Darwin in the Galapagos

Wednesday, 1st May 2013 – “Darwin in the Galapagos” was the title of Professor Bill Hale’s talk on the 1st May. Charles Darwin’s visit to the Galapagos Islands during his five year voyage on the Beagle was instrumental in his development of The Theory of Evolution. Bill gave us a tour of the islands by proxy, with stunning photos taken while following in Darwin’s footsteps. Bill’s two visits to the Galapagos fulfilled a long-standing wish to see at first hand Darwin’s “finches”, among many other species.

From Man on the Moon to Life in Cyberspace

Here’s a marvellous opportunity…read on!

At the North West U3As AGM in Chester Cathedral on Thursday 23 May, which is also to be a U3A Festival with lots of ancillary activities, there is a talk by Professor Nigel Linge (University of Salford) from 3.00 – 4.00 p.m. Any U3A member can attend the day, which is chock full of interesting things to do (see the NW U3A AGM 2013 invite and download the programme and booking form here)  The cost is just £5 to cover refreshments and you don’t have to attend the AGM at all – just do something different.

Professor Linge’s lecture, entitled, “From Man on the Moon to Life in Cyberspace”, takes 1969 as its starting point and explains how the early development of the Internet was achieved. It then goes on to trace the evolution of both the Internet and the World Wide Web to the point where today virtually every aspect of daily life has been impacted and influenced. Mankind may well have made a giant leap on reaching the Moon in 1969 but cyberspace has potentially had a far greater impact on us all since then!

Nigel Linge is Professor of Telecommunications at the University of Salford. An electronics engineer by profession, he is an experienced academic with over 25 years’ service and offers a series of popular general interest lectures that showcase the engineering achievements that lie at the heart of our telecommunications revolution and examine how our lives have been transformed.