Dr Hugh Hunt
Outreach and Public Lectures


( Dynamics Videos: go to Hugh Hunt's movies page and for other stuff: go to Hugh Hunt's Cambridge University home page )

I give lectures on various topics and in all manner of venues (see list below). See photos here: lecture photos

Here are some popular topics:

  • Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things
    Spinning things are strange. Why does a spinning top stand up? Why doesn't a rolling wheel fall over? Why is top-spin so effective in tennis? How does a falling cat always manage to land on its feet? How can the Hubble Space Telescope turn around in space? What do ice-skaters do to spin so fast? We'll look closely at the common threads that link all spinning things, and that means we'll have to talk about gyroscopes. Don't worry, there won't be any maths. Everything will be demonstrated live with lots of toys and videos. And we'll even throw a few indoor boomerangs - hoping not to break any windows!
    Click here to see this lecture as it was given to an adult audience
    or here to see a sample of a boomerang lecture for kids

  • Escape from Colditz
    Colditz Castle, one of the most notorious prisoner of war camps in Nazi Germany, was supposed to be escape-proof. But in the dark days at the end of World War II, a group of British officers dreamt up the most audacious escape plan in history. In a secret workshop in an attic in the castle they constructed a two-man glider out of bed sheets and floorboards. They were going to fly to freedom from the roof of the castle, but the war ended before they could put their plan into action, so no one knows if it would have worked. In this Channel 4 documentary the Brits return to Colditz to finish the job. Cambridge engineer Dr Hugh Hunt leads a crack team of aeronautics engineers and carpenters to rebuild the glider in the same attic using the same materials. Then he attempts to do something the prisoners never got a chance to try: use a bathtub full of concrete to catapult the glider off the roof of the castle. It's also a personal journey for Dr Hunt: his uncle, Major Will Anderson, was a prisoner in Colditz, as well as an arch-forger. Hugh goes behind the legend, and finds out what it was really like for the men imprisoned here, and the families waiting for them back home. Along the way, archeologists open up some of the castle's other famous escape routes. Then, after a 70-year wait, the team finally find out if the legendary glider escape would have worked.

  • Attack of the Zeppelins
    The Germans were well-prepared for World War 1. They had dozens of Zeppelins ready to go. For two years they rained bombs down on England, terrorizing the population. There was nothing that could be done. Even shooting them down proved to be impossible. Until some clever thinking led to the development of a combination of incendiary and explosive bullets that would cause the hydrogen to leak and explode. Based on the Channel 4 documentary Cambridge engineer Dr Hugh Hunt looks at the genius of the Zeppelin, with it's huge sausage-skin envelope and aluminium alloy frame - way ahead of its time. Along side it the pathetic biplanes that eventually brought the zeppelins down, the story is remarkable. How were the zeppelins detected? Why were they so hard to shoor down?

  • SPICE: Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering
    The SPICE project investigates the benefits, risks, costs and feasibility of solar radiation management through the deployment of reflective aerosols in the stratosphere. We propose that particles can be delivered to the stratosphere through a high-pressure pipe suspended by a balloon tethered at an altitude of 20km. An ultra-high pressure pumping system would deliver a particulate slurry to be dispersed at altitude. The resulting particulate cloud would then lead to global cooling by increasing the albedo of the planet in just the same way as the planet cools after a large volcanic eruption. The feasibility of the SPICE system depends upon the long-term deployment globally of a small number of (say 60) balloons each delivering 5kg/s of aerosol - an estimated 10 million tonnes per year (for context, consider that global manmade CO2 output is 30,000 million tonnes per year). SPICE presents many novel engineering challenges, especially the design of the pipe and pumping systems to withstand pressures up to 4000 bar and tensions up to 500 tonnes. In this non-technical introductory presentation a number of these challenges will be discussed, including the technical and ethical challenges of preparing a 1km test-bed. Preliminary wind tunnel test results will also be presented as an illustration of the complexity of the dynamic behaviour of the tether in high winds.

  • Digging the Great Escape
    This is the story behind a Channel 4 documentary, a fascinating programme following a team of engineers, archaeologists, and serving RAF officers who have assembled on the site of Stalag Luft III, the supposedly escape proof PoW camp, with an extraordinarily ambitious plan: to excavate for the first time ever the remains of "Harry", the tunnel from which 76 allied airmen escaped on the night of 24 March 1944. This was the Great Escape, immortalised by Hollywood, and internationally famous as an extraordinary story of courage and ingenuity. It took a year to dig the tunnel and for nearly 70 years Harry has remained undisturbed - and with it the final secrets of the remarkable story of the Great Escape. But how did the POWs do it? How did they actually dig a 100 metre tunnel, seven metres below ground with only rudimentary tools and right under the noses of their German guards? How did they get rid of several tonnes of sand? How did they ventilate and light the tunnel? How did they forge more than 100 documents? What did they do with 90 double bunk beds, 635 mattresses, 3,424 towels, etc that they stole from the camp? And who were these remarkable people? To find out just how ingenious these men were and how incredibly difficult the whole operation was, a group of present-day RAF airmen (many of whom have seen active service in Iraq and Afghanistan) will replicate some of the key tools, structures and inventions created by the original escapers. The programme also assembles a remarkable cast of surviving veterans of the escape including: Charles Clarke (President of the PoW Association); Frank Stone (resident of hut 104 - from which the tunnel was sprung, and batman to chief tunneller Wally Floody); and Stanley "Gordie" King (the man who operated the tunnel ventilation system on the night of the escape). Putting the engineering and science of the escape attempt centre stage has really paid off - I don't think anyone who watches the documentary will see the story in the same way. The ingenuity and determination of these men was breathtaking." The challenge was to illuminate a story that was already well known around the world; somehow to bring something new to a very familiar tale. And until about halfway through the shoot I was terrified that we'd fail. And then the veterans arrived, and the finds began to emerge, and then more finds... and it became incredibly emotional. And all the while, our cameras were rolling.

  • Dambusters and the engineering behind the bouncing bomb
    The last time a dam was blown up by a bouncing bomb was in May 1943. Well, not true. In October 2010, Dr Hugh Hunt was asked to act as Lead Engineer in a Channel 4 documentary remake of the raid. Together with Windfall Films his team designed a rig to suspend a spinning bomb under a DC4, and built a 10m-high dam especially for the purpose of blowing it up. This lecture described some of the many challenges they encountered, including scale model testing, design of a drop rig, targeting the dam and designing the explosive. The experience really put into perspective the wartime achievements of Barnes Wallis and his engineers and airmen.

  • Climate Change and Sustainable Energy
    Is climate change for real? If so, what can we do about it? What is my own carbon footprint? What can I do make a difference? These are the sorts of questions that are addressed in this talk. To answer them we need to do "sums" - just simple addition and multiplication is enough. We must reject solutions that don't "add up" and we mustn't rule out possible solutions purely on emotive grounds. Most people take sides before they've looked at the sums. Our future is in the balance and we're in danger of making the wrong choices. This talk will draw on material from David Mackay's excellent book Sustainable energy without the hot air

  • Some Counter-intuitive Problems in Dynamics and Vibration
    Mechanical Vibration and Dynamics are taught to undergraduates as if they simple sciences. The mass-on-a-spring, uni-axial vibration of a rod, viscous damping, modal analysis - all these are the bread and butter of vibration science. As for rigid-body dynamics undergraduate courses remain fixed in 2-D planar motion. But real dynamic and vibrating systems just don't behave simply. There are pitfalls in even the most ordinary cases and some of these will be demonstrated: a tuning fork; a bottle of coke; a bending beam; a turbocharger wheel, a bouncing ball, a rolling ball and boomerangs. All of these things behave counter-intuitively.
    This talk will be filled with practical demonstrations - seeing is believing. Most are demonstrations that can be repeated at home.

  • The remarkable accuracy of the Trinity College Clock
    The Trinity Clock in Great Court is quite a prominent feature of the college, at least to look at. And it has a rather curious way of announcing the hours, once for Trinity and a second time for St John's. It is always within a second or two of the correct time and yet it hardly ever requires adjustment. Does this mean that the mechanism is unaffected by the elements? What about temperature, pressure, humidity? And does the gravitational pull of the moon make any difference? The pendulum on the Trinity Clock has been instrumented to measure period and amplitude to great accuracy. The time is compared with UTC obtained from a GPS receiver. All of this data is streamed continuously to the web at http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/. If you thought that the physics of a pendulum was simple, then think again!

  • The Maths of Breakfast
    A mug of coffee, a piece of toast and a box of cornflakes all have one ingredient in common: Maths. We'll reveal some unexpected applications of geometry, mechanics, statistics and algebra at the breakfast table. Your mornings will never be the same again.

  • Vibration from Underground Railways
    Vibration in the ground causes problems. At large amplitude vibration causes damage, the most obvious example being earthquake damage. But the ground motion in a damaging earthquake is typically low-frequency (below 1Hz) and large-amplitude (above 10mm). At higher frequencies and lower amplitudes (above 10Hz, below 0.01mm) vibration is simply bothersome. Rarely do perceptible vibrations cause damage - the cracks in the plaster of a house near a busy road are most probably due to subsidence, or perhaps due to the kids jumping down the stairs two-at-a-time and slamming doors. Vibrations from man-made sources are arguably preventable and if we are disturbed by them, generally there is someone we can sue. Railway companies are an easy target for litigation so there is clear motivation for keeping vibration levels low. This talk addresses the general topic of ground vibration from railways and some of the common techniques used to control railway vibration and also the predictive tools available to engineers. It is often believed that the environmental concerns of residents near a proposed railway development will be met by putting the trains underground - in tunnels. Even though modern tunnelling methods are now quicker and cheaper than ever before, vibration concerns turn the average "nimby" into a NUMBY (Not Under My Back Yard). The underground-railway problem encapsulates all that is difficult about controlling a distributed source of ground-borne vibration.

  • Noises in the Kitchen
    There are lots of neat (and noisy) experiments can be done in the kitchen. We'll start with a coffee cup, move to a coke bottle and then a dinner plate and a wine glass. Simple at first, but actually really strange; still, they can all be explained with a little maths. Like how to the brazil nuts always end up at the top of the muesli? Then we can have some fun with toast landing buttered-side-down, bounce a few balls, and even try to figure out how a cat lands on its feet. This talk will be filled with practical demonstrations - seeing is believing. All are demonstrations that can be repeated at home (maybe best to leave the cat sleeping ...)

  • The Secret Science of Music
    Our ears are remarkable. The ear operates over a wide range of frequencies and volumes, and we have a tremendous ability to distinguish subtly-different sounds. For example we can identify a person from their voice on a crackly phone line and we can tell the difference between a flute and a violin on the radio. And the ear cannot easily be fooled, unlike the eye which falls for many optical illusions. A musical ear is an asset to engineers and designers. The reason for this is that sound is directly related to the nature of the object producing the sound. If a machine is producing a sound then how much can we deduce about its operation? This lecture is full of demonstrations and experiments. It should become apparent to you that no-one is really tone deaf and that we should all use our ears much more than we do. It would help to make the world a much better place!

    Biographical Details:
    Dr Hugh Hunt is a Reader in Engineering Dynamics and Vibration at Cambridge University. His research centres on the control of noise and vibration from underground railways, but he got caught up in geoengineering as Co-Investigator on the SPICE project, 2010-15, which looked at various aspects of SRM www.spicepipe.co.uk . He was responsible for an outdoor experiment, the 1km testbed, which was intended to evaluate the influence of wind on the motion of a tethered balloon, but controversy over geoengineering experiments led to the testbed being canceled. He is now promoting other technologes for the removal of non-CO2 greenhouse gases, in particular methane and N2O www.suggr.co.uk . He also runs the Cambridge Climate Lecture Series which aims to raise awareness of the urgency around climate change. www.climateseries.com

    Hugh is a regular presenter on television documentaries on Channel 4, PBS Nova and SBS, including "Dambusters: Building the Bouncing Bomb", "Attack of the Zeppelins", "Escape from Colditz" and "Guy Martin Wall of Death". He is Keeper of the Clock at Trinity College, a clock which is demonstrably the most accurate tower clock in the world www.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock . He has an impressive collection of boomerangs which he uses to inspire students in the study of dynamics and mechanics.


    Invited Research/Keynote Lectures:

  • March 2016, "Dambusters, Colditz and climate change: the Blitz spirit" Cambridge Festival of Science
  • November 2015, "The Dambusters and Escape from Colditz Castle - the engineering behind famous feats of WWII", RAEng Autumn Lecture
  • June 2014, "Consultancy as a Form of Technology Transfer: What's the point? How do you do it?" Praxis Unico annual conference, Excellence in Practice, Cardiff
  • July 2013 "Is Climate Engineering Feasible?", Climate Change Institute, Australian National University, Canberra
  • May 2013 "Can we Engineer the Climate", Cambridge Public Policy Seminar
  • July 2011, "Tethered aerostats: the dynamic behaviour of an aerodynamic tether with application to geoengineering", Semi-plenary Keynote, EuroDyn2011, Leuven
  • April 2011, "SPICE: Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering", Monash University Sustainability Institute
  • March 2011, "SPICE: Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering", Melbourne University Department of Engineering
  • April 2008, "Counter-intuitive problems in dynamics and vibration", Imperial College Mechanical Engineering Research Showcase Event
  • December 2007, "Counter-intuitive problems in Dynamics and Vibration", Keynote address, 5th Australasian Congress in Applied Mechanics, Brisbane, Australia.
  • December 2007, "Vibration of bell towers", Address delivered in St John's Cathedral Brisbane as part of the 5th Australasian Congress in Applied Mechanics.
  • January 2007,"Counter-intuitive problems in Dynamics and Vibration", Nottingham University.
  • January 2007, "Vibration from Underground Trains - the PiP software", Institute of Acoustics, Royal Society, London (poster)
  • October 2006,"Counter-intuitive problems in Dynamics and Vibration", Mechanics Colloquium, Cambridge University Engineering Department.
  • August 2005,"Counter-intuitive problems in Vibration", Adelaide University, Mechanical Engineering, invited seminar.
  • August 2005, "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", UNSW Mechanical Engineering, invited seminar, Sydney
  • August 2005,"IEAust Eminent Speaker Series 2005", seven lectures given in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne.
    Topics: "Vibration from Underground Railways", Counter-intuitive Problems in Vibration", "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs" (website)
  • August 2005, "Some counter-intuitive engineering design problems in vibration; On how a little knowledge can confuse our understanding of complex problems" , Keynote Address, ICED2005 Conference, Melbourne
  • July 2002,"Ground vibration from man-made sources", Keynote address, 9th Int Congress on Sound and Vibration, U of Central Florida.
  • March 1999, "Spinning into Space", National Science Week, Lady Mitchell Hall Cambridge, (IOP Award, jointly with Dr M K Warner, Dept of Physics);

    Public Lectures, General Interest:

  • September 2016 "The Genius Engineers of WW2", Gravity Fields Festival, Grantham
  • July 2016 "Big Ben and other accurate clocks", Cambridge Summer Schools, Science Summer Programme
  • July 2016 "Can we engineer the climate?" IARU GSP Cambridge
  • March 2016 "Dambusters, Colditz and climate change: the Blitz spirit" Cambridge Science Festival
  • January 2016 "Can we Engineer the Climate?" Cambridge University European Society
  • October 2015 Standup commedy set at Portland Arms Cambridge
  • October 2015 "Flying Balls", Rugby World Cup - with Pauld Grayson and Rob Eastaway
  • September 2015 "Can we engineer the climate"? Cambridge University Alumni Festival
  • June 2015 "Bouncing Bombs and Boomerangs" Maths in Education and Industry (MEI), Universtity of Bath
  • November 2014 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things",Bristol University, School of Physics
  • November 2014 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Ottley Science Festival
  • November 2014 "Zeppelin Terror Attack", Royal Aeronautical Society, Cambridge
  • September 2014 "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs" Trinity College Dublin, Department of Physics invited lecture
  • September 2014 "Engineering the Climate" Gravity Fields Festival, Grantham
  • August 2014 "Attack of the Zeppelins", Plenary Lecture, Cambridge International Summer School
  • July 2014 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", IMA@50 Festival of Mathematics and its Applications, Manchester, In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
  • July 2014 "Can we engineer the Climate", Cambridge International Summer School 5-day workshop and Plenary Debate
  • July 2014 "Attack of the Zeppelins: how many cows does it take to win a war?", Cambridge Science Centre
  • June 2014 "Should we Engineer the Climate? The SPICE project", Cambridge Centre for the Application of Research CSAR
  • November 2013 "Maths Problems in Engineering - Handling Infinity", Trinity College Mathematics Society
  • September 2013 "Engineering the Climate", British Science Festival, Newcastle
  • May 2013 "Boomerangs , Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Public Understanding of Science Lecture, St Pauls's Catholic School, Milton Keynes
  • April 2013 "Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering", Science Museum Lates London
  • March 2013, "SPICE: Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering" Cambridge Climate Change Forum
  • February 2013 "Dambusters, Building the Bouncing Bomb", Salford University
  • February 2013 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Oxford University Science Society
  • February 2013 "SPICE: Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering", Trinity College Science Society
  • February 2013 "The Remarkable Accuracy of the Trinity College Clock", Trinity College Mathematics Society
  • December 2012 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Open University Christmas Lecture, Milton Keynes
  • December 2012 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Cambridge Physics Centre, Pippard Lecture Theatre
  • December 2012 "The Science behind Dambusters and Colditz" Cambridge Christmas Lecture
  • November 2012 "Escape from Colditz" Royal Aeronautical Society, Cambridge
  • April 2012 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things" Danby Society, Downing College Cambridge
  • January 2012 "Dambusters, Building the Bouncing Bomb", Marshall Aerospace Cambridge
  • November 2011, "Dambusters: building the bouncing bomb", Phoenix Society, Churchill College, Cambridge
  • October 2011, "Dambusters and the engineering behind the bouncing bomb", Royal Aeronautical Society joint with IMechE, Cambridge
  • July 2011, "Dambusters: building the bouncing bomb", Science Summer School, Cambridge
  • July 2011, "Bouncing Balls", Festival of the Spoken Nerd, Islington, London
  • June 2011, "The Dambusters Now", Cheltenham Science Festival
  • June 2011, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Cheltenham Science Festival
  • March 2011, "Dambusters: building the bouncing bomb", Cambridge University Engineering Department
  • March 2011, "Dambusters and the engineering behind the bouncing bomb", Cambridge Science Festival
  • September 2010, "The remarkable accuracy of the Trinity College Clock", British Horological Institute, Upton Hall
  • July 2010, "The remarkable accuracy of the Trinity College Clock", Antiquarian Horological Society, Turret Clock Group, Cambridge
  • February 2010, "Climate Change and Sustainable Energy", Dept of Physics, University of Southampton
  • July 2010, "Boomerangs and other spinning things", Science Summer School, Cambridge
  • January 2010, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", The Thomas Hardye School Community Lecture, Dorchester (poster)
  • December 2009, "The Remarkable Accuracy of the Trinity College Clock", Institute of Physics, Cambridge;
  • November 2009,"The Science of Spinning Things", Cambridge University Science Society
  • October 2009, "Climate Change and Sustainable Energy", U3A Cambridge
  • July 2009, "Understanding boomerangs and other spinning things", Science Summer School, Cambridge
  • June 2009, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Prince's Trust, Greenwich London.
  • June 2009 "Spinning Things - The Workshop", Royal Institution, London
  • April 2009, "Noises in the Kitchen", Cambridgeshire Further Mathematics Centre, Centre for Mathematical Sciences.
  • March 2009, "Science in a Spin", Cambridge Science Festival
  • March 2009, "Science in a Spin", "Bath Taps into Science" Festival (poster)
  • July 2008, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Cambridgeshire Further Mathematics Centre, Centre for Mathematical Sciences.
  • March 2008,"The Secret Science of Music", Swavesey Village College.
  • February 2008, "Counter-intuitive problems in vibration", Cambridge University Engineering Society
  • March 2008, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Stokes Society, Pembroke College, Cambridge;
  • January 2007, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Centre for Nonlinear Mechanics, University of Bath.
  • March 2007, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Trinity College Science Society, Science Symposium
  • December 2006, Institute of Physics, Physics Update Course for School Physics Teachers, Cambridge; (report and photos)
  • September 2006, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Royal Aeronautical Society, Bedford Branch
  • September 2006, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Alumni weekend, Cambridge
  • July 2006, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Science Summer School, Cambridge
  • July 2006, "Harmonics and Music", Science Summer School, Cambridge
  • June 2006, HP Science Lectures, HP Labs Bristol: "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things." (website)
  • February 2006, "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", IOP Physics in Perspective -- A Study Course for 6th Formers, London;
  • December 2005, "Good Vibration - Conter-intuitive experiments in Vibration", IMA East Midlands Branch (poster)
  • January 2006, "The wonderful Physics of Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", Maxwell Society Lecture, Dept of Physics, Kings College London; (poster)
  • July 2005, "Boomerangs", Science Summer School, Cambridge
  • November 2004, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Trinity College Science Society (poster)
    .........Click here to see a video of the entire lecture (small test clips:.rm. .wmv.)
  • May 2004, "The Wonderful Physics of Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", IMA East Midlands Branch (poster)
  • December 2003, "The Wonderful Physics of Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", Portsmouth and District Physical Society, Special Christmas Lecture
  • October 2003,"Gyroscopes and other spinning things",The Kelvin Club Peterhouse Scientific Society , Cambridge
  • May 2003, "The Magic of Gyroscopes, Boomerangs and Other Spinning Things", MIT Boston USA
  • July 2002 "The dynamics of spin: gyroscopes and other spinning objects", Science Summer School, 3 days
  • February 2002, "Gyroscopes and boomerangs" Royal Institution, London, Inst of Physics, Physics in Perspective
  • December 1999, "The Physics of Toys", Cambridge Christmas Lectures;
  • March 1998, "Lifting and circling - why your boomerang does come back", National Science Week, Cambridge

    Talks for Schools (large venues) and Talks for Teachers:

  • November 2016 "Maths of the Wall of Death" GCSE Maths in Action, London
  • February 2016 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things" Mechanics Day, University of Wolverhampton
  • February 2016 "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration, Nottingham Playhouse
  • December 2015 "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
  • November 2015 "Maths in a Spin", with Guy Martin, Maths Inspiration, The Crucible Theatre Sheffield
  • March 2015 "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs" Irish Science Teachers' Association, University College Cork
  • March 2015 "Can we engineer the climate?" Oxbridge Academy
  • March 2015 "How many cows does it take to win a war?", Marlowe Theatre Canterbury
  • March 2015 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", GCSE Maths in Action, London
  • March 2015 "Bouncing Bombs and Boomerangs", Maths Inspiration, The Theatre Royal Newcastle
  • December 2014 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", GCSE Maths in Action, London
  • December 2014 "Bouncing Bombs and Boomerangs", Maths Inspiration, Birmingham Alexandra Theatre
  • November 2014 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", GCSE Maths in Action, London
  • November 2014 "Bouncing Bombs and Boomerangs", Maths Inspiration, Reading Hexagon Theatre
  • November 2014 "Bouncing Bombs and Boomerangs", Maths Inspiration, London Palace Theatre
  • September 2014 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Keynote Lecture "Frontiers of Physics", Institute of Physics, Dublin
  • June 2014 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things" and "Dambusters, Colditz and Zeppelins", Physics Teachers' Training Day, St Paul's School London
  • April 2014 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Cambridge University Engineering Department, Year 12 Easter School
  • March 2014, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration, Leeds West Yorkshire Playhouse
  • December 2013, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration, Reading Concert Hall
  • June 2013 "Maths in a Spin", Maths on Screen, available on DVD
  • March 2013 "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Maths and Beyond, Further Maths Support Programme, University of Warwick
  • March 2013, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration, Bristol Hippodrome
  • February 2013, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration, London Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue
  • January 2013, "SPICE: Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering", School of Physics, University of Birmingham
  • November 2012 "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration, Cambridge West Road Concert Hall
  • March 2012 "Dambusters, Building the Bouncing Bomb", The Prince's Teaching Institute, Moller Centre Cambridge
  • March 2012 "Dambusters and the Bouncing Bomb", Maths Inspiration, Leeds West Yorkshire Playhouse
  • November 2011, "Dambusters and the bouncing bomb", Maths Inspiration (link), Manchester;
  • November 2011, "Dambusters", (2 lectures) Maths in Action, Univ of London, A-level Mathematics Days.
  • November 2011, "Dambusters: building the bouncing bomb", 10th Annual Maths Conference, AGS Aylesbury
  • July 2011, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", A-level, Invitation Maths Presentation Medway, Chatham
  • March 2011, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration (link), Nottingham;
  • November 2010, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration (link), Reading;
  • June 2010, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", A-level, Invitation Maths Presentation Medway, Chatham
  • March 2010, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration (link), Winchester;
  • March 2010, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration (link), Leeds;
  • January 2010, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Oundle School
  • December 2009, Institute of Physics, Physics Update Course for School Physics Teachers, Cambridge;
  • November 2009, "At Home with Maths", Maths in Action, Univ of London, A-level Mathematics Days.
  • November 2009, "The Maths of Breakfast", Maths Inspiration (link), Cambridge;
  • November 2009, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration (link), Chatham;
  • July 2009,"Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Rockingham Science Festival.
  • July 2009, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Cambridgeshire Further Mathematics Centre, CMS
  • March 2009, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things" Royal Institution, School Event, Key Stage 3 Science
  • March 2009, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration (link), Portsmouth;
  • March 2009, "Maths in a Spin", Maths in Action, Imperial College London, GCSE Mathematics Day, 2 lectures.
  • December 2008, Institute of Physics, Physics Update Course for School Physics Teachers, Cambridge;
  • November 2008, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration (link), RNCM, Manchester;
  • November 2008, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration (link), West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge;
  • November 2008, "Maths in a Spin", Maths Inspiration (link), Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham;
  • November 2008, "Mathematics in a Spin", Maths in Action, Univ of London, A-level Mathematics Days.
  • September 2008, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", IOP Netowrk Day for Physics Teachers, Derby;
  • July 2008,"Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", The Prince's Teaching Institute Summer School, Homerton College.
  • July 2008,"Boomerangs", Rockingham Festval (4 sessions)
  • March 2008, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Physics in Action, Imperial College London, GCSE Science Day.
  • December 2007, Institute of Physics, Physics Update Course for School Physics Teachers, Cambridge;
  • November 2007, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Maths Inspiration (link), Reading;
  • November 2007, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Maths Inspiration (link), Criterion Theatre, Picadilly;
  • July 2007,"Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Rockingham Science Festival.
  • March 2007, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Maths in Action, Univ of London, A-level Mathematics Day.
  • March 2007, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Maths in Action, Imperial College London, GCSE Mathematics Day, 2 lectures.
  • November-December 2006, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Maths in Action, Univ of London, A-level Mathematics Day, 3 lectures.
  • November 2006, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Maths Inspiration (link), Birmingham;
  • March 2006, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and other Spinning Things", Maths Inspiration (link), Greenwich; (website)
  • July 2005, "Boomerangs and Bouncing Balls", Science for Schools, Royal Institution, London.
  • July 2005, "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", Royal Institution, London;
  • February 2005, Aim Higher, "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", CUED
  • December 2003, Institute of Physics, Physics Update Course for School Physics Teachers, Cambridge;
  • December 2003, "The wonderful physics of gyroscopes and boomerangs", Univ of London, A-level Physics Day.
  • June 2002 "Spinning out of control" SeeK lecture (Science and Engineering Experiments for Kids) see http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/seek/seeknew/spinning.htm
  • November 2001, "The magic physics of boomerangs", University of London, A-level Physics Day.
  • November 2000, "The mathematics of boomerangs", University of London, A-level Mathematics Day.

    Talks at individual Schools:

  • July 1010, "Climate Change and Sustainable Energy", Hills Road Sixth Form One World Day
  • November 2009, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Hitchin Girl's School, CMS
  • April 2009, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Spalding High School.
  • March 2009, "Boomerangs and Bouncing Balls", Wilson's School poster ;
  • March 2009, "Boomerangs and Bouncing Balls", Cambridge Science Festival Schools Roadshow (4 schools in Cambridgeshire - Mepal and Witcham Primary School, Wilburton Primary School, Newnham Croft Primary School, Meadow Primary School Balham);
  • January 2009, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Tom Passmore Memorial Mathematics Lecture, Wellington School
  • September 2007, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Bishop's Stortford High School;
  • May 2007, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", St Paul's School for Girls, London.
  • March 2007, "Boomerangs and Bouncing Balls", Cambridge Science Festival Schools Roadshow (4 schools in Cambridgeshire ( news link ) - Lantern Primary Ely, Thomas Eaton Primary Wimblington, Teversham CE Primary, St Peter's CE Junior Wisbech);
  • February 2007, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Wiles Society, Leys School Cambridge
  • June 2006, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", Archway School, Stroud, Glos
  • March 2006, "Boomerangs and Bouncing Balls", Cambridge Science Festival Schools Roadshow (4 schools in Cambridgeshire - All Saints Primary March, Sutton Primary near Ely video , Babraham Primary and Grove Primary Cambridge);
  • August 2005, "Wonderful Boomerangs", Wesley College, Melbourne (Lower and Middle schools);
  • March 2005, "Boomerangs and Bouncing Balls", Cambridge Science Festival Schools Roadshow (4 schools in Cambridgeshire - Fawcett Primary Cambridge, Guilden Morden Primary near Royston, Harston Primary and Lady Adrian School Girton);
  • June 2004, "Boomerangs, Bouncing Balls and Other Spinning Things", St Benedicts School, Ealing, London
  • March 2004, "Boomerangs and Bouncing Balls", Cambridge Science Festival Schools Roadshow (5 schools in Cambridge - Mayfield Primary, St Lukes Primary, Milton Road Primary, Pelican Primary and Park Street Primary);
  • March 2002, "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", Tom Passmore Memorial Mathematics Lecture, Wellington School
  • September 2001, "Gyroscopes and boomerangs", St Paul's School London
  • February 1997, "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", Eton College;

    Invited and After-dinner talks:

  • November 2014 "Can we Engineer the Climate", Cambridge South Rotary
  • March 2014 "The remarkable accuracy of the Trinity College Clock", Antiquarian Horological Society, Bury St Edmunds
  • September 2013 "Can we Engineer the Climate", Sustainability Leadership, Hauser Forum Cambridge
  • May 2013 "From Dambusters to Colditz", Freemasons Cambridge
  • January 2013, "Dambusters and Colditz", Haematology Department Retreat, Robinson College Cambridge
  • November 2012 "Dambusters and Colditz" Remembrance Sunday Commemoration, Trinity College Cambridge
  • November 2006, "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", Stimulating Physics, Institute of Physics, York
  • September 2005, "Boomerangs", Biala Early Intervention Centre, Box Hill Victoria, fundraising dinner
  • August 2005,"An Australian's Guide to Cambridge", Cambridge Society of Victoria, Melbourne
  • August 2005, "Wonderful Boomerangs", Inst of Engineers (Mech) Annual Dinner, Brisbane
  • August 2005, "Gyroscopes and Boomerangs", ICED2005 Conference Banquet, Melbourne
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