Preparations for the 2016 Sidmouth Science Festival are now well under way. The Festival lasts for 10 days from Saturday 8th until Sunday 16th October with events for all ages and all abilities encouraging people to learn, explore and think about the STEM subjects of Science Technology Engineering and Maths through serious technical events and hands-on activities as well as through art, music, comedy and drama.
Dave Bramley, festival organiser, said “The family programme is central to the Festival’s activities aiming to inform, educate and inspire young people and encourage them not only to think about the world around them but consider the STEM subjects as a career. Science shows and hands-on activities are key, are easily accessible and most events are free. Schools in the Sid Valley and East Devon benefit from workshops and talks to compliment their studies. This year we are having a visit from Iggy the dinosaur, a rather large Iguanodon.”
Other festival highlights include a strong Geoscience theme, inspired by Sidmouth’s Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site Coastline, the Norman Lockyer Observatory with its historic domes ands planetarium, the Jet Car races (Bloodhound) at the Observatory and keynote speakers including Simon Singh with his talk “From Theorems to Serums, From Cryptology to Cosmology … and The Simpsons” and current Fellow of the Royal Society, Professor Mike Benton talking about “Vertebrate Palaeontology”.
