Image: Younger generations made up half the audience to share “a coldie with an oldie” at Wednesday’s special Skeptics In The Pub at the Welder’s Dog Brewery.

Of the 84 people who attended Armidale’s Skeptics In The Pub on Wednesday night, more than half were younger generations who responded to the invitation to “Come and have a schooner with a Boomer!”.

A free beer was on offer to Armidale’s Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z who were invited to “share a coldie with an oldie” at the special night at the Welder’s Dog Brewery who sponsored the event.

Loud applause was received by the two young presenters.

UNE historian Dr Molly Northcott spoke on the continuing relevance of the witchcraft trials 400 years ago and included some shocking statistics: throughout Europe and Britain, 75,000 “witches” were executed and, in Iceland, 90 per cent of the victims were men.

UNE theoretical physicist and physics education researcher Vijit Nautiyal developed a warm historical narrative around cold, hard quantum maths.  He outlined the personal struggles of various nineteenth century scientists who battled against their own bias to develop what we now know as quantum mechanics.

The event was 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.