HOW COMPLEXITY CREATES
Perfect Storms
with
plasma physicist & artist
Prof. Sandra Chapman
03 Nov, 2018
Prof. Sandra Chapman is a 2017/18 Fulbright-Lloyds of London Scholar who has recently returned from the Center for Space Physics, Dept. of Astronomy at Boston University, where her research focused on how space weather impacts our planet.
​
In this evening's event she explored more down-to-earth ideas concerning complex systems (both local and global) and how our quest for safety creates the illusion of total control - that the most terrible of outcomes can always be contained. She showed us how these big ideas are a part of our daily lives and discussed their implications in an easy-going and very accessible Saturday evening chat over a few beers (and food) in a great location.
This was engaging evening in an intimate setting with fantastic conversation about fascinating ideas (see how we got all that in there?)
A Professor of Physics and Director of the Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics at the University of Warwick, Sandra is an award-winning scientist specialising in everything from astrophysics to laboratory plasmas, neuroscience, and High Performace Computing. Her recent work explores general data analysis and its application to 'real world' systems such as our changing climate.
​
Sandra is also an artist who bridges the ‘arts and science divide’ and has held a NESTA Dreamtime fellowship working as an artist with the British Antarctic Survey in Antarctica.
​
She's got a lot going on (her bio here) and had fascinating things to say about it.