Andrew Shorthouse This was every bit an informative talk laced with some quite challenging mathematical concepts which inform on best bridge design. Computational modelling and optimisation are able to predict how a bridge’s components and structures will behave under specific conditions, and thereby improving design, efficiency and manufacturing technique e.g. with 3D printing What are the span … Read more
Early life Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (neé Pierrepont) is recognised as one of the great female intellectuals of the 18th century. She was the daughter of the Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, born in 1689. Between 1692 and 1700 she went to her grandmother at West Dean near Salisbury, then to Thoresby Hall … Read more
Dr Marek Szablewski What a fantastic, emotionally charged talk by Marek about his family origins in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation of Poland! Marek himself grew up in Sheffield in the 1960s, leaving for Durham in 1992 for an academic career in applied chemistry and physics. Much of his talk centred on the wartime experience … Read more
Nick Verber is a research registrar working for his PhD at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience Institute (SITraN), University of Sheffield. He gave an excellent talk, very successfully overcoming the temptation of many medics to litter their lectures with clinical jargon. It was clearly delivered and easily followed by a large Zoom gathering of … Read more
Peter Ivey gave a succinct overview to a Zoom record of 45 members on how the internet works, and a very useful talk as most like me were fairly clueless; bits, bytes, HTML, 5G are familiar words bandied around but never quite sure exactly what they all mean. Peter’s background includes a physics degree at … Read more
Dave Petley gave a superb talk to 41 members, guests, and an unknown number of wives and girlfriends. It was the second highly successful Probus Zoom presentation since COVID-19 lockdown (thanks to Peter, Graham, Richard and Jacko). Dave is Vice President for Research and Innovation, University of Sheffield. His research focus is international landslide mechanisms and he … Read more