A Brief History of Logic and the Theory of Fallacies
with Dr. Kevin Cheung
Time: 9:30am – 11:30am
Overview: In this lecture, we will look at what logic is and why it’s important, review a short history of the theory of fallacies, Aristotelian logic and other logic’s along with the three Golden periods.
Lecture Biography: Dr. Kevin Cheung has been a faculty member of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at Carleton University since 2005. After completing his PhD at the University of Waterloo in 2003, he spent two years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Postdoctoral Fellow. His current academic interests include discrete optimization and correctness of computed results.
Artsy Mending
with Anne Warburton
Time: 9:30am – 11:30am
Overview: Unleash your creativity and learn methods to revive your beloved torn or discoloured clothing and textiles to give them new life. Fibre Artist Anne Warburton will help you give them a fresh new look, using fabric and stitch. As with the Japanese art of “Kintsugi”, we will highlight the mend instead of trying to hide it, while keeping these old and damaged items out of landfill. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to refresh your items into something beautiful and unique.
Lecture Biography: Anne Warburton creates dynamic fibre art from repurposed materials and is fascinated about how creativity helps our own personal journeys. Lockdowns during Covid-19 led her to learning new ways to repair clothing and textiles through stitch, paint, and other methods, while keeping these items out of landfill, and experiencing the added benefits of how such practices are good for our well being and mental health. Anne is trained in the expressive arts therapies and learning facilitation, and spent her career in event management. She is currently working on certification as a Holistic Integrated Creative Arts Therapist.
Mercury – The Elusive Innermost World
with Howard Simkover
Time: 1:30pm – 3:30pm
Overview: Mercury: The Elusive Innermost World. To the ancient Greeks and Romans, Mercury was the fleet-footed messenger of the gods. We know it today as the smallest planet in our solar system that orbits closest to the Sun.It’s a hot place! On the sunlit side, temperatures rise to over 420 C., hot enough to melt lead and tin. To future astronauts who might venture there, the Sun would appear as a giant, blazing disc in the Mercurian sky. Yet at night the temperature plummets to a bone-chilling -170 C.Have you ever seen Mercury? Probably not, unless you knew exactly when and where to look for it. Mercury is notoriously difficult to spot – low down in the sky, hiding in the twilight after sunset or before sunrise. The story has been passed down to us that in his entire life Nicolaus Copernicus never saw Mercury a single time.Until the 20th Century, we knew very little about this small planet. Even in large telescopes, astronomers could barely discern any recognizable features on its sun-baked surface. It was only in the mid-1960s that we learned something as basic as the length of a day on Mercury.Mercury whizzes through space at speeds up to 210,000 kilometers per hour. Its high velocity and proximity to the Sun make it a very difficult target for spacecraft. Only three spacecraft from Earth have ever travelled to Mercury. These brilliantly designed machines provided thousands of close-up photographs and other information that reveal Mercury to be a complex, fascinating world, with a stark beauty all its own.
Lecture Biography: Howard Simkover graduated as the leading student in McGill University’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering, and was awarded the British Association Medal for Great Distinction. His professional career has been in the field of telecommunications with Bell Canada and also in management consulting.
Howard’s lifelong interest in astronomy began at age 7. He later became active in the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, where he served on the Observation Committee and the Board of Directors of the Montreal Centre.
For more than two decades, Howard produced numerous shows and lectured on astronomy at the Planétarium de Montréal. He has also lectured at the Canada Science & Technology Museum in Ottawa and at Carleton University. He continues to speak about astronomy to audiences in the National Capital Region, and to groups elsewhere in the world via Zoom technology. He owns and regularly uses several telescopes to observe the sky.
Overview: Ever wonder about the striking features of Ottawa’s portals? This lecture will explore architectural entrances from Classical Greek & Roman revival periods to Gothic and Romanesque. Through the study of Ottawa’s portals, we will investigate the architectural and stylistic features that characterize some of Ottawa’s notable entrances.
Lecture Biography: Nicole Sammut (she/her) works as a Learning and Development Specialist at Algonquin College and has taught in the Bachelor of Interior Design Program with Media & Design Studies, School of Business and School of Advanced Technology. She is a former member of the Board of Heritage Ottawa and the creator of the published poster, ‘Doors of Ottawa.’ She has previously taught two lecture series with the Learning in Retirement Program including: ‘Historical Techniques: Artists & Their Materials’ & ‘Canadian Architecture: An Exploration of the Buildings of Ottawa.’
