The St Mary Redcliffe Journey into Science Project is an initiative began in 1996 by a group comprising scientists, engineers and medical people who were involved one way or another in the life of the church. The purpose is to explore the kind of contribution St Mary Redcliffe could make as a place in a community to ponder, celebrate and question the new worlds which science and technology are opening up. Since 1996 there have been 25 meetings to discuss a variety of subjects in a non confrontational mode and ranging from "Good Vibrations:the Science of Music" to "What's Wrong with Cloning?You Decide......" all arranged by Dr Eric Albone as Convener, and who is Director of the Clifton Scientific Trust. Attendances at meetings have frequently approached a hundred and there is now a mailing list of 400 people who have asked to be kept informed of events.

A list of past events may be accessed from Here for information.

In 1997 a physical Image of Understanding was introduced into the church in the form of the chaotic pendulum. Based on an original design by Sir Brian Pippard FRS, and constructed by Rob Knight of Op-Tricks with funds from Bristol Water plc, this is at present the only place where this chaotic machine is on display. It is a beautiful and simple example , in which water tips across a long beam, to which the pendulum is attached, in a chaotic fashion. It causes people to think in many different ways and attracts the interest of young children, and is also recommended to students studying chaos theory in engineering and in psychology courses at Bristol University.

• Water, which is recycled, slowly flows into the centre of the cross beam, which tips to let it out.
• But which way will it tip? What is remarkable is that with all the science in the world, no one can predict exactly how it will be moving a minute from now.
• This is the way the world is. In this simple machine, you are looking at a new frontier in our understanding of the world. Scientists call it Chaos.
• Some people look to science for certanties on which to base their lives. Increasingly we realise our knowledge can never provide certainty, even for this simple machine. The world is a more wonderful and a more surprising place than we could ever have imagined.

Creating Perfumes at SMR

One evening early in November, Journey into Science jointly with the local Branch of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was privileged to welcome to SMR John Stephen, perfumer and owner of The Cotswold Perfumery at Bourton-on-the-Water (more recently Bourton-in-the-Water, although the family business he has worked to build up in that lovely town fortunately survived the recent flooding better than some).

We had asked John to sketch for us the daily life, the frustrations, the successes, the art and the science of a perfumer. Although not household names, the perfume industry is dominated internationally by five major companies who willingly spend £40million to launch a new perfume… the power of advertising. A small but very successful player, The Cotswold Perfumery, which as it happens has also counted members of the Royal Family among its customers, provides a highly personalised affordable niche service, but as John pointed out he always must be on his toes, making sure to check the chemical purity and identity of the components his big cousins supply. The not infrequent occasions when he has spotted discrepancies are of course always followed by profuse apologies; such are the frustrations of life.

Taking us through the history of perfumery and the means by which scents are extracted from plant material (conservation dictates that animal musks and the like are out these days), we learnt about absolutes and concretes, about solvent extraction and steam distillation… and the complexities of the top, middle and base notes which unfold from a perfume as time passes. John was adamant that if we would choose a perfume for ourselves, and different perfumes interact differently with different people, we do need a map. For some reason this is something most purveyors of perfume seem loath to provide, yet the basic classification of perfumes into six categories tell us which we should head for.

At this point John followed his well illustrated visual presentation with equally impressive olfactory kaleidoscope of scents of all the main categories so that we really did know what is meant by “green”, “floral”, “aldehydic”, “chypre”, “citrus”, “fougère”, and heaviest and longest lasting of all, “oriental”, much preferred as John had found on being commissioned to supply to an arab potentate by the peoples of those arid lands.

We ended with a peculiar material, not one in his repertoire (which was brought to the evening by someone else), which we all sniffed. A third of the audience could smell nothing, a third thought it was really lovely and the rest thought it horrid. It was a synthetic substance called androstenone used in no reputable perfume, which some think is a human pheromone (although there is no firm evidence). It is very odd stuff and turned up first in pigs where scientists have found it plays a role in the attracting sows to boars and is in fact, to the astonishment of those present, marketed to pig breeders under the name “Boar Mate”.

But that is another very different story, even if it does illustrate the power of scent. John provided a really very absorbing evening at a time of year when all stops our out for the Christmas marketing of Cotswold Perfumery products. The least we can do is direct you to his website if you are interested,www.cotswold-perfumery.co.uk

EVENTS ARE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE BRISTOL AND BATH BRANCH
www.ba-west.org.uk FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
AND THE CLIFTON SCIENTIFIC TRUST www.clifton-scientific.org
Click here for a pdf file of a list of Events for 2008

To add your name to our Journey into Science mailing list contact Eric Albone 49 Northumberland Road, Bristol BS6 7BA, 0117 924 7664 albone@dial.pipex.com