Cruising through 175 minutes for chemistry
175 minutes for chemistry
David Pilbrough spends his retirement as a volunteer lecturer on cruise ships, bringing everyday science to a captive audience.
Born in Middlesbrough, David moved to Zimbabwe at the age of 17 and studied for a degree in chemistry, physics and mathematics. After working in the pharmaceutical industry and as deputy to the director of the Standards Association of Central Africa, David moved to Australia, eventually starting his own consulting company, Wadahei Consulting Group.
Since his retirement, he has spent 10 years presenting accessible science lectures on the ships of several cruise lines. David tells us more about his rather unusual retirement.
175 minutes of lectures
My wife and I are senior volunteers on cruise ships, presenting “enrichment” and “destination” lectures on cruises throughout the world. We find it an ideal way to retire, as it serves two main purposes: satisfying the urge to travel as a person ages and ensuring that one’s “grey matter” is kept active.
I have a series of 17 lectures on Everyday Science, which I present to passengers on the sea-days of voyages, while my wife has five “destination” lectures, describing island destinations in the South Pacific.
Three of my lectures are on chemistry and the total lecture time for these amounts to 175 minutes:
1. The science of the ozone hole;
2. Weird water: The magic of H2O;
3. Strike a light: The history and chemistry of matches.
Each of the 17 lectures runs for about 50 minutes, with 10 minutes for questions.
On board with chemistry
It all started when we were on a world cruise with Cunard. After attending several lectures, I said to my wife, “I could do that!” and she encouraged me to speak to the cruise director. I did, and asked him what would happen if one of the booked lecturers “missed his plane”. His reply prompted me to offer my services. Serendipity ensured that on the next sector of the cruise, exactly that happened and the cruise director gave me three days to come up with two lectures.
Zimbabwe (my old country) was very much in the news at the time, as was the greenhouse effect. In the short time available, I was able to design and present the two required lectures on those subjects and it all followed from there. With a reference from Cunard, other cruise lines followed and I was soon in demand. Ten years later, I am still enjoying the experience!
With a “captive” audience of from 50 to 400 people, I find it rewarding to be able to present lectures on Everyday Science – subjects that they should know something about, but which in their everyday lives at home they might not hear about. The great majority might never have attended a science lecture in their lives.
I know from questions and comments after the lectures, both in the lecture halls and around the ships, that passengers welcome the opportunity to learn a little more about the science surrounding them on a daily basis and to understand the impact that it has on their lives.
175 minutes for chemistry
As the oldest chemical society in the world, we celebrated our 175th anniversary in 2016. We wanted to mark this milestone by recognising the important contributions our community makes to the chemical sciences. We asked our members and supporters to dedicate 175 minutes to chemistry in 2016 and share their stories with us. We featured these stories throughout the year on our website, in print in RSC News, and on social media using #time4chem.
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