19:00 – 21:15

Celebrating women in science, past, present and future.

On International Women’s Day, come and celebrate and learn about the incredible work of women in science past, present and future.

You’ll have the opportunity to learn about 18^th Century Astronomer, Caroline Herschel, and her celestial discoveries and how artist, Lynda Laird has turned her work into a dazzling audio-visual exhibition in collaboration with Sian Prosser, Librarian at the Royal Astronomical Society.

You’ll also get to meet, Dr Rhian Jones, Reader in Isotope Geo-and Cosmochemistry from the University of Manchester. She will be talking to you about how and why we explore the Solar System.

Plus, stick around and chat to graduate and undergraduate students in the University of Manchester Physics Outreach team, and get hands on with lots of fun activities and find out more about women in science!

An Imperfect Account of a Comet celebrating the work of Caroline Herschel is currently on display at Jodrell Bank.  The exhibition will be open for the duration of the evening.

Suitable for secondary school students, young people & adults.

About Lynda Laird

Lynda Laird is a photographic artist based in St Leonards on Sea. Her research-based practice merges archive, photography, video and sound. Employing techniques, methods and materials that are sympathetic and relevant to the subject. Lynda has recently worked on two long-term artist residencies In France, exhibited internationally and won a number of awards, she was nominated for the Magnum Graduate award in 2017. Her work has been featured on the BBC, Newsnight, CNN Style, The Guardian, BJP, Huck and Fisheye magazine, amongst others.

She is currently working as the photographic artist in residence at the Royal Astronomical Society, creating a body of work based around her research in their archive.

About Sian Prosser

Sian manages the library and archives of the Royal Astronomical Society, making them accessible to researchers and working with colleagues to use them in outreach and education activities. With a background in languages and a PhD in French medieval manuscripts, she became drawn to working with memory institutions, and since joining the Royal Astronomical Society in 2014 has completed the Certificate in Astronomy at UCL to better understand and interpret the RAS collections, and the people that created them.

About Dr Rhian Jones

Dr Rhian Jones is a Reader in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Manchester. She studies the early history of the Solar System through research on meteorites, and she teaches on the Earth and Planetary Science degree courses. Rhian previously worked at the University of New Mexico in the USA, including several years as Curator of the meteorite collection and Meteorite Museum in the Institute of Meteoritics.