Moncrieff Jones Society Christmas Lecture

Tuesday 3 December, 7.00pm

Deayton Theatre

Moving Fast and Slow: The Beauty of Fluid Mechanics

We are delighted to welcome Ben Brown (OC 2020) as this year’s guest speaker. Ben left Caterham School to study Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol, completing his master’s research project into the aerodynamics of tiny flying insects and having undertaken an 18-month placement as an aerodynamicist at Aston Martin F1. Following this Ben has just started his PhD at Bristol looking into wing aerodynamics. He continues to work on and compete in the field of rocketry, aiming this year to design and build a rocket that will exceed a 9-km altitude.

The talk aims to explore the incredibly variety of fluid mechanics applications, showing just how different moving fast and moving slow can be . The slower end of aerodynamics (that is travelling less than 2300 mph!) has historically been inspired by Nature, from da Vinci’s helicopter modelled on falling seeds to the modern Airbus Albatross. But as we push beyond what Nature has achieved, are the answers still found in biology? The talk will explore the many weird and wonderful applications of fluid mechanics, delving deeper into the complex world of turbulence, a mathematically complex phenomenon, the study of which is more of an art than perfect mathematics.