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SUMMARY:How curiosity turned into Science? - Dr Philip Ball
DTSTART:20130312T200000Z
DTEND:20130312T211500Z
UID:TALK42939@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mareike Herzog
DESCRIPTION:The talk is FREE\n\n------------\n\n"How curiosity turned into
  Science?" is a complex story in which the liberation of curiosity can be 
 linked to magic\, religion\, literature\, travel\, trade and empire.\n\n\n
 This talk is part of the Cambridge Science Festival and sponsored by:\nBir
 d & Bird.\n\nTo attend\, please register at: http://www.scisoc.com/booking
 /\n\n------------\n\nThere was a time when curiosity was condemned. To be 
 curious was to delve into matters that didn’t concern you – after all\
 , the original sin stemmed from a desire for forbidden knowledge. Through 
 curiosity our innocence was lost. Yet this hasn’t deterred us. Today we 
 spend vast sums trying to recreate the first instants of creation in parti
 cle accelerators\, out of pure desire to know. There seems now to be no qu
 estion too vast or too trivial to be ruled out of bounds: Why can fleas ju
 mp so high? What is gravity? What shape are clouds? Today curiosity is no 
 longer reviled\, but celebrated. In this talk I will examine how our inqui
 sitive impulse first became sanctioned – when it changed from a vice to 
 a virtue\, and it became permissible to ask any and every question about t
 he world. That was the age when modern science began\, a time that spans t
 he lives of Galileo and Isaac Newton. The so-called Scientific Revolution 
 is often told as a story of great geniuses illuminating the world with fla
 shes of inspiration. But I will reveal a more complex story\, in which the
  liberation – and the taming – of curiosity was linked to magic\, reli
 gion\, literature\, travel\, trade and empire. By examining the rise of cu
 riosity\, I will interrogate what has become of it today: how it functions
  in science\, how it is spun and packaged and sold\, how well it is being 
 sustained and honoured\, and how the changing shape of science influences 
 the kinds of questions it may ask.
LOCATION:Department of Pharmacology Lecture Theatre
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