Six Great Ideas That Changed Science and the World (Part 1)

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Pay parking available onsite. There is also plenty of free street parking very nearby in the neighbourhood.

This is the time to grab a bite and drink and socialize with other guests and the speaker.

In the first part of this two-part series, Prof. Steyn will provide an overview of three great ideas and the people who developed the ideas:

1. Evolution by Natural Selection. The unifying principle that revolutionized biology by providing a comprehensive and integrated view of all organisms, their origins and their roles in ecosystems. Not incidentally, it ignited a firestorm among religious believers that still smoulders today.
   
2. DNA, RNA and the Mechanism of Heredity. The discovery of DNA and eventually its functioning as the storage and transfer mechanism for genetic information provided a window into the mechanism underlying heredity, and spawned the new field molecular biology. Today our lives are imbedded in the consequences of this discovery: genetic therapies; mRNA vaccines.
   
3. Periodic Table of the Elements. The placing of elements on an organizing tabular scheme led to the transformation chemistry. The elements were no longer an apparently disconnected set of materials, but rather a richly connected set with complex, but regularly systematic relations. The discovery showed the properties of yet undiscovered elements. An amazing example of theory leading to discovery of substances that make much of our lives easy, but also constitute a great threat to our environment.
   

In Part 2 Prof. Steyn will cover Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, and Mathematics.

Douw Steyn, PhD, ACM, FCMOS is a Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science at The University of British Columbia, in the Department of Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. His professional, teaching and research activities are in the field of air pollution meteorology, boundary layer meteorology, mesoscale meteorology, environmental science and interdisciplinary science. His research involves measurement and modelling studies of regional air pollution, especially in regions with complex terrain. He has worked extensively on the statistics of air pollution, air pollution monitoring and monitoring network design. He is winner of a UBC Killam Teaching Prize, the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Andrew Thompson Prize in Applied Meteorology, and the Canadian Federation for Earth Sciences Mentorship Medal. He has served as Chair of the scientific committee that leads the International Technical Meeting series on Air Pollution Modelling and its Application. He has published regularly in the international peer reviewed literature, and served as Director of Publications for the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. He is an Accredited Consulting Meteorologist, and has international consultancy experience in his areas of expertise, and has provided expert testimony in numerous court cases, appeal board hearings and environmental assessment panels in British Columbia, and Nationally.

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