Douglas Adams Memorial Lectures

The Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture is a lecture series held annually in honour of English author and screenwriter Douglas Adams. The lecture has been held every year since 2003 in support of environmental charities, such as Save the Rhino International, with topics ranging from science to exploration, conservation and comedy. The event is traditionally held around Adams’ birthday on 11 March and currently takes place at The Royal Geographical Society.[1][2][3]

The Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture returned in 2021 after a break of 4 years. It was held online due to the COVID-19 lockdown and included short film Socially Distanced Dirk[4] based on the Netflix series Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency featuring actors Samuel Barnett and Hannah Marks.

Since 2021 the lecture has been hosted by comedian Rachel Wheeley with typically two guest speakers.

Douglas Adams Memorial Lecturer

Year Name Lecture title
2003 Richard Dawkins Queerer than we can suppose: the strangeness of science
2004 Robert Swan Mission Antarctica
2005 Mark Carwardine Last Chance to See... Just a bit more
2006 Robert Winston Is the Human an Endangered Species?
2007 Richard Leake Wildlife Management in East Africa – Is there a future?
2008 Steven Pinker The Stuff of Thought, Language as a Window into Human Nature
2009 Benedict Allen Unbreakable
2010 Marcus du Sautoy 42: the answer to life, the universe and prime numbers
2011 Brian Cox The Universe and Why We Should Explore It
2012 Lecture replaced by "The Douglas Adams Party" at London's Hammersmith Apollo
2013 Adam Rutherford Creation: the origin and the future of life
2014 Roger Highfield and Simon Singh The Science of Harry Potter and the Mathematics of The Simpsons
2015 Neil Gaiman Immortality and Douglas Adams
2016 Alice Roberts Survivors of the Ice Age
2021 Baroness Susan Greenfield The Creative Mind: Insights into neuroscience
Arvind Ethan David On the Advisability of Writing Fan Mail
2022 Eleanor Jane Milner-GullandZ Finding Optimism in a Time of Biodiversity Crisis
Fay Clark Thanks For All The Fish! A Deep-dive into Dolphin Cognition
2023 Jim Al-Khalili
John Lloyd
References:[1][5][6][2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Life, DNA & H2G2". Life, DNA & H2G2. 2016-01-20. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  2. ^ a b "Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture 2022". stellartickets.com. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  3. ^ "The Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture 2021 takes place later this month digitally". ATV Today. 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  4. ^ Socially Distanced Dirk - 2021 Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture, retrieved 2023-04-11
  5. ^ "11th Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture takes a look at life". EIA. 2013-02-20. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  6. ^ Lathrop, Emily Rose; Wilburn, Jay; Derk, Peter; Olympiou, Kleopatra; Thomas, Richard (2015-03-03). "Neil Gaiman Gives 13th Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture". LitReactor. Retrieved 2022-12-02.