Abstract
A JOINT meeting of the Coventry Engineering Society and the Midland Branch of the Institute of Physics was held in the Coventry Technical College on February 5, when Sir James Jeans delivered a lecture on “Some Large Scale Problems of Astronomy”. Sir Alfred Herbert, president of the Society, presided over an audience of more than 900. Prior to the meeting, a civic reception was given to Sir Janjes Jeans, and in welcoming him and Lady Jeans to Coventry, the Mayor (Alderman A. H. Barnacle) mentioned some well-known men of science who had been associated with Coventry. Among them were Thomas Huxley, who spent his boyhood in the City, and Sir Norman Lockyer, who was born at Rugby and spent his youth at Ashow, and was connected by marriage with some of the oldest families in Coventry. In speaking of Sir Norman's work, the Mayor pointed out that he founded NATURE, which he referred to as the leading scientific periodical of its kind in the world. In his reply, Sir James recalled an early visit to Coventry when he was about five years of age; he was shown a tree which he was told marked the centre of England, but, he continued, “I wondered how a tree could be the centre of an area which I imagined was nothing like circular”. Following the reception, a private dinner in honour of Sir James and Lady Jeans was given in the ancient St. Mary's Hall by Sir Alfred Herbert. Among those present were representatives of the Institute of Physics and well-known local industrialists and civic officials.
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Scientific Associations of Coventry. Nature 139, 279 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139279a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139279a0