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Science

Carlo Rovelli Interviewed by Peter Frankopan

Anaximander and the Nature of Science
Trinity College 7:00pm Mon 20 Monday, 20 February 2023 See this event
Val McDermid and Sue Black

The Facts of Fiction: The Author and the Forensic Anthropologist
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
John Parrington

Mind Shift: How Culture Transformed the Human Brain
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Andrew Jenkinson Interviewed by Susannah Jowitt

Why We Eat (Too Much): The New Science of Appetite
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Richard Ellis

When Galaxies were Born: The Quest for Cosmic Dawn
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Sian Harding

The Exquisite Machine: The New Science of the Heart
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Giles Sparrow Introduced by Martin Rees

Phaenomena: Doppelmayr’s Celestial Atlas
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Martin Rees Interviewed by Nick Higham

Science and Innovation Award: If Science is to Save Us
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Becky Smethurst

A Brief History of Black Holes and Why Nearly Everything you know about them is Wrong CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event
Tim Lenton Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

James Lovelock and Gaia
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event
Christopher French and Deborah Hyde Chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate. Haunted: Investigating the Paranormal
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event
Paul Pettitt

Homo Sapiens Rediscovered: The Scientific Revolution Rewriting Our Origins
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
Georg Steinhauser Chaired by Stephen Law

The Fallout from Nuclear Catastrophes: Facts and Myths about Chernobyl and Fukushima
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
Thomas Hertog

On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Roger Highfield and Peter Coveney Chaired by Irene Tracey

Vice-chancellor’s Interview. Virtual You: How Building Your Digital Twin Will Revolutionise Medicine
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Am I Made of Stardust?
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Torie Bosch

You Are Not Expected to Understand This: How 26 Lines of Code Changed the World
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Adam Rutherford and Matthew Cobb Chaired by Stephen Law

Genetic Control: A Fantastic Opportunity or a Dark Future
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event

Festival information:

I came away buzzing and reassured that we still have in this century a wide ranging community fascinated not just by famous authors (I’ve rarely seen so many concentrated in one place) but by challenging ideas and questions.

A stimulating and rewarding on-stage conversation; a lively informed and tolerant audience; privileged access to the great treasures of the Bodleian, and finally, wonderfully interesting dinner companions to help me conclude the best day I have enjoyed at any festival – anywhere.

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

Every literary festival stays in an author’s mind for slightly individual reasons. I shall remember the Oxford festival for: - the size of the audience: at the top end of the range - their intelligence – this makes a huge difference for a speaker. In the Oxford audience I encountered many experts in the field my book covered and even one of the ambassadors I’d quoted - the beauty and the grace of the place itself – incomparable - the willingness of my hearers to buy books afterwards; I’ve never sold more.

The Oxford festival is the most elegant and atmospheric of literary festivals. It’s a pleasure to both attend and perform there.

The Oxford Literary Festival has in my mind become the leading literary festival of the year. The organisation, the roster of speakers, the ambience and the sheer quality of it all is superb. May it now go from strength to strength each year stretching its ambition more and more. I believe it will.

Often as an author, I only occasionally get to meet the public who buy and read my books. The Oxford Literary Festival was a special opportunity for me and certainly one of the highlights of my career – it was an honour I will never forget.

It was a privilege for me to visit the festival to receive the Bodley Medal. As an incidental blessing I saw Oxford at its most mysterious and atmospheric. It was a day of piercing cold and as I walked through the twilight from the Sheldonian to Christ Church, the streets were empty and the whole city was shutting itself away. Christ Church was silent except for the footfall of unseen persons around corners and the sounds of evensong creeping from behind closed doors. For the first time I understood thoroughly the power of college ghost stories.