SEPTEMBER 7th PUBLIC TALK - SINGH AND WISEMAN

Myksyk

Our next public lecture will be in conjunction with the RDS and the
British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) on Wednesday of
next week, September 7th. The BAAS run a festival of science for one week
each year that usually takes place in the UK. This year they will come to
Dublin. The main centre for the week is TCD but hundreds of events are
planned throughout the city.
For those science fans among you the programmes for the main events and
for the 'Science in the City' events can be downloaded from the BAAS website
at www.the-ba.net.

Details of our event are as follows:

Date: Wednesday Sept. 7th.

Time: 8.00pm.

Location: RDS Concert Hall, Ballsbridge.

Title: An Evening with Richard Wiseman and Simon Singh: From Paranormal
Phenomena to the Big Bang.

Admission: Eur 5.

Please note that the venue will seat 400 and is being advertised also via
the BAAS. We will reserve a block of seats for ISS members.

If you are a member please e-mail the ISS at irishskeptics@eircom.net
if you wish to attend, with the number of seats you require. This is
important as we need to have an idea this week of how many seats to reserve.

This promises to be a great evening. Richard Wiseman is Professor for the
Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He
has written a number of books including "Deception and Self-Deception" ;
"Magic in Theory" and "The Luck Factor". He has appeared on hundreds of
TV and Radio Shows and is also a professional magician and was the youngest
appointed member of the Magic Circle.

Simon Singh is an author, journalist and TV producer. He has written
several books including "Fermat's Last Theorem"; "The Code Book" and "The
Big Bang". He has also appeared extensively on TV and in other media.

Richard and Simon have recently appeared in a theatre production entitled
'Theatre of Science'. This has been presented in London and Edinburgh to
rave reviews. They are hoping to produce the show in Dublin early in 2006.

On the night they will explore a wide range of topics, including the
world's greatest illusions, why magic works, the Big Bang, ghosts,
probability and how not to walk on fire.

If you want more information on the speakers you can check their
respective websites at the following addresses:

Richard Wiseman: http://phoenix.herts.ac.uk/pwru/RWHomepage.html.

Simon Singh: www.simonsingh.com.

Unfortunately, not even the Irish Skeptics Society could manage to get the
Irish football team to reschedule their world cup qualifier with France that
is on the same evening. However, we've brought in big crowds with this kind
of opposition in the past! I look forward to seeing you at the RDS.

carl_

do you reckon there will be many free seats.. was thinking of coming along to this but only noticed it now

Myksyk

I'm sure it would be fine to pop along. The RDS can accommodate a fair overflow if necessary. There is seating for 400 anyway so I'd say you'll be safe enough!

carl_

thanks

john kavanagh

fantastic night! 2 excellent speakers, very informative and witty.....and for just 5euro :eek:

Myksyk

Yes it was a great night. Heard that we had the biggest attendance of any event of the festival so far!

robindch

Was anybody watching Discovery last night? They aired "The Girl with X-Ray Eyes", a program about Natasha Demkina, a russian teenager who claims to be able to diagnose medical conditions just by looking at somebody. Richard Wiseman was involved in setting up the test with SCICOP and not unexpectedly, Natasha failed. A report on the testing can be found here.