CAFE SCIENTIFIQUE
6.30pm, Cafe Muse, Oxford Road

Monday 7th June
VIRTUAL REALITY
Professor Terry Hewitt
Head of Supercomputing, Visualization and e-Science,
University of Manchester

In this talk Terry will explore the role of virtual reality, present a
brief overview and some important perception issues that must be
addressed.

Next he will show how virtual reality is used with some examples
from The work at Manchester including virtual reality in the
operating theatre, the virtual wind tunnel, how the earth moves, and
a mummy from the museum.

Note no in-depth knowledge of anything is needed!

More about Terry - Terry Hewitt is a member of the senior
management team of Manchester Computing, Europe's largest
academic computing service. He is responsible for supporting
research particularly through supercomputing, visualization and e-
Science. The main elements of his responsibilities are CSAR the
flagship supercomputer service for UK academia and commerce,
Manchester Visualization Centre, and the e-Science teams all of
which he has developed from very small teams to large groups with
international reputations. He has led a range of projects from small
groups within Manchester to large international efforts, such as the
ISO group that was responsible for the technical review of 3D
graphics standards. He has been Chairman of the European
Association for Computer Graphics, and also its UK Chapter. He is
an honorary lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at
Manchester. His research interests are applications of HPC, e-
Science, high performance visualization and the representation of
curves and surfaces. He has lectured extensively in Europe, USA
and Japan.

He is a wonderful person and a credit to the human race!

Come along and enjoy the Tapas menu at Cafe Muse, exclusively
introduced for Cafe Scientifique events.
Book online at http://www.cafescientifique.man.ac.uk
or contact us at email: cafe.scientifique@man.ac.uk
telephone: 0161 275 8100

Cafe Scientifique......is a place where, for the price of a cup of
coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest
ideas in science and technology...

Can you suggest good speakers/good topics for 2005? Send your
ideas to cafe.scientifique@man.ac.uk

6.30pm, Cafe Muse, Oxford Road

Tuesday 4th May
Professor Carole Goble
University of Manchester

NORTH WEST e-SCIENCE
We are familiar with the idea of e-Commerce: the electronic trading between consumers and suppliers. E-Commerce reflects the globalisation of business and the way that commerce is changing. Similarly the way that science is undertaken is changing. e-Science is the use of electronic resources - instruments, sensors, databases, computational methods, computers - by scientists working together in global collaborations enabled by the Internet. Pooling facilities and results, accessing large data collections, benefiting from very large scale computing resources potentially enables scientists to make more effective progress, make the best of scientific assets and try out new ideas.
To achieve this vision requires a powerful computing infrastructure - most commonly referred to as “the Grid”. Since October 2000, the UK government has invested £240 million in a programme of research and development in Grid technology, specifically to support the challenges of e-Science. Consequently, the UK leads Europe, and is on level terms with the USA. Manchester is home to the E-Science North West Regional Centre, one of nine centres throughout the UK, and the National e-Social Science Centre. I will talk about the potential of e-Science, the technologies we need to realise the vision, and give some examples of pioneering projects in the North West.

Come along and enjoy the Tapas menu at Cafe Muse, exclusively
introduced for Cafe Scientifique events.
Book online at http://www.cafescientifique.man.ac.uk
or contact us at
email: cafe.scientifique@man.ac.uk
telephone: 0161 275 8100

Cafe Scientifique......is a place where, for the price of a cup of
coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest
ideas in science and technology...

Can you suggest good speakers/good topics for 2005? Send your
ideas to cafe.scientifique@man.ac.uk

Date	Title of Event
Monday 5th January	Genes, Evolution, and Psychology Please note change of title from 'Genomics'
Monday 2nd February	Time Psychology
Monday 15th March	Physics Through Pictures
Monday 22nd March	RSA 'Coffee House Challenge'
Monday 5th April	Politics, Medicine and Science Do Not Mix Well
Tuesday 4th May	NW E-Science
Monday 7th June	Virtual Reality - NOTE: event swapped with Wound Healing
Monday 5th July	How Small Can You Get?
Monday 13th September	Wound Healing - NOTE: event swapped with Virtual Reality
Monday 11th October	Counter-Intuitive Science
Monday 8th November	Silicon Chips and Silica Fibres... An Integrated World?
Monday December	To Be Arranged