Hooke and Boyle

Next month, I am scheduled to give a lecture (apparently in a castle!) at the Robert Boyle Science Festival. I needed a photograph of the plaque for the introduction to my lecture, and after I had taken it this afternoon, I thought that it might make an unusual day's contribution to Blipfoto as well. It looks as though the tablet could do with a good clean!

The Festival commemorates the 350th anniversary of the publication of Robert Boyle's famous scientific paper entitled, "The Skeptical Chymist".

Boyle and his assistant Robert Hooke are strongly linked to Oxford. Hooke was a member of my own college, and in 2003 we hosted a tercentenary commemoration of Hooke's life.

The tablet shown in the picture is in the High Street, seen here in a general view. The tablet is set in the wall just about opposite the position of the preceding photograph.

A propos nothing relevant, here is a picture for beezle lovers. Actually, it's a rather fine carving over the entrance to Merton College, not far away at all from where the tablet is located.

And even less à propos, it turns out that there had been an explosion of a boiler in my own college, just down the road, and this is one of the fine fire engines sent to sort things out.