Date/Time
Date(s) - Wed 8 May
18:00 - 19:00
Location
Te Whare Aparangi, Royal Society of New Zealand, 11 Turnbull Street, Thorndon
The Royal Society Te Apārangi Wellington Branch and the Royal Society Te Apārangi Joint Public Lecture.
The Royal Society Te Apārangi Wellington Branch and the Royal Society Te Apārangi will host a free public lecture, in conjunction with the Wellington Astronomical Society. They hope that you will attend and contribute to the discussion afterward. Please come along. Full details of the lecture are given below.
Since his arrival in Dunedin in 2013, Ian Griffin has been obsessed with the aurora australis. On clear nights, he can often be found on the back bays of the Otago Peninsula in pursuit of the aurora’s elusive glow. Ian’s passion for the southern lights has led him to embark on many adventures, including chartering Air New Zealand airliners to fly thousands of kilometres south of Aotearoa deep into the southern auroral zone. Despite being cautioned for speeding during the best auroral display of the past ten years, Ian’s dedication to this fascinating natural phenomenon remains unwavering. Through his stories and pictures, Ian will share the highs and lows of his secret life as an aurora addict.
Biography
Ian Griffin earned his PhD in Astronomy from University College London in 1991. He has spent more than three decades leading cultural institutions in various locations such as Northern Ireland, Florida, Auckland, Maryland, Manchester, and Oxford. In 2013, he was appointed as the 8th Director of Otago Museum, where he has served for more than ten years. During his
tenure, he has overseen the construction of the world’s southernmost Planetarium in 2015 and the design and development of the Tūhura Science Centre. In recognition of his work, he was awarded the Prime Minister’s Science Media Communication Prize in 2015 and made a Companion of The Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2019. Ian is also a Justice of the Peace and recently qualified as a Judicial Justice of the Peace, enabling him to perform Judicial Duties in the District Court.