September 2005: Jenkin Day 2005 Invitation
SOUE Jenkin Meeting, 2005
Friday 30 September and Saturday 1 October
This year we are experimenting with a different format, combining the evening dinner of a few years back with having the Jenkin Lecture on a Saturday morning. The dinner will be in Somerville, who can offer overnight accommodation and car parking (details overleaf).
This year's Jenkin Lecturer will be John F Coates OBE (Queen's 1940-3), who after a career at the Ministry of Defence finishing as Deputy Director of Ship Design, has devoted his retirement to studying the naval architecture of ancient ships. He was the naval architect behind the reconstruction of the Greek trireme in the 80s and 90s. The trireme, a ramming warship rowed by 170 oarsmen in 3 tiers, was a remarkable piece of ancient technology, but the surviving descriptions of it amounted to something less than a full set of drawings! Reconstructing one in the 20th century raised all manner of fascinating problems, which John Coates will discuss in his lecture, "Some Engineering Concepts applied to Ancient Greek Trireme Warships"
The two preceding speakers will be:
Professor Peter J Dobson (formerly tutor at Queen's), who has recently become Director of Begbroke Science Park, newly established a few miles north of Oxford on the site of the former Weed Research Establishment. He will tell us what is going on there, and what his plans and policy for the future are.
Dr Stephen J Payne (Keble), of a Medical Engineering research group primarily interested in applying engineering techniques to the study of blood flow in the body, and its auto-regulation aspects, will talk about the "bends" problem that can afflict deep-sea divers.
An inexpensive buffet lunch (£7 per head) will be on offer after the Jenkin Lecture in the Atrium of the new Information Engineering Building. On the previous day the Department's research students about to start their third year will have been putting on a poster display in this atrium describing their work, and the exhibits will be left up for our inspection on the Saturday.
Saturday morning's timetable is:
0945-1015 : Coffee in the Thom Building foyer
1015-1045 : Stephen Payne, "Understanding the bends and other fizzy drinks: what deep-sea divers can learn from bottles of champagne"
1045-1115 : Peter Dobson, "Begbroke Science Park, the University-Industry Interface"
1115-1145 max : Annual General Meeting
b) Secretary's Report
c) Treasurer's Report
d) Election of committee members (there are 3 vacancies)
e) Any other business
1145-1200 : Coffee
1200 : Eighteenth Jenkin Lecture: John Coates, "Some Engineering Concepts applied to Ancient Greek Trireme Warships"
1330 : Buffet lunch in the atrium of the Information Engineering Building
The Friday night dinner
We propose "black tie" dress, following previous practice, but are open to suggestions for change in the future.
The place and time are Somerville, 7 for 7.30, and the menu is:
- Avocado and crab salad dressed with a creamy lime and dill sauce
- (vegetarian option similar without the crab)
- Pan-fried duck breast on Stilton mash with a crispy bacon and port wine sauce, and a selection of seasonal vegetables
- (vegetarian option: butternut squash baked with leeks and gorgonzola)
- Mango and passion fruit délice, served with an exotic fruit coulis and ginger lace biscuits
- Coffee and mints
The price of £40 includes two glasses of red wine, a glass of sherry beforehand and one of port to follow.
The college bar will be open after the dinner.
Accommodation is available in single rooms (some twin rooms available if requested) with breakfast, at £48 per head, inclusive of VAT. The rooms are not en-suite, but have wash-basins. After 5 pm on Friday, cars may be parked overnight on an area at the back of the Radcliffe Infirmary next door. Lodge staff at Somerville will advise, and provide a permit.
Parking in Oxford on Saturday morning for those not staying overnight at Somerville
Is very limited, as anyone who has recently been in Oxford will be well aware. We recommend the Park-and-Ride (60p to park + £1.70 return for the bus). Buses go from the Park-and-Ride car-parks at Pear-Tree and Water-Eaton (on the Woodstock and Banbury Roads respectively, about ½-1 mile north of the A40 by-pass), every 10 minutes or less, and stop close to the Department. There are also services from the south, east and west The one from Thornhill on the A40 could drop anyone coming from the London area in the High .
David Witt, Secretary SOUE, September 2005