The myths around the death penalty, boring under the Thames and hear about the original nerds from 5th Century BC. All at Nerd Nite London on November 19th 2014
Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along.
Address: Nerd Nite, Paper Dress Vintage, 114-116 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3AH
Details: Wednesday 19 November Tickets £6. Early nerd tickets £5 (limited availability). Tickets available here
Drink away those autumn chills and warm your brain with another dose of Nerd Nite London knowledge. This month we have the death penalty, the original nerds (5th Century BC) and tunnelling under the Thames.
Be there and be square.
Talk One: Annette So: “We need to talk about the death penalty”
Do we want to live in a society that allows the state to kill? Annette will talk about the issues surrounding wrongful convictions; the myths of deterrence and public opinion; and why the death penalty debate is still current in the 21stcentury.
Bio: Annette is a human rights lawyer who works at a London-based charity providing free legal representation to death row prisoners around the world.
Talk Two: Refik Gomen: The Original Nerds: Why was western science born in 5th century BC Asia Minor?
Description:
What motivated a group of men in Ancient Greece to think that the natural world wasn’t just a playground for the Gods, but something that could be studied and explained? Their rejection of the mythological and magical laid the foundation for western science: for the first time they asked questions such as “what are the fundamental building blocks of the universe?”, “can matter change from one form to another?”
Through understanding the lives of these Presocratic philosophers we can also begin to examine the conditions necessary for free thought.
Bio:
Refik Gomen is a consultant kidney doctor at Guy’s Hospital with a particular interest in transplantation. He loves the idea of thinking about the universe while sitting on the shores of the Aegean…
Talk Three: Crossrail – tunnelling under the Thames presented by Agnieszka Mazurkiewicz, Olga Konopka, Sally Keeney.
Description: Crossrail is Europe’s largest construction project and its to create a 118 kilometre rail line linking west and east London via 21km of twin-bored tunnels.
This talk will be presented by three Crossrail Civil Engineers, who enlighten you with great facts, and the technical know-how applied in overcoming the challenges of tunnelling under the Thames (one lucky audience member may even get to eat some “concrete” jelly).
Nerds
Agnieszka Mazurkiewicz is a Structural Engineer working on Crossrail as a Tunnel Designer. She spent most of her professional carrier in ARUP design office “exploring” fascinating world of stresses-strains-and-deformations of complex concrete structures.
Olga Konopka is a Civil Engineering graduate working as an Assistant Engineering Manager,handles design issues on site. Before her Civil Engineering career began, she worked as a jeweller.
Sally Keeney, a Field Engineer on Crossrail, spends most of her working day out on site in bright orange dealing with the various characters and banter on the construction site. Her inspiration for engineering stems from seeing the transformation from 2D drawings to a final structure.
Tickets available here