Listening to Maths



Euclid’s Elements has been translated more often than any book except the Bible. Within it, the author discusses harmonic relations with reference to the golden ratio, ideas that have influenced everything from Renaissance architecture to music and the making of Stradivari instruments. Dividing a string, as happens whenever a cello is played, creates an expression of harmonic ratios which are found in the design of the instrument and throughout nature, just as they are in music. When you listen to a cello, you are listening to mathematics.



In this event, these Euclidean ratios will be illustrated in various ways. Robert Brewer Young, a master luthier and professor of philosophy, will explain their origins and sketch them with chalk and compass on a blackboard. The same proportions will be simultaneously demonstrated in musical accompaniment on a cello made with OCLW Co-Director, writer and cellist Dr. Kate Kennedy.



Robert Brewer Young is a luthier who makes violins in the spirit of Stradivari, Guarneri and other Italian masters. He is also a Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School and Director of the J&A Beare Scientific Research and Conservation department for rare violins.



Imaginary music made possible



Easley Blackwood's Twelve Microtonal Etudes give a glimpse of an alternative history of Western music, incorporating brand new notes that cannot be found on the piano. Using animated visualisations of the music, Matthew Sheeran will explain how he was able to record these "impossible" pieces with conventional orchestral instruments. No knowledge of music theory required!



Matthew Sheeran (born 1989) is a British composer and arranger. He studied music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the University of Sussex and King’s College London. In 2010 he won the Presteigne Festival’s Alan Horne Prize for composition and the Shipley Arts Festival’s Chairman of the Jury award. His music has been performed at the Aldeburgh Festival, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey.

Foraging, or gathering food from our surroundings, is as old as human life on earth. Enclosure and privatisation of land, urbanisation, and industrialisation over the last centuries have shifted food practices away from local eating. This is compounded by mass production and trade under globalised food systems. However, the climate crisis, and unease at our increasing distancing from nature and biodiversity, are resulting in a revival of older relationships with food. Curious about ‘wild’ nutrition, and drawing on childhood memories of fruit, fish, leaves, and cactus thorns gathered in the mountains, plains, deserts of India, in early 2023, I chanced upon thriving foraging communities in the UK. This talk documents a year of rediscovering my surroundings through local herbs, spices (yes, its not all about cinnamon, cloves, pepper and nutmeg from afar), edible leaves and grasses, mushrooms, and fruit, and the range of products that have resulted—including a growing repertoire of wines and beers.

The Wolfson Engineering Society is back for Trinity Term 2024!



Come to the Levett Room at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays for fascinating presentations from a wide range of speakers.



See you there!

The Wolfson Engineering Society is back for Trinity Term 2024!



Come to the Levett Room at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays for fascinating presentations from a wide range of speakers.



See you there!

The Wolfson Engineering Society is back for Trinity Term 2024!



Come to the Levett Room at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays for fascinating presentations from a wide range of speakers.



See you there!

The Wolfson Engineering Society is back for Trinity Term 2024!



Come to the Levett Room at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays for fascinating presentations from a wide range of speakers.



See you there!

The Wolfson Engineering Society is back for Trinity Term 2024!



Come to the Levett Room at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays for fascinating presentations from a wide range of speakers.



See you there!

The Wolfson Engineering Society is back for Trinity Term 2024!



Come to the Levett Room at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays for fascinating presentations from a wide range of speakers.



See you there!

The Wolfson Engineering Society is back for Trinity Term 2024!



Come to the Levett Room at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays for fascinating presentations from a wide range of speakers.



See you there!