Science on the Streets: Science Walking Tours

Activity: Public Engagement and OutreachPublic Events

Description

As part of the Glasgow Science Festival we led walking tours around Glasgow's city centre and around the Glasgow cathedral graveyard and Necropolis.
Glasgow has an impressive scientific and industrial heritage which we continue to build on today. However, today's technology is usually taken for granted, and Glasgow's contribution often ignored.
Our city centre walking tour explores the history of science and technology behind everyday Glasgow locations and scientists. We discuss the contributions of James Watt and Thomas Graham to science and engineering, point out the 'tape measure' in George Square, discuss why there are cages over the graves in the Ramshorn graveyard and tell the story of the two Glasgow scientists' attempt to bring an executed murderer back to life using electricity.
Our Cathedral Tour visits the graves of Peter Lowe, Charles Macintosh and the Tennent Family in the Cathedral Graveyard, and the memorial stone of Lord Kelvin and the graves of Granville Sharp Pattison and James Jeffray in the Necropolis. We discuss the history of surgery, antiseptics and body snatchers, Glasgow’s chemical and brewing industries and the first transatlantic cable.
Period7 Jun 2024
Degree of RecognitionNational