BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:The volcano Laki in 1783: a serial killer? A French-English compar
 ison - Dr Emmanuel Garnier\, University of Caen
DTSTART:20130520T114500Z
DTEND:20130520T130000Z
UID:TALK44190@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:31344
DESCRIPTION:Abruptly\, in April 2010\, airlines companies\, insurers and p
 oliticians discovered that volcanic ash from Iceland could disrupt air tra
 ffic throughout western Europe. Like other recent natural disaster (Atlant
 ic storm Xynthia in 2010\, the tsunami in Japon in 2011)\, this was a tota
 lly ‘new’ and completely unexpected scenario. However\, British and Fr
 ench archives showed that this event was perfectly conceivable. Indeed\, o
 n 8 June 1783\, the Icelandic volcano Laki entered an eruptive phase lasti
 ng nearly a year\, producing massive amounts of smoke which\, within hours
 \, was observed everywhere in Northern Europe. These ‘sulfurous fogs’\
 , in addition to terrorizing the population\, were quickly suspected of be
 ing harmful to health. \nBased on a comparative approach of classic histor
 ical sources as parish registers (Cambridge\, Cambridgeshire\, Normandy\, 
 the North of France)\, medical archives of the Société royale de médeci
 ne\, the Académie royale des Sciences of Paris and the Royal Society of L
 ondon as well as English and French meteorological Journals\, this work us
 es an interdisciplinary approach to provide a new perspective on the preci
 se chronology of this health disaster and its climatic and social contexte
  on a transnational scale. \n
LOCATION:HB101\, Sir William Hardy Building Seminar Room
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR