MEET THE EXPERTS
STEM Day
Daniel Torren Peraire (Year 13) reports on the researchers, academics and writers who visited Dulwich during a day focused on science subjects
infamous decision to kick for the corner in the dying moments of the World Cup qualifier against South Africa as being mathematically sound despite it sending England out of the World Cup. Tom Briggs, outreach officer from Bletchley Park, brought in an Enigma Machine that had featured in the 2015 film The Imitation Game and discussed the genius shown by Alan Turing in breaking through the near-infinitely complex encryption posed by the device. A talk by Professors Dwayne Heard and Ben Whittaker from Leeds University on Atmospheric Physics explained Bertlmann’s Socks and the nature of reality. Jonathan Hare, who worked with Sir Harry Kroto at Sussex University discovering Bucky Balls, and who has featured on the BBC programme Horizon , led a workshop on superimposing sound on a laser beam, an idea taken up by one of the Dulwich teams in the Weizmann safe-cracking competition. Physicist and television presenter Jonathan Hare’s talk on the science of Breaking Bad attracted a keen audience. The day finished off with a talk from Hugh Hunt, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who had rushed to the College after flying in from Canada earlier that day. Well known for his Chanel 4 appearances in Building Hilter’s Supergun , Escape from Colditz and Dambusters: Building the Bouncing Bomb , Hugh’s talk was based on precession and circular motion and culminated in boomerangs being thrown around the great hall. Forty per cent of all leavers from Dulwich go on to study one of the STEM subjects at university. After such a successful first year, we hope that STEM Day will become a regular feature in the College’s annual calendar.
T here is something undeniably special about conversing with academics and those at the forefront of their field. Whether it is the answer they give to your question that you know is the most definitive explanation there is anywhere in the world at that moment, or the insight into how they started on their path to intellectual enlightenment, or even tales of their academic beginnings during their study in the Sixth Form, they never fail to inspire you to think you might be capable of doing the same. This was the rationale behind the Upper School STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Day, which took place as part of Dulwich Inventive. The College had the pleasure of welcoming 17 speakers from universities and academia, among them experts in Medical ethics, Physical Chemistry, Engineering and Code Breaking. Though students study discrete sciences while in the Upper School, the most exciting scientific developments happen in areas of crossover between subjects. Boys were asked to select from a range of options that included talks, workshops and interactive lessons from various areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. There were many highlights during the day. Robert Eastaway, author of popular books about Maths such as Why Do Buses Come in Threes? described Chris Robshaw’s
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