
Dr. Cogan – “A Tale of Two Chemists” | Brenden Alkire
I would say that two parts of the presentation stood out to me more than any of the rest, and those were parts that weren’t necessarily even directly regarding the “Two Chemists” that the discussion aimed focus at. The two parts I found very interesting were in the beginning when we had to think about questions proposed to us, such as “What is air?”. Thinking about it from a lens of someone who doesn’t study science or particularly know much about science is interesting to think about, especially considering the people who were asking this back then were at the forefront of scientific discoveries. The next part I thought was interesting that I had never considered was the fact that Democracy and Science have evolved hand-in-hand with each other, leading one to believe that they do have some sort of correlation and connection.
I thought Dr. Cogan did a great job of presenting all of the information on the slides, and I could tell that he knew what he was talking about when presenting. I appreciated the most the in-depth backstory and information leading up to the main focal point of the presentation, and the passion that was showed when presenting.
Elisabeth Root Presentation on John Snow | Brenden Alkire
Coming into this presentation, I didn’t really have a great idea of who John Snow was or what he did. Coming out of the presentation, I have a great baseline of his work and how he contributed to society, so I would say that this was a great presentation in that way. When it comes to all of the other information presented, regarding various research methods and how modern geography contributes to the study of vaccines, I had a great time learning about them and they were very thoroughly presented. My favorite part of the entire presentation was learning about the idea of “herd immunity” and how it impacts current research so much. Overall, I thought Dr. Root did an amazing job conveying her work and information, and she was able to make it interesting the entire time.
Carol Anelli Discussion of Darwin and the History of Science | Brenden Alkire
Darwin’s research is still vital to scientific breakthroughs being made today, and his theories are now just being refined. His research was influential in shifting opinions on where life comes from. Before, it was believed that every organism was “perfect” and created from God, but through various scientific studies from multiple biologists, geologists, and other scientists, opinions slowly swayed against some teachings of Christianity and towards the results shown from the scientific studies (the world being very, very old and every organism not being “perfect”).
It is believed that Darwin was raised within a religious family due to the fact that it was the most common at the time, and he attended Cambridge. His family was very wealthy, so he didn’t have it very difficult growing up. As an adult, he seemed to be a family man that cared deeply for his wife and all of his children. Although his wife, Emma, was his first-cousin, they had a fantastic relationship and did not want to hurt the other. The largest reason for disagreement between them was religious differences, but they were able to push through.
Darwin’s biggest contribution to the scientific community was his theory of evolution. He started to formulate his theory around 1838, and was not able to officially publish it for about another 20 years due to it going against the popular ideology of the time, and also so he could verify he was 100% correct. He went on to publish 25 total books, along with many scientific papers.
There have been various improvements to Darwin’s theory of evolution since the day it got published, and the contents of it are still widely used today in the scientific community. It is still being continuously researched and improved upon today.
I thought Dr. Anelli gave a great presentation and covered pretty much everything that needed to be covered. It was interesting to learn so much about the personal side of Darwin as opposed to the scientific side that is always presented. I’m also glad she covered some other, lesser known scientists that led up to Darwin. Overall, I was very impressed and enjoyed the presentation.