Humans have sought to understand the living world around them since the earliest civilisations. As scientific knowledge has evolved over the centuries, together with the development of instrumentation and more recently technological advances, physics has played a key role in this. This conference will review how physics has contributed to the science of living things from antiquity to the present day through a survey of the milestones in how this knowledge has been gained.

Registration to attend this conference is free but booking is required for both in-person or online attendance. You can find the registration links here: www.stx.ox.ac.uk/event/happ-physics-and-the-science-of-living-things.

Programme

MORNING CHAIR:
10:30 WELCOME
10:40 Professor Stephen Keevil (King’s College London) – Physics and Medicine from Antiquity to the Medieval Period
11:30 Professor Kim Hardie (University of Nottingham) – Microscopy and Microbiology: Moving Forward Together
12:20 Professor Graham Machin (National Physical Laboratory) – Evolution of Temperature Measurement – Beginnings, Progress and Prospects
13:15 LUNCH BREAK

AFTERNOON CHAIR:
14:15 Professor Martin Graves (University of Cambridge) – Shadows and Signals: A Brief History of Medical Imaging
15:05 Professor Alexandra Olaya-Castro (University College London) – Bridging Quantum Science and Biology
16:00 TEA/COFFEE BREAK
16:30 SUMMARY OF THE DAY’S PROCEEDINGS – Dr Francis Duck (University of Bath)

There will be a special conference dinner alongside the dinosaurs at the University Museum of Natural History in the evening following the end of the conference with an after-dinner talk by Professor Monique Simmonds OBE (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) on dating the age of living plants around the world. Booking to attend the conference dinner can be made at: www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/conferences-and-events/st-cross-college/happcentre/physics-and-the-science-of-living-things-oneday-conference-in-person