Outreach: Public Understanding of Science Work

As 10th Astronomer Royal for Scotland and the first not to be Director of the Royal Observatory, my main chosen "mission" , besides my professional activities, has been to promote public awareness of science and astronomy throughout Scotland and elsewhere.  This I do via frequent lectures to schools, the public, amateur societies, and interdisciplinary conferences and also portable planetarium events.   In 2002 I received an Institute of Physics Award for public promotion of physics through my planetarium work and my use of magic in illustrating astro/physical phenomena.

Planetarium & Schools Work :
Planetarium & Schools Work:
• Millennium Fellow Award1988-89 to help amateurs at Coats Planetarium develop school talks and shows
• SHEFC 1995 £78k Grant for 3 Starlab planetaria (Glasgow, Edinburgh and St. Andrews) with which we have visited ca. 100,000 pupils. Ongoing costs have been met partly by grants from PPARC, Royal Society, RSE and Glasgow University
• Consultant Glasgow Science Centre Space Theatre (Planetarium) - wrote and performed opening show 2002
• Co-organiser of 2002 AGM of British Assocn. of Planetarians
• RSE Cormack 2005 small grant £400 for portable solar telescope for use with schools planetarium visits
• Project Astronomer/Consultant Royal Observatory Greenwich Time & Space Project 2004-2006
• Opening Shows at Birmingham Thinktank, 2005 and Newcastle Centre for Life, 2007
• PPARC/STFC 2007 Grant £7500 to extend Bradford Robotic Telescope to Scottish Curriculum

Lectures:
Typically around 10 public lectures presented per year to the public, science festivals, (e.g. Slovenia, Orkney, Edinburgh, Malaysia, Lower Silesia, Montreal) , societies, schools.

Magic:
The first of the above is now in a series I developed with help from physics student magicienne Karen Mann to use magic to dramatise unusual science. Development was supported by a PPARC PUST Award.
Royal Society Summer Exhibition Soirees, July 2002. I was invited presenter of the evening shows, comprising two performances each of Black Holes and White Rabbits and Abra cad Astra
Opening Einstein Year Lecture, U. Montreal 2005

TV:
My science and magic presentations have been used by the OU Final Frontier series and recorded for 6 programs on Natl. Geographic TV.
The Sky at Night– participant in shows in May 2006 and 2007 and in September 2007 (Black Magic special)

Theatre:

Consultant on play No future in Eternity by T. Harkness and L. Cotterill - Edinburgh Fringe 2000 – funded by PPARC PUST Grant £7500

Lectures

Among the lecture titles I personally currently offer are:-

ANY AUDIENCE / ALL AGES

"Black Holes and White Rabbits"
	"Abra cad Astra - The Magic of the Cosmos "
"Professor MacHelium Tours the Planets"
	© Stuart JL Brown 2000
© Stuart JL Brown 1991	"Professor MacHelium Tours the Universe "
"Who puts the Iron in Irn Bru?" (Life and death of stars and man)

 

MORE TECHNICAL (e.g. Astronomical Societies)

"SS433 - The Most Bizarre Star in the Galaxy"
"The High Energy Sun and NASA's Award Winning RHESSI Mission "
"The Uncertain Universe and the Role of Belief in Science "
"Inverse Problems in Astronomy"