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SOCIAL PROGRAMME
Evening Social Programme
Welcoming Reception and Buffet, Sunday 11 April 2010 (18.00 - 20.00)
There will be a welcoming reception and buffet on Sunday evening (11 April) for all seminar delegates.
Joseph Priestley Reception, Tuesday 13 April 2010 (17.30-20.30)
Tuesday evening (13 April) will be the Joseph Priestley Reception at the Leeds Library (17.30 - 18.30) and Mill Hill Chapel (19.00 - 20.30). Places at this reception are limited and will be offered on a first come, first served basis. Please note, All places have now been filled for the Joseph Priestley Reception but you may still attend the
talk on Joseph Priestley at the Chapel (19.00-20.30).
Joseph Priestley and Leeds
Joseph Priestley was born about six miles from Leeds in Birstall in 1733. In 1767 he became Minister at Mill Hill Chapel in Leeds, one of the oldest and most respected Dissenting congregations in England. Whilst waiting for the Minister’s home in Basinghall Street to be renovated, he lodged in Meadow Lane, close to the site that became that of Tetley’s Brewery. There he developed a method of dissolving the “fixed air”, evolved from the fermenting liquids at the public brewery, in water. (In 1783 Johann Schweppe patented a method of carbonating water.) At his home in Basinghall Street, in 1771, Priestley showed that a mouse and a candle flame both expired when kept in an enclosed jar, yet a sprig of mint continued to grow. A mouse in the jar with a plant survived longer than a mouse without the plant. He left Leeds in 1773 to work for the Earl of Shelburne. He acquired a burning glass and, with it, heated some mercury calx. This caused a gas to be evolved that could produce a bright candle flame. When this gas was breathed by a mouse in a jar, the mouse led a rather more energetic existence than did a mouse that breathed air. If these facts held, they “will open up a new field of knowledge” said Benjamin Franklin. How right he was.
Priestley subsequently settled in Birmingham, where in 1791 demonstrations against Dissenters resulted in the destruction of his home, library and laboratory. His support for the English ” Glorious Revolution”, as well as that leading to the newly formed United States and the French revolution did not make life any easier for him and in 1794 he settled in the United States where he spent his last decade, a close associate of both Adams and Jefferson.
Whilst in Leeds, Priestley was a founder member and first Secretary of the Leeds Library and was involved in a philosophical society that was the forerunner of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. On Tuesday, 13th April, after a Seminar reception at the Leeds Library and a brief talk by its Librarian, Geoffrey Foster, John Lydon the current Secretary of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society will speak in the Mill Hill Chapel on “Joseph Priestley, Dissenting Radical and Revolutionary Chemist”.
Seminar Banquet, Thursday 15 April 2010 (19.00 - 22.30)
The SeminarBanquet will be held on Thursday 15 April at the Royal Armouries Museum, a part of Britain's oldest national museum and one of the oldest museums in the world.
It began life as the main royal and national arsenal housed in the Tower of London. Indeed,the Royal Armouries has occupied buildings within the Tower for making and storing arms, armour and military equipment for as long as the Tower itself hasexisted. In 1990 the collection was moved toitsnew homeand becameThe Royal Armouries Museum,Leeds. In addition to the five galleries which house 5,000 objects in the permanent displays, the museum includes the Hall of Steel, a giant staircasethe wallsof whichare decorated with trophy displays composed of 2,500 objects reminiscent of the historical trophy displays erected by the Tower Armouries from the 17th century.
Our Banquet will be in the War Gallery where you will be seated among fascinating pieces of ancient and modern armour.
Accompanying Guests
Accompanying guests are invited to attend the above receptions at an additional cost (see registration form). To book additional places for the social programme please do so on the online registration form when registering for the seminar. Any additional guests/places for the social programme must be booked at the time of registration. All places have now been filled for the Joseph Priestley Reception.
For further information please contact:
FEH6 Seminar Secretariat,
CPD Unit, Faculty of Engineering,
c/o School of Civil Engineering, Room 209,
University of Leeds, LEEDS, LS2 9JT,
Telephone: + 44 (0)113 343 2494
Fax.: + 44 (0)113 343 2511
Email: feh6@leeds.ac.uk