Free beer is on offer to Armidale’s Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z who are invited to “share a coldie with an oldie” at Skeptics In The Pub on Wednesday July 16.

The Welder’s Dog Brewery is sponsoring the Skeptics’ Schooner With A Boomer special event by giving a free beer to everyone ordering a pizza as they settle in to hear two young PhD researchers each deliver a snappy skeptical synopsis.

The stage will be theirs to throw light on two dark subjects; patriarchies and particles; the dark historical legacy of black magic and witchcraft trials, and the spine-tingling mystery of quantum black-body radiation within our universe.

Historian Dr Molly Northcott’s presentation is: It’s all just a bunch of Hocus Pocus: Finding Truth and Meaning in the Early Modern Witchcraft trials.

“The enduring popularity of witchcraft and witch hunting in modern books and movies highlights the need for skepticism,” Molly said.

“In a world full of information and misinformation, it’s important to revisit questions to which we assume we know the answers. Beware assuming it is all just a bunch of hocus pocus from the distant past.

“The Salem witchcraft trials may have been 400 years ago, but they are rich with sympathy, empathy, confusion, compassion, anger, sadness, desperations, manipulation, pleading and begging. 

“They are a mirror for the present and reflect a most amazing tragedy.”

Theoretical physicist and physics education researcher Vijit Nautiyal is passionate about his current research into the properties of ultracold atoms to operate a quantum engine.

“But I am equally passionate about the history of science,” Vijit said, “Especially the story of quantum theory’s birth, which allows us to teach not only scientific content, but also the nature of science itself; how it works, how it evolves, and the value of skeptical questioning.”

His topic is: Is History the Best Teacher (of Science)? Reconstructing the Origins of Quantum Mechanics: A 165-Year-Old Challenge Led to an Act of Desperation from a Reluctant Revolutionary

“Most people think either Albert Einstein or Max Plank are the heroes of quantum science. But I will show it was actually a chubby, bearded genius (No! not Santa!) who may be one of the most important scientific figures of the 19th century yet who remains largely unknown to the general public.”

Schooner With A Boomer opens at 5.30pm at the Welder’s Dog Brewery. 101 Beardy St, Armidale. The presentations start at 7pm.

Every person who orders a pizza will receive a free beer courtesy of the Welder’s Dog.

Entry is free (gold coin donation appreciated) and there is no need to book.

The event is organised and convened by Armidale’s Skeptics In The Pub, a volunteer-run, community-based affiliate of Australian Skeptics Inc which aims to promote critical thinking, reason, logic, ethics, and the scientific method.

• WHEN: Wednesday July 16, from 5.30pm.
• WHERE: The Welder’s Dog Brewery (sponsor of this special event. Everyone who buys a pizza gets a free beer).101 Beardy St, Armidale.
• WHY: Scientific research worldwide shows we are spending too much time alone isolated by our phones and screens. In the age of social media and AI, face-to-face communication across the generations is essential to human mental and physical health. So come and share a coldie with an oldie! Come out for a drink and a think.
• COST: Entry is free (gold coin donation appreciated). No need to book.
• SPEAKERS:  PhD Graduate Dr Molly Northcott and PhD student Vijit Nautiyal will conduct snappy synopses on patriarchies and particles – from black magic witchcraft to the blackbody radiation within our quantum universe.