Like so many other festivals and large-scale events due to be held this year, the 2020 Gravity Fields Festival, which was due to take place 24-27 September, had to be postponed as a result of Covid-19. However, we still wanted to mark and celebrate our area’s connection to Sir Isaac Newton, on what would have been the main festival day, with a flavour of Gravity Fields themed events.
The Gravity Fields Online Day will include a selection of science treats, talks and challenges mixed in with messages from our patrons and some festival highlight videos too. We also have some science technology engineering and maths activities in association with STEM East Midlands that you can enjoy – all of which we hope will sustain you until we return with the next Gravity Fields Festival in 2022!
Tune into our YouTube channel on the day and look out for more info on Facebook and Instagram.
In the 1660s Sir Isaac Newton began experimenting with sunlight and prisms. While he was experimenting at home at Woolsthorpe Manor, near Grantham – keeping away from the plague in a kind of 17th century lockdown – he discovered that white light was made up of the colours of the rainbow. Inspired by Newton’s experiments with light, we are launching a brand new photographic Creative Colour Challenge open to all residents of South Kesteven and beyond. The challenge will be launched online as part of this special day and will lead to the creation of some very special and completely original SK flags. Suitable for the whole family.
Tune in to see the challenge video for all the details.
In association with STEM East Midlands STEM ambassadors are welcomed to a networking event to discuss how events such as Gravity Fields have an impact on young people’s lives and the community’s understanding of the importance of STEM. Anyone with an interest in science, technology engineering and maths is welcome to this event.
Book a place via Eventbrite
A tour of the solar system with a difference! Join science presenter Jon Chase as he explains just how extreme our Solar system can be, through the use of science-based raps that you can join in with at home! He’ll be answering questions like: How big is the solar system? How puny is Pluto? How cold is a crater? What’s the smelliest planet? Caution: contains facts of a humorous nature.
Featuring raps written for the BBC, this show is both informative and entertaining. Jon is the UK’s foremost proponent of Science Raps, his raps have featured on CBeebies’ Rhyme Rocket, CBBC’s Space Hoppers and Channel 4 Learning. Suitable for families and children 6 years and over.
Another chance to see our specially commissioned short films in which Sir Isaac Newton (AKA actor Mark Griffin from Griffin Historical) shares his wisdom and advice. Sir Isaac will even be showing you how to do your own experiment to ‘split white light’. Suitable for the whole family.
Episode 1 | Quarantine Adventures
Episode 2 | All the Colours of the Rainbow
Episode 3 | Hit on the Head with an Apple
The Creativity Code: How AI is learning to write, paint and think
In this live online talk, based on his bestselling book, Marcus du Sautoy examines the nature of creativity, as well as describing how algorithms work, and the mathematical rules underpinning them. Marcus finds out how long it might be before machines come up with something creative, and whether they might jolt us into being more imaginative in turn.
Marcus du Sautoy is Simonyi Professor for the Public understanding of Science in Oxford.
Please note this free talk will be live on Youtube and will not be available to view after the event – don't miss it!