Our Osmond Lecture this year was delivered by Marine Biologist, Writer and Broadcaster, Dr Helen Scales.
Dr Scales’ talk on March 17th, entitled ‘The Brilliant Abyss’, was a fabulous way to conclude our action-packed British Science Week celebrations, which were themed around the ‘Science of the Sea’.
The lecture explored the very deep oceans – a part of the sea which forms the vast majority of the Earth’s surface, but yet we know very little about.
Ned Kittoe, Head of Science at King’s Ely Senior, said: “It was wonderful to have someone as knowledgeable, enthusiastic and approachable as Dr Scales to give our Osmond Lecture this year. Dr Scales introduced us to a few of the weird light emitting jelly-like creatures that we might find at those terrific pressures and depths (“Can we eat them?” asked a student) and her favourite – a scaly-footed, two-inch iron shelled snail that lives only at 500 degree Celsius thermal vents, and how it manages to survive.
“The talk went on to encompass the plans and ambitions of deep sea mining companies, our ongoing attempts to research the depths and the prospects for this vast and little understood ecosystem. The whole experience was truly illuminating (pun intended) and left one feeling like a rather insignificant part of this rich and diverse planet.”
Dr Scales is author of the Guardian bestseller, ‘Spirals in Time’, New York Times top summer read, ‘The Brilliant Abyss’ and the children’s books, ‘The Great Barrier Reef’ and ‘What a Shell Can Tell’. She writes for National Geographic Magazine, the Guardian, and New Scientist, among others. She teaches at Cambridge University, is a storytelling ambassador for the Save Our Seas Foundation and science advisor for the marine conservation charity, Sea Changers. Dr Scales divides her time between Cambridge, and the wild Atlantic coast of France.
The Osmond Lecture is an annual event established and endowed by the Old Eleans’ Club to commemorate the career of Leonard Osmond, who was a Science Teacher at King’s from 1930 to 1972.
Dr Scales is pictured here with Mr Kittoe (right) and our Principal, John Attwater (left).