Cambridge Philosophical Society

Promoting Scientific Inquiry

Founded in 1819 'for the purpose of promoting scientific inquiry', The Cambridge Philosophical Society is an exciting hub for the promotion of scientific research, discussion, and learning. Discover more…

Events

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28

Oct

Upcoming event Michaelmas Term

Surging cylinders, flapping wings and gust encounters: Force production in unsteady flows

Professor Holger Babinsky

  • 28 October 2024, 18:00 – 19:00
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre

Unsteady effects occur in many natural and technical flows, for example around flapping wings or during aircraft gust encounters. If the unsteadiness is large, the resulting forces can be quite considerable. However, the exact physical mechanisms underlying the generation of unsteady forces are complex and their accurate prediction remains challenging. One strategy is to identify the dominant effects and describe these with simple analytical models, first proposed a hundred years ago. When used successfully, this approach has the advantage that it also gives us a conceptual understanding of unsteady fluid mechanics.  

In this lecture I will explain some of these ideas and demonstrate how they can still be useful today. As a practical example, I will show how the forces experienced in a wing-gust encounter can be predicted – and how the predictions can be used to mitigate the gust effects. The lecture will be illustrated with images and videos from simple, canonical, experiments.
 

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11

Nov

Upcoming event Michaelmas Term

Pain: Why does it exist, how does it work and how can we more effectively treat it?

Professor Ewan St. John Smith - A V Hill Lecture

  • 11 November 2024, 18:00 – 19:00
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre

The sensation of pain is one which nearly everyone is familiar with, usually being considered an unpleasant experience. Wouldn’t a life without pain be better? Drawing on human genetics and the wider animal kingdom, we shall see that there are in fact benefits to pain, or rather nociception, the neural process encoding noxious stimuli. Pain is not however static. For example, following an accident, the injured part of the body becomes more sensitive, a phenomenon that usually resolves as the injury heals. Understanding the molecular processes by which pain functions and how the sensitivity in the system changes under different conditions is important for the development of novel therapeutics to treat the chronic pain, such as that associated with osteoarthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, endometriosis, and a wealth of other conditions. Looking to potential new therapeutic avenues, we will discuss what can be learned from studying human genetics and extremophile organisms, such as the naked mole-rat, as well what the future holds regard gene- and cell-based therapy.

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News

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2024 Sedgwick Studentships

Anglia Ruskin University and the Cambridge Philosophical Society are requesting applications for a PhD studentship.

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CPS Council member Professor John Carr helps to re-create a 10th Century recipe for incense from the collection of the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College.


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Funding & Grants

A long history of supporting the scientists of the future

In line with the core aim of 'keeping alive the spirit of inquiry’, the Society awards a number financial grants for future scientists, which include a three-year Research Studentships, the Henslow Fellowship, in the fields of Natural Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science and Clinical Sciences. Travel Grants are for Fellows of the Society and help support researchers to attend conferences and visit laboratories.

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Publications

Discover our Journals & Books

From Darwin’s paper on evolution to the development of stem cell research, publications from the Society continue to shape the scientific landscape.

Membership

Join the Cambridge Philosophical Society

Become a Fellow of the Society and enjoy the benefits that membership brings. Membership costs £20 per year.

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