Scifest 2019

This year Scifrest Africa made sure that it celebrated the International Year of the Periodic Table. Not only did they construct a giant illuminated periodic table, but also there were a number of lectures on the programme about the periodic table. As Curator I was able to have some influence on the programme, but I was involved with workshops, as usual, and the Brian Willmot lecture, which opens the festival. I also took the opportunity to stop off in Johannesburg with the Kitchen Chemistry Outreach Project, and visit colleagues in Richard’s Bay and Durban before returning home.

For the first time Scifest held the opening ceremony on the first day of the festival. As Curator I was invited to give the Keynote lecture – the Brian Wilmott lecture. I chose to give the lecture I wrote especially for this year: “Elementary! A celebration of 150 years of Mendeleev’s periodic table of the chemical elements“.

Later in the programme we were lucky to be able hear from a World expert on the Periodic Table, Prof. Eric Scerri from UCLA. Unfortunately he was unable to join us in person but the technology worked flawlessly and the audience enjoyed a wide ranging and engaging lecture, in which he also mentioned the periodic table of desserts.

Another highlight in the programme was a visit from Lotte Lens, a researcher at GSI in Darmstadt. Lotte explained how the new atoms, the so-called superheavy elements, on the periodic table are made. She then went on to explain how one can do chemistry with the one or two atoms that get produced every week, bearing in mind that they can fall apart very soon after they have been produced.

Although this year is the International Year of the Periodic Table, it has been a very important year for science. On World Metrology Day, May 20, the kilogram was redefined. Alongside this the ampere, the mole and the kelvin also received new definitions. Dr Aletta Karsten from the National Metrology Institute of South Africa. She asked What went went with the kilogram? and explained why it was important to be able to have a realisation of the kilogram that was not dependent on an artefact.

Alongside this I was, as usual, making slime. This year, however, I introduced a new workshop. In this one the participants were using puddle chemistry to try to determine whether the white powders they had been given were fake pharmaceuticals or not. Although the task was simple enough to carry out, the logic required seemed to be much more demanding.

On my way to Scifest I stopped off in Johannesburg so that the Kitchen Chemistry Outreach Project could work with Johnson Matthey again. This time we travelled to the schools that had agreed to host us, which meant that a variety of different facilities were available.

Before I went home I visited the folk at the Unizulu Science centre in Richard’s Bay. There I presented to schoolchildren who visited the Science Centre, I helped with some staff development, and I presented to the first year chemistry undergraduates.

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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy so there was time to go for walks on the beach and meet Umjikelezo We-Science colleagues at a lovely spot in Durban.

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