Mantell
Gideon Mantell Searching for Fossils

Memorable Monents in History

Friday, 10 a.m., Library L127

Seminar Committee Members

This is a drop-in seminar. Most of us can remember exactly where they were and how they discovered memorial events that have happened in our lifetimes. This morning seminar will refresh our memories and prepare us for a discussion after seeing a section from a DVD by the BBC. To reach Room 127, walk or take the elevator to the lower level of the Library. When you reach the lower level, walk straight ahead from the bottom of the stairs. When you reach a wall, turn left. You can also see the titles in the Renaissance Recorder newsletter. This is a drop-in seminar with no sign-up or presentation requirements.

Feb. 1: Dinosaurs and Duplicity: Discovery of the First Dinosaur and Piltdown Man
Sussex, England. It is September 1824, and amateur geologist Dr Gideon Mantell is about to become the first person to identify the bones of an ancient, plant-eating, giant reptile, which will later be called a Dinosaur. In Dinosaurs and Duplicity, we see that a few weeks earlier, his wife, Mary, had spotted a large fossilised tooth in some rubble left by workmen in the Sussex Weald and Dr. Mantell has since collected several other giant teeth. He is convinced he has made a remarkable discovery, but the scientific establishment has so far dismissed the teeth as uninteresting.
It is November 20, 1953, and news is breaking that one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the century is an elaborate hoax. Forty years earlier, Charles Dawson, a solicitor and amateur antiquarian from Sussex, had announced the discovery of remains from the earliest known human being. Piltdown Man was heralded as the long-awaited "missing link" between ape and man, proof of Darwin's theory of evolution. But the bones were in fact a cleverly constructed forgery.
Feb. 8: The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the Death of Diana
This program explores two days that changed the way Britons perceive the monarchy and the media: the Coronation of Elizabeth II and the death of Princess Diana. Highlights include: How Peter Dimmock, the producer of the Coronation broadcast, fought for a close-up of the Queen although it was forbidden; Norman Hartnell's design for the Queen's robes, and how a mistake had to be rectified; how the respectful relationship with the press prevented Audrey Whiting publishing a scoop about Princess Margaret; an interview with the doctor who attended Diana at the site of the crash, without knowing who she was; and a reconstruction of Diana's final hours.
Feb. 15: Reach for the Stars: The Trial of Galileo/Yuri Gagarin's Flight
On April 12, 1633, Galileo was put on trial on suspicion of heresy, his crime being to suggest that the sun and not the earth was the center of the known universe, and that the earth orbited the sun just like any other planet. A monstrous affront to the teachings of the Catholic Church and centuries of received but untested wisdom, it was an idea that had cost the life of Dominican friar Girodano Bruno 30 years earlier. Bruno had no evidence, but Galileo had spent a decade amassing enough to convince any sceptic—or so he thought.
Yuri Gagarin's single orbit of Earth 52 years ago ushered in the era of human spaceflight. His 108-minute flight was another major propaganda coup for the Soviet Union, which had successfully launched the first satellite, Sputnik,in 1957.
Feb. 22: First Nuclear Reaction and Chernobyl
On Dec. 2, 1942, the world's first nuclear chain reaction was successfully triggered in a squash court at the University of Chicago. Intelligence from Nazi Germany meant the race was on for the Nobel Prize winner, Enrico Fermi and his young team of gung-ho physicists, to kickstart production of the world's first weapon of mass destruction. Shrouded in secrecy until years later, this film gives a rare insight into the minds of the people who launched the atomic age.
On the eve April 26, 1986, a routine test had been planned for the Chernobyl nuclear power station, but a series of human errors and multiple miscommunication led to the worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen. A simple mistake, by a 26-year-old operator, lifted the 1000-ton concrete roof of the reactor into the air like a tossed coin, scattering burning fragments of uranium up to three kilometers from the plant.The horrendous chain of events is shown through reconstruction and interviews with the families of those that died at the plant. The impact will be felt by generations to come.
March 1: The Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and the Death of Hitler
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was heir to the throne of Austria. On June 28, 1914, he and his wife were shot dead by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip. With German support, Austria attempted to use the assassinations as a chance to crush Serbia. When Russia prepared to defend Serbia, Germany too became involved in the conflict. In turn, the alliance with Russia brought France into the conflict. Germany declared war on them both on Aug. 1, 1914.
Adolf Hitler committed suicide by gunshot on April 30, 1945, in his Fuhrerbunker in Berlin. His wife Eva committed suicide with him by ingesting cyanide.
March 8: Kristallnacht and the Birth of Israel
Two dramatic days defined the fortunes of the Jewish People in the 20th Century. Kristallnacht in Germany marked the beginning of the slide into the abyss of the Holocaust. Then, less than 10 years later and amid more bloodshed, the 2000-year-old dream of a Jewish homeland became reality—the State of Israel was born.
March 15: Affairs of the Crown: The Execution of Anne Boleyn and the Abdication of Edward VIII
London, England. It is May 19, 1536. Queen Anne is under arrest in the Tower of London.The woman responsible for scandalising England and causing the country's split with the Roman Catholic Church has been condemned for adultery and treason. Many of her subjects also consider her to be a witch. After just three years of marriage to King Henry VIII, 36-year-old Anne Boleyn is about to become the first English Queen in history to be executed.
In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII's proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who was divorced from her first husband and was pursuing a divorce of her second.
March 22: Attack on Pearl Harbor
Hawaii, USA. It is Dec.7, 1941. Travelling under strict radio silence, aeroplanes and midget submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy, commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, carry out a surprise assault on the United States Navy base at Pearl Harbor, and against the Army Air Corps and Marine airfields nearby on Oahu. The Attack on Pearl Harbor describes the events that took on place on that day.
March 29:
Spring; No Seminars.