Titanic, Science, the Arts and the Microbes

When: Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Where: Classroom Building Lecture Theatre 126 (CL 126)
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm
Contact: Michael Shires
Phone: 585-5418
Email: Michael.Shires@uregina.ca

Dr. John Archer Library Beyond the Book lecture by D. Roy Cullimore, PhD, Registered Microbiologist (CCM). Dr. Cullimore has been working on "sunken" steel water wells since 1971 and on "sunken" steel and wooden shipwrecks since 1996. All of this work relates to the ways in which microbes break down the steels and woods in those environments. While these would appear very extreme to us these environments remain quite normal to these microbes. This talk will focus on the manners in which RMS Titanic has been impacted by the microbes since her sinking in 1912 after striking an iceberg. Events that are now being observed partly from experiments placed at the wreck site indicate that the steels and woods are gradually being recycled into the oceanic environment. From the mid 1996s it has been found that microbes also like to be artists when they degrade gelatin-based films (etchings) and many of the shipwrecks have now become "art galleries" due to these artistic efforts. A number of these etchings will be included along with a scientific appraisal of their origins and importance.

An mp3 of the lecture is now available.