An exclusive event for our Sarah Glover Society Members
This event is especially for members of the Sarah Glover Society – those who have chosen to remember Mansfield College in their Will. We wanted to provide an opportunity to thank you personally for your support and to celebrate the impact of planned gifts such as yours on the College.
Mansfield's two Senior Fellows, Professor Ros Ballaster and Professor Stephen Blundell, will host a lively discussion: Are the two cultures one yet? The future of science and the humanities. We will then enjoy afternoon tea in Old Hall with a chance to meet some of our students. Please see the programme and speaker profiles below.
Tickets: Free. All Sarah Glover Society members will be invited via post and email
Are the two cultures one yet? The future of science and the humanities
In 1959, novelist C.P. Snow declared that science and the humanities had become split into ‘two cultures’ and that this division prevents us from solving the world’s most pressing problems. Snow’s claim attracted much attention from academics and literary critics, most prominently F.R. Leavis, who lamented Snow’s thesis for it’s “complete ignorance”.
Are science and the humanities really divided in this way? In this discussion, Professor Ros Ballaster and Professor Stephen Blundell interrogate Snow’s claim. What impact does his thesis have on conversations around interdisciplinarity, what does it mean to compartmentalise disciplines in this way, and how does it fare in the 21st century? Join us to find out more.
Professor Ros Ballaster
Ros is Professor of 18th Century Studies in English; and Lecturer and Professorial Fellow at Mansfield College. Until recently, Ros was the University of Oxford’s English Faculty Board Chair.Ros’ research interests include seventeenth- and eighteenth-century culture, especially fiction and drama; oriental fiction; women’s writing and feminist theory; ideas of cognition and character in literary and theatrical representation.
Professor Stephen Blundell
Stephen is a Professor of Physics and a Professorial Fellow of Mansfield College. His research is in the area of magnetism and superconductivity, and he is known for his contributions to the technique of muon-spin rotation, in which radioactive particles called muons are implanted into samples in order to study their magnetic properties.
Both Ros and Stephen have served 3-4-year terms as Heads of their Faculties.