WHAT IS TIME?

The Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society are joining forces on Sunday 26th October to discuss the nature, origin and subjective experience of Time. The "Time Event", supported by the National Lottery Fund "Awards for All" scheme, will take place between 6.00pm and 10.00pm in the Rotunda Lecture Theatre, St Patrick's Trian, Armagh. The event follows last year's highly successful "Galileo Event", and is intended to strengthen the links between science and the humanities and to explore some of the complexities of Time as seen from both scientific and human perspectives.

The principal speakers are Professor John Barrow FRS (University of Cambridge), a leading cosmologist and author; Professor Iggy McGovern (Trinity College Dublin), a research scientist and poet; and Mr Malachi O'Doherty, the broadcaster and Editor of Fortnight magazine. In addition there will be opportunities for general discussion and for the audience to contribute their views, personal or otherwise, about time.

John Barrow will describe some of the curious features of Time in cosmology and modern physics. He will look at the consequences of Time Travel, whether Time had a beginning, and whether it will have an end.

Iggy McGovern poses the question: "What is the dimension of the present moment?" and takes a wry look at the treatment of Time in selected poetry.

Malachi O'Doherty notes that time as measured by clocks, whether the one on the mantelpiece or the one in the sky, passes in even, measurable steps. That is not how time is experienced subjectively. Some things in the past seem unutterably remote. Drawing on his memoir "I Was a Teenage Catholic", Malachi reflects on the plasticity of Time, the presence of the past, the absences from memory.

More details about the Time Event, which includes an interval for refreshments, can be found at http://star.arm.ac.uk/publicevents/time.html.

Tickets are free on application to the Armagh Observatory. Please write, telephone or e-mail Mrs Aileen McKee, Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh, Tel: 028-3752-2928; e-mail: ambnarm.ac.uk.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Bailey or John McFarland at the Armagh Observatory, Tel.: 028-3752-2928; FAX: 028-3752-7174; e-mail: mebarm.ac.uk or jmfarm.ac.uk; and Jill Armstrong, Events Secretary, Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society, Tel.: 028-3752-4923: e-mail: edwardthedeanshill.freeserve.co.uk.

Last Revised: 2003 October 9th WWW contact: webmaster@arm.ac.uk

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