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David Pyle

@davidmpyle.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.4K following 158 posts

Volcanologist at the University of Oxford: volcanic histories, imaginaries, resources and futures. curatingcrises.omeka.net www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/rethinkin… www.torch.ox.ac.uk/vesuvius-22

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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
‘with kind regards’. Lewis read this the book closely - annotating liberally throughout, pointing out errors and critiquing the writing. The next year, Solly left his university post. Solly’s obituary reports that he resigned his post, having published the book without Lewis’ permission 2/2
Photo of a page of a text book, annotated in red and black pencil, and black ink.Another page of the text book with multiple annotations in black ink.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A sorry tale from 1895.. Richard Solly was a #crystallographer, employed in Cambridge as assistant to the Professor of mineralogy, W J Lewis. In 1883, Solly was appointed Demonstrator in Mineralogy. In 1894, Solly published an introductory text book on mineralogy; he presented a copy to Lewis.. 1/2
Front page of a textbook published in 1894. Called an elementary introduction to mineralogy, this was written by R H Solly and published by CJ Clay and Sons. A handwritten dedication is ‘Professor W N Lewis with the author’s kind regards’.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Delighted to find out that our @nosycrow.bsky.social #volcanoes book will soon be available in Chile - where my volcanic path began! Via Contrapunto.cl 🌋⚒️
Photograph of the front page of a hardcover book on volcanoes for children, with the Spanish title ‘el poder de los volcanes’.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Published today - a magnificently illustrated children’s book on #volcanoes, published by @nosycrow.bsky.social with @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social and @cam.ac.uk A fun project with Daniel Long (illustrator) and Tamsin Mather (author)! uk.bookshop.org/p/books/univ...
Photograph of the red cover of a hardback children’s book called The Power of Volcanoes, with a circular cut out in the middle of the cover that reveals an illustration of an erupting volcano. The book is published today by Nosy Crow, illustrated by Daniel Long and written by Tamsin Mather and David Pyle.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
New installation in #Oxford University Parks. Tulu’s-Latrines, ‘Les Toilettes’, 2026, HDPE.
Photograph of a freshly mown sports pitch, with dozens of portable toilets lined up around the edges of the pitch, and some mature trees in the background. Location - Oxford University Parks, the day before the Oxford 10 k road race.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Amazing trace fossil - Zoophycos - from the mid-Miocene sediments of the Tabernas basin, Almeria. First time to have seen this, in many years of field visits - spotted by eagle-eyed 3rd year @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social students. ⚒️
Photograph of a pale brown rock surface with a human hand for scale, showing a roughly circular textured pattern in the sandstone surface which is thought to be the feeding trace of a polychaete worm.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Delighted to share the origin story of the first #volcano observatory on #Montserrat, established in response to a seismic crisis in the 1930s. The observatory was staffed by Montserratians from 1936 to 1946, including Ian and Cecil Kelsick, and Greta Scotland (1/n) doi.org/10.30909/vol...
Black and white photo-postcard showing the steaming gorge of Gages Soufriere, Montserrat, and the bare, altered rock around the sides of the gully. The sulphur and steam vents were vigorously active during a seismic crisis in the 1930s, and were eventually buried following the volcanic activity that began in 1995. Photographer: K. E. Perkins. Photograph from May 1936 of a group of six people standing in front of a house on Montserrat, during a visit to the island by the Royal Society expedition team. L-R: Thomas Jaggar (Hawaii Volcano Observatory), Cecil Powell (University of Bristol), Frank Perret, Mr and Mrs Howes, Isabel Jaggar (Hawaii Volcano Observatory). Image number 208964 from the British Geological Survey special collections.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Excited to see early copies of ‘The Power of Volcanoes’, written with Tamsin Mather and wonderfully brought to life with illustrations by Daniel Long. Part of the ‘Think Big’ series of science books for children, published by @nosycrow.bsky.social and @cam.ac.uk Publication date - 4 June 2026
Photograph of the front cover of a new illustrated book on volcanoes for children, called the Power of Volcanoes. The cover has a red background, and a cut-out circle reveals an erupting volcano inside. Photograph of on page from the book, showing illustrations of some of the different sorts of rocks erupted from volcanoes.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
New paper from Adam Morley shows that some vegetation anomalies in multi-spectral satellite data correlate with geophysical data, and can be used to identify buried archaeological structures like tunnels and drains, with examples from Cornwall and Normandy. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Photograph inside a stone-walled tunnel with one end open to the light. This structure is called a fogou, and is thought to have been constructed in the Iron Age. Location - Carn Euny ancient village, Cornwall. Thanks to English Heritage and Historic England Southwest for permissions.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
What to do for the last first-year igneous #petrology practical class of term, late on a Friday, when you have been teaching #magma differentiation? 🌋⚒️
Photograph of a large tub of wrapped chocolates of different colour and shapes, with three more tubs in the background
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
#OTD in 1825, George Poulett Scrope published ‘Considerations on Volcanos .. their connexion with the present State and past History of the Globe, leading to .. a new Theory of the Earth’. Scrope went on to have a long career as an MP, and wrote prolifically on political economy, and volcanoes.
Photograph of the title page of G Poulett Scrope's 'Considerations on Volcanos' published in 1825Photograph of the spine of a book with a pasted label that reads 'Poulett Scrope on Volcanos, 1825, 12 s.'Photograph of a slip of paper with handwriting, that reads 'Admit the Bearer to the Gallery June twenty six 1838' and signed G Poulett Scrope
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
When the department seminar is interrupted by a fire alarm.. Kurt Konhauser concluding in the rain!
Photograph of people standing outside under an umbrella. Kurt Konhauser concluding his department seminar.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Wow! Volcanoes Top Trumps - on i-player; season 1, episode 6 of Leonard and Hungry Paul. 'Wow factor 89. Mount St Helens. Fantastic card' winningmoves.co.uk/products/vol...? #volcanoes
Screenshot of the BBC iplayer photograph advertising episode 6 of the comedy Leonard and Hungry Paul. The image shows two men, sitting side by side, both holding a hand of cards - which are Volcano Top Trumps.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Very sad to hear that Peter Friend has died. Peter was a wonderful teacher and a lovely colleague, and first introduced me to the geology of Almeria in the 1990s for an undergraduate field class. Here's Peter, still running the trip 4 years into retirement.⚒️ www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/dr-pete...
Photograph of two people standing by some rocks in a gorge, with vegetation in the background. On the left - Dr Peter Friend, on the right Dr Irene Gomez-Perez, in conversation by the Carboneras fault, Granatilla valley, southern Almeria, Spain in April 2005. Peter and Irene were co-leading a Cambridge undergraduate Earth Sciences field class at the time. @cambridge-earthsci.bsky.social
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Colonial-era yellow firebrick, manufactured by Rufford & Co., Stourbridge, and imported to #StLucia where it was used in the bakery near Fort Rodney, Pigeon Island.
Photograph of some bricks, one of which is made from yellow clay with the partial impression [RU]FFORD [STOU]RBRIDGE, near the colonial-era bakery building on Pigeon Island, St Lucia. Photograph from Fort Rodney, St Lucia, of Signal Peak, Pigeon island. Bright red flowers of the Flamboyant trees in the foreground.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Director of the Montserrat Tourism Authority, Rosetta West Gerald highlighting the #Montserrat Mural Tour; featuring four murals created in 2023 during the Curating Crises project curatingcrises.omeka.net/exhibits/sho...
Rosetta West Gerald speaking at a podium in front of a slide on the Montserrat Murals tour
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Closing presentations at #SHV30 on the themes of geoheritage, and imagining new opportunities for volcano tourism and geopark development on the island of #Montserrat.
Photograph of Rosetta West Gerald at a podium presenting on tourism opportunities on Montserrat.Photograph of Sherene James-Williamson at a podium talking in front of a slide titled geosite, geopark and geoheritage.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, with a haze descending across the buried city of Plymouth. #SHV30
Photographic view across the sea of southern Montserrat, with the hazy green hill of the Soufriere Hills Volcano in the background, blue sky and clouds above.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Current Montserrat Premier, Reuben T Meade, with his vision for the future. ‘Montserrat Still Home, Still Nice, Still Paradise’. #SHV30
Photograph of Reuben Meade at the podium, reflecting on his times as Chief Minister and Premier.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Frank Savage - Governor in 1995 - and Reuben Meade - Chief Minister in 1995 - with reflections on the start of the eruptive crisis in 1995. #SHV30
Photograph of Frank Savage in a pink shirt and linen jacket, and the Honourable Reuben T Meade, adjusting the microphone, on a stage in front of the SHV30 banner. Savage explains ‘my business suit is still on holiday in Antigua’.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Turning magma into momentum - #SHV30 kicks off on the island of Montserrat, marking the 30th anniversary of the start of the Soufriere Hills Volcano eruption. @mvoupdates.bsky.social
Photograph of Dr Graham Ryan, director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory standing in front of the SHV30  banner at the opening ceremony of the Soufrière Hills 30 years on conference, Montserrat Photograph of Dr Pat Joseph, director of the UWI seismic research centre, in front of a slide of volcano education and outreach projects on St Vincent, during the opening plenary lecture at SHV30, Montserrat Photograph of a discussion panel, sitting in front of the SHV30 banner. Left to right, Prof Richie Robertson (UWI SRC), Prof Jenni Barclay (University of Bristol), the Honorable Dr Keith Rowley (former prime minister, Trinidad and Tobago) and Dr JC Komorowski (head of observatories, IPGP).
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Great to see the first outcomes of a digital archives project led by Martin Mahony @ueaenv.bsky.social, with #Montserrat National Trust, @mvoupdates.bsky.social @dlocaribbean.bsky.social @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy Here is 'SeismiCity News', from 1997 to 1998 dloc.com/title-sets/A...
Screenshot of a part of the front page of SeismiCity News, Volume 1, Issue 1, dated January 24, 1997. This newsletter was jointly produced by the Montserrat National Trust and the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, and documented the continuing eruptions of the Soufriere Hills Volcano. The headline in this issue is 'Rapid Dome Growth Causes Pyroclastic Flows', and describes the growth of the lava dome during December 1996 and January 1997. The digital copies of the newsletter are held in the Digital Library of the Caribbean, dLoC.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Marking the 30th anniversary of the start of Soufriere Hills volcanic eruption (July 1995), with a reception in the Speaker’s rooms, Westminster
The Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle addresses a full room in speaker’s house, with many representatives from the Montserratian community in the UK and Montserrat. Hoyle was the first speaker to visit Montserrat.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
.. delighted to see recognition for Hugh Jenkyns (@oxuniearthsci.bsky.social) who published his first paper in 1967, discovered Ocean Anoxic Events in the 1970s, and is still publishing papers on the Jurassic today!
Photograph of Hugh Jenkyns (University of Oxford; left) receiving the Lyell Medal from Geological Society President, Jon Gluyas.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Lovely afternoon at the @geolsoc.bsky.social celebrating the annual awards. Congratulations to all the award winners and medalists! Here’s a selection of photos of just a few of the awardees..
Photograph of Prof Jenny Collier, Imperial College, accepting the Murchison Medal, in front of an image of Jenny inspecting an instrument on board a research shipPhotograph of Prof Kate Hendry, British Antarctic Survey, accepting the Bigsby Medal, in front of an image of Kate on a small boat on AntarcticaPhotograph of Kathryn Goodenough, British Geological Survey, accepting the Coke MedalPhotograph of Clive Oppenheimer, University of Cambridge, receiving the R H Worth Award from Geological Society President Jon Gluyas
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
What a show from Grace Petrie in Oxford last night! Anger, passion, humanity, despair and hope all wrapped up into an exuberantly life-affirming performance. I went on a whim - highly recommend! www.gracepetrie.com/gigs
Photograph of Grace Petrie (facing away from the stage) and her band, in the song of their performance at Oxford’s O2 academy venue.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Great thread on seismologist Inge Lehmann! Her classic paper on the seismic (PKP) waves that pass from mantle to core to mantle was simply called: P' I was delighted to find Lehmann's signature in the Kew Observatory correspondence from 1937! courses.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/...
Letter from Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann, at the Danish Geodetic Institute, to Francis Whipple, at Kew Observatory, dated 21 October 1937. Lehmann thanks Whipple for sending her the drawing of the Kew recording apparatus (for recording seismic waves), but regrets that she is not able to modify her instrument in the same way. Source: The National Archives, Kew Observatory Correpondence, 1937 BJ 1/262
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Thank you @katysduncan.bsky.social and @miguelohn.bsky.social for convening such a wonderful discussion meeting on #histsci and #geophysics at @ri-science.bsky.social, and a great keynote from @naomioreskes.bsky.social
Photo of workshop convenors Miguel Ohnesorge and Katy Duncan in the Royal Institution lecture theatreNaomi Oreskes starting her keynote talk, ‘Re-thinking the origins of plate tectonics’ at the Royal Institution
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Oxford rooftops, old and new.
View of Oxford’s roofline from the top of the Weston library, including the Clarendon Building (left), the Sheldonian theatre (right) and the Radcliffe Camera (dome in the background).View of the new Schwarzman centre for the humanities, Oxford, with its geodesic dome, from the top floor balcony of the Blavatnik school. View from the Blavatnik school across to the new Schwarzman centre (middle) and the Mathematical institute, Oxford.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Thank you Julie Belo, Steffen Kutterolf and Paul Albert for organising a great workshop, and @geomarkiel.bsky.social for hosting!
Julie Belo closing the ‘tephra together’ workshop at GEOMAR
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Anatol Herzfeld’s ‘kybernetiker’, by the docks at @geomarkiel.bsky.social Kiel
Photograph of the art installation ‘Kybernetiker’ by Anton Herzfeld, near the Wellingdorf dock, Kiel. A collection of metal statues of people all carrying briefcases and umbrellas and wearing hats, installed in 1996 and now taking on a rusty orange colour.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
@sofiadellasala.bsky.social presenting her work at the @geomarkiel.bsky.social tephra workshop, on sediments from Santorini caldera recovered during IODP 398 @ukiodp.bsky.social
Sofia Della Sala with her title slide about to give a talk on hydrothermal activity in the Santorini caldera at GEOMAR, Kiel.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
There are only three days left to catch the wonderful 'Magma Rising' exhibition at the Heong Gallery, @downingcollege.bsky.social, #Cambridge; curated by Dr Sara Rawlinson, with #volcanic art, film, music, rocks and equipment, all on an #Icelandic theme #sciart magmarising.org
Extract from mural 'Tempus Fugit' (2025) by artist Anna Gudjonsdottir, Heong Gallery, Downing CollegeField sketches of volcanoes by artist Emma Stibbon RA, on display at the Heong Gallery, Downing College
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
If you get a chance, do see Kyoto - gripping dramatisation of the decade of global negotiations leading to the Kyoto protocol, and a wonderful piece of theatre from @the-rsc.bsky.social sohoplace.org/shows/kyoto/
‘Delegate’ badge for audience members at the performance of Kyoto, Soho Place Theatre, London
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Not quite basalt.. also not boring! 😂
Panorama photo of fans of columnar joints in an igneous intrusion, from the Miocene, Cabo de Gata, Spain.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Excerpt from the COPE volcanoes in Korean.
Page on volcanoes from the COPE disaster champions children’s book series, in Korean.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Wonderful launch event at Birkbeck with Martha Keswick, James Hammond and the Mount Paektu Research Centre for the launch of the latest COPE disaster champions children’s DRR books in Korean (free to download). @unesco.org cope-disaster-champions.com
Author and creator Martha Keswick talking about 10 years of the COPE disaster champions DRR book series designed to help children to ‘be ready’ for disasters (photo)
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
I still wonder whether this was a COVID adaptation for individualised exam rooms, or just a polite notice..
Photograph of a wooden shed door with a notice affixed saying ‘Quiet please exam in progress’ Oxford, June 2021
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
The past few days has seen a cluster of small earthquakes around the submarine Kolumbo volcano, north east of #Santorini, Greece. Kolumbo last erupted in 1650, and the crater has an active metal-rich hydrothermal system. www.geophysics.geol.uoa.gr/stations/map... www.mdpi.com/2624-795X/5/...
Screenshot map of part of the Aegean Sea, Greece, showing locations of small earthquakes detected by the University of Athens network; a cluster of earthquakes shows ongoing activity near the submarine volcano of Kolumbo, north east of Santorini
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Google streetview turns out to be a surprisingly effective way of scoping out a potential outcrop for a field class! No parking though..
Google streetview image of a mountain road in southern Spain with a cluster of people wearing high-vis jackets looking at a rocky outcrop by the roadside. Most likely a geological field class.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Time to move this ornamental rock to its rightful place in the teaching lab, for the first #volcanic #sediments practical of the year..
Slab of rock (bedded volcaniclastic sediments) from the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, Langdale, UK resting against a garden wall.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
For #VolcanoMonday Volcan Fuego and thin ash plume, seen from Antigua, Guatemala. 🌋 ⚒️
Photo of rooftops in Antigua Guatemala, with Fuego volcano in the background and a small ash plume rising from the summit, and a trail of ash from earlier explosions visible in the sky
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Volcanology- and petrology-inspired baking for the annual Oxford Earth Sciences bake-off, courtesy of Bei Bei, Rhiannon, Sofia and colleagues! ⚒️🌋🔬
Gingerbread cookies decorated to represent zoned and twinned minerals. Vegan brownie tray bake decorated in the style of a thin section, viewed under crossed-polars. Baked by petrology and volcanology research students for the annual Xmas bake off.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
There’s something unaccountably exciting about the phase change of water. The softened colour palette, the changed soundscape, and the first snowfall of winter.
Snowy scene in a garden
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Wow! So many new acquaintances and re-acquaintances on this site! Here’s a young Charles Darwin and an exhortation from the next custodians of our planet (school children). From the Sedgwick Museum project ‘The Butterfly Effect’ ⚒️
Photo of a museum display in the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, with a bust of a young Charles Darwin, and a new placard from a youth-engagement project saying ‘this is our planet let’s fight 4 it’
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
While parts of the fabric might be timeless, other evidence of time passing is hard to ignore. Here is the Sedgwick Club in 1986 ⚒️
Group photograph of the Sedgwick club in 1986. Clive Oppenheimer was president that year.
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
In Cambridge to give a talk to the Sedgwick Club (undergraduate Earth Scientists). Interesting to see how some parts of the fabric of a place are managed to remain timeless: how long has this chalk graffito been here, and how often is it topped up?
Street graffiti in Cambridge, chalk on brick ‘TO THE RIVER’
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 19/10/2024
Explaining risk and uncertainty with the Sensing Volcanoes ‘Imaginarium’ at the Manchester Science Festival - will be here until Tuesday 22nd, 10-5 daily. www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/manchester-s...
Light up floor panels used as for interactive scenarios around an emerging volcanic crisis
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 05/10/2024
Optical illusions, dynamic designs and fans are on display around Oxford for the next month as a part of Uchiwa science at the IF Oxford science and ideas festival if-oxford.com/uchiwa/
Photograph of an optical illusion/dynamic design printed on a poster. These designs have been used to decorate Uchiwa fans, and can be found at venues across Oxford this month
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David Pyle @davidmpyle.bsky.social · 03/10/2024
Are you ready? The IF Oxford science and ideas festival starts this weekend; a community festival with over 100 events across the next 3 weeks. Take a look at the programme - there’s something for everyone! if-oxford.com/events/
Yellow volunteer T-shirt ready to be ironed in preparation for the  IF Oxford science and ideas festival ‘here to help’
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