PUBLIC LECTURE ( 6pm) BY COLIN BLAKEMORE AT THE MINING INSTITUTE, NEWCASTLE ON MARCH 9^th 2009

Colin Blakemore is Professor of Neuroscience at Oxford University. He was also until recently Chief Executive of the UK Medical Research Council, one of the main government agencies That supports medical research in the UK.

VISION IMPOSSIBLE! ! Colin Blakemore - lecture Mon 9th March: 6.00pm - 7.00pm Mining Institute, Westgate Road, Newcastle FREE

Our capacity to see the world around us is the culmination of more than half a billion years of evolution. But the most important product of that process is not the eye itself, but the gradual discovery by the brain of new ways of interpreting the retinal image.

Most of what we do with the gush of information from our eyes - controlling our hands, guiding our posture, deciding what to look at - happens without  awareness. But we also perceive the world consciously, like a finely detailed, 'real-time', seamless movie.

Organised by the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University (http://www.dur.ac.uk/ias/events/events_listings/) in partnership with the Centre for Life, Newcastle as part of Newcastle ScienceFest (www.newcastlesciencefest.com ).

PLACES ARE LIMITED FOR THE LECTURE,
so please contact Sophie Robinson (Email: sophie.robinson@...) to book your place.

This lecture is part of Newcastle ScienceFest - a 10-day celebration of creativity and innovation, taking place 6 - 15 March.  Find out more at www.NewcastleScienceFest.com

Newcastle Literary & Philosophical Society North of England Mining Institute c/o Neville Hall Westgate Road Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 1SE

Email:  sophie.robinson@...

A brief resume of Professor Blakemore's career:

COLIN BLAKEMORE, FMedSci, Hon FRCP, Hon FIBiol, FRS, is Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.

He also holds a Professorship at Warwick and is Chairman of the Neuroscience Research Partnership in Singapore. Colin studied Medical Sciences at Cambridge and completed a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley.

After working for 11 years in Cambridge, he moved to Oxford as Waynflete Professor of Physiology in 1979. He was Chief Executive of the UK Medical Research Council.

His research has been concerned with many aspects of vision, early development of the brain and plasticity of the cerebral cortex. He has been President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the British Neuroscience Association, the Physiological Society and the Biosciences Federation.

He is also passionately committed to public communication and engagement, for which he has won many prizes, including the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize. The first of his two lectures gives opportunity for those sixth formers and college students to find out more about Professor Blakemore and his career.

Later in the day Professor Blakemore will deliver a lecture entitled
- VISION IMPOSSIBLE at 6pm in the same lecture hall.

Colin has just recently entered the science-christianity debate as seen By the recent programme on Channel 4.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/christianity-a-history/articles/colin-blakemore-biography

Forwarded on behalf of:

Professor Roy Quinlan
School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
The University
South Road
DURHAM DH1 3LE
UK

Best wishes,

Liz Panton
Head of Service
Communicate

(The Northern Communication Aid Centre)
Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Trust
Tel: 0191 287 5240
Fax: 0191 287 5250
Featurenet: 8745 65240
Email address for general enquiries: communicate@... 

Communicate wiki: http://communicate.editme.com 

NTW Website: www.ntw.nhs.uk

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