21 July 2010

Professor Lord Robert Winston to return to lecture in Dundee

The pioneering scientist Professor Lord Robert Winston will visit Dundee next month to introduce the ideas contained in his new book, entitled Bad Ideas?

Lord Winston will be appearing at the University of Dundee’s Dalhousie Building from 6pm on Wednesday, August 18th. He will outline the ideas contained in his book, which examines how brilliant inventions can be misapplied to the detriment of humankind.

The pioneer of IVF treatment, who is credited with making science more accessible to the public through his massively popular books and television series’, will deliver an informative and entertaining lecture on how well intentioned scientific breakthroughs have the potential to change the world for the worse as well as for the better.

He has plenty of evidence to back up his thesis: relativity gave us nuclear weapons as well as nuclear energy; antibiotics can kill just as easily as they can cure; and genetics raises the spectre of cloning and eugenics.

Lord Winston last appeared at the University in 2007, when a capacity crowd heard him discuss ‘The Science Delusion’, and argue that it was equally deluded to believe that science has all the answers as it is to profess a belief in God.

His upcoming appearance is also likely to attract a full house, and anyone interested in attending is advised to buy tickets as soon as possible.

'I'm sure anyone who was in the audience when Lord Winston last appeared in Dundee will be keen to attend this event as well,' said Anna Day, Director of Literary Dundee, organisers of the event.

'He is a fantastic speaker. As well as being a great thinker, he is also immensely engaging and the audience will come out with a completely fresh take on a range of discoveries such as relativity and antibiotics, and their potential for bad as well as good.

'Tickets are already moving fast, so anyone who wants to enjoy a fascinating and entertaining talk given by one of the world’s most famous scientific figures should act quickly.'

Lord Winston is Professor of Science and Society at Imperial College, and his talks attract world wide attention and debate. He has devoted his life to the development of techniques for helping people who have problems conceiving naturally to have children, and founded the first NHS IVF Programme.

His research has enabled families with a history of particular genetic disease to have children free of fatal illnesses, and his improvements in fertility medicine have subsequently been adopted world-wide.

He regularly presents science programmes on television including 'Child of Our Time', 'Your Life in Their Hands', 'Making Babies', 'The Human Body', 'Secret Life of Twins', 'The Superhuman', 'Human Instinct' and 'The Threads of Life'.

He has received several awards and honours, both for his research and for his work to enhance public engagement with science, and was made a life peer in 1995.

Professor Lord Robert Winston will be hosting a fascinating discussion on the ethics of innovation at the Dalhousie Building from 6pm on Wednesday, August 18th. Tickets cost £3 and £2 for concessions, and are available from www.literarydundee.co.uk, calling 01382 384413 or from Dundee Contemporary Arts and the Overgate.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277