To register to attend please register here:
https://localevents.theiet.org/register.php?event=5a4fc8
Plenty of spaces so please ignore the meetup limit of 10
Penguins can be addictive – once you learn a little about them you want to know more and more until, if you are lucky enough, you end up working on research to help conserve these precious birds. At least that’s what happened to Prof Peter Barham. He got involved initially using his knowledge of materials science to design silicone-based flipper bands which can be used for monitoring penguin populations. His typical, physics, curiosity driven approach to research, as opposed to the biologists strictly hypothesis drive approach helped him find novel insights into what conservation interventions may, or may not, succeed.
When most people think of penguins they immediately think of the cold Antarctic. It is true that several of the 18 penguin species are found in and around isolated and hard to reach areas of the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic, but other species come from more accessible places (such as South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand).
Penguins face many problems – one species is listed as critically endangered, four species are listed as endangered and a further four as being vulnerable to extinction. In this talk Peter will describe all 18 species of penguin, where they are found and note some interesting facts about them. However, he will mainly concentrate one species, the African penguin the main focus of his work. He will outline the major threats to the species, explain why it is now the most endangered of all penguin species, the use of the silicone-based bands and how they hope to avert it’s extinction.
Speaker:
Professor Peter Barham
Emeritus Professor of Physics - University of Bristol
Peter’s main career has been as an academic Physicist, but he has over the year years developed his other passions making scientific contributions in areas as diverse as food science and penguin biology.
Today, in ‘retirement’ he concentrates his research on penguin conservation. He holds or has held chairs in three separate disciplines.
Emeritus Professor of Physics at University of Bristol, UK. Peter’s main work has been in the area of Polymer Physics, especially the fundamentals of crystallization and the use of biodegradable plastics. Peter was a pioneer of the Public understanding of Science in the UK and developed a wide range of Public and Schools lectures, demonstrations and other materials based mainly around his outside passions, food and cooking and penguins.
Visiting Professor of Molecular Gastronomy, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Peter’s passion for the science behind everyday cooking processes led him to explore with a number of leading chefs the use of scientific techniques and methods in their kitchens.
Extraordinary Professor of Biodiversity and Conservation, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. In 2001 Peter alongside colleagues from DFFE and UCT, set up a project to trial novel methods of marking penguins on Robben Island. The project developed for beyond that and now is one of the longest running datasets of penguin behaviour.
