Image courtesy Churchill College
Dr Helen Czerski will give the Alex Hopkins memorial lecture on Friday 18 March in the BMS Lecture Theatre.
We live on a blue planet, and yet most of us rarely touch that blue. The oceans are remote, inaccessible without ships or scuba gear, but as this gigantic and dynamic reservoir flows around our planet, it has a huge effect on our everyday life. Our weather and climate depend on it, and the battles, trade and food supplies influenced by it have shaped our civilisation. We’ll look at how this engine works, how we study it, and what the future holds for it.
Helen Czerski is a physicist, oceanographer and broadcaster with a passion for science, sport, books, creativity, hot chocolate and investigating the interesting things in life. She currently works at University College London, and is a science presenter for the BBC.
Alex Hopkins was a student and Teaching Fellow in Chemistry at Churchill College who died tragically young in 2006. Each year, the Alex Hopkins Memorial Fund supports the award of one or more prizes for outstanding overall achievement in the final Tripos examination in Chemistry as well as sponsoring an annual lecture to be held in the Department of Chemistry.
Alex’s infectious enthusiasm and humour characterised his teaching and his exceptional ability to communicate his passion for science. The lectures, although routed in science, aim to be as much about entertaining as educating and are designed to be appealing and accessible to all.