After Hours Conversations 2005-2006

September 2005 - April 2006

During the Fall and Spring Semesters of 2005/2006, a series of lunch conversations were held, moderated by Caroline Bynum and Piet Hut, on the topic of Time and Silence.

The goal of these lunch meetings was to encourage an exchange of ideas between members of all Schools and Programs at the Institute. For this purpose we had chosen a rubric that invites contributions from many areas, such as mathematics, anthropology, biology, art history, etc. The title Time and Silence was intended more to stimulate a free-flowing discussion than to delineate a field.

In the first meeting we explored how a group might form around this topic. In subsequent meetings we suggested that one member of the group start with a very brief 5-minute presentation that raises a question or presents an observation, an object, or a text that will then trigger an open conversation.

The subject Time and Silence arose during a conversation we had last spring, in which we talked about the different styles of research in natural science and historical studies. In both cases, scholars deal with notions of time that are quite different from our every-day way of dealing with events. It seemed to us that historians, physicists, and researchers in other areas, are now conceptualizing time as something other than just as beads-on-a-string or a series of sequential events. On a personal level, the ever increasing onrush of email, faxes and other forms of instant communication has the tendency to force us into a straight jacket of sequential time, leaving little time for silence.

These lunch meetings were a follow-up of the previous year's interdisciplinary conversations.

Here are the times and locations for the lunch meetings:

Friday, September 30, 2005
General Introduction
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, October 7, 2005
Presentation by Ed Turner
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, October 14, 2005
Presentation by Giles Constable
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, October 21, 2005
Presentation by Katherine Zieman
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, October 28, 2005
No meeting on this day [NOTE: EXCEPTION]

Friday, November 4, 2005
Presentation by Jon Magnussen
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, November 11, 2005
Presentation by Eli Friedlander
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
West Seminar Room [NOTE: change of location]
West Building [NOTE: change of location]

Friday, November 18, 2005
Presentation by Siep Stuurman
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, November 25, 2005
No meeting on this day [NOTE: EXCEPTION]

Friday, December 2, 2005
Presentation by Carol Gluck
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, December 9, 2005
Presentation by Hyun Ok Park
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, December 16, 2005
Presentation by Anthony Ptak
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

SEMESTER BREAK

Friday, February 3, 2006
General Introduction
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, February 10, 2006
Presentation by Marianne Constable
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, February 17, 2006
Presentation by Jeremy Popkin
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, February 24, 2006
Presentation by Gerhard Boewering
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, March 3, 2006
Presentation by Ian Mabbett
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, March 10, 2006
Presentation by Gerta Panovsky
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, March 17, 2006
Presentation by Steve Adler
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, March 24, 2006
Presentation by Michela Garda
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, March 31, 2006
Presentation by Georges Tamer
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, April 7, 2006
Presentation by Harlan Robins
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall

Friday, April 14, 2006
Presentation by Michal Grover-Friedlander
12:30 -- 1:30 pm
Dilworth Room (rear)
Dining Hall