MC3 Reunion Weekend and Annual Board Meeting 2021

Date: Saturday 17 April 2021 - Sunday 18 April 2021
Time: 09:00 - 20:00

Merton College Charitable Corporation (MC3) welcomed Merton alumni in the Americas to the first ever virtual reunion weekend and Annual Meeting of the Board and Members.

Saturday 17 April

9:00am-12:00 noon EDT - MC3 Annual Board Meeting

1:00-2:00pm EDT - A lecture by Dr. Charlotte Mason (2009): ‘Chasing Cosmic Dawn with the James Webb Space Telescope’

Dr Mason is a NASA Hubble and CfA Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Her work focuses on understanding 'Cosmic Dawn': when and how did the first galaxies form, and how was intergalactic hydrogen reionized? Below is an abstract of her talk:

"Scheduled to launch this October, the James Webb Space Telescope will be the largest and most complex telescope ever put into space, and will extend our view of the Universe far beyond that of the Hubble Space Telescope. I will give an overview of this new mission, and describe how, with a combination of cosmology and technology, we can use these telescopes as time machines to look back over 13 billion years and detect galaxies forming in the early universe."

This lecture was part of the 40 Years Series, organised in celebration of 40 years of women at Merton.

Sunday 18 April

6:00-7:00pm EDT - Virtual tour of historic Prague

Step back into time and virtually experience the empty streets of Prague during the Black Death and plagues of the 17th and 18th centuries. Through video, MC3 followed the footsteps of Dr Alexander Schamsky, an unknown Czech hero who fought the plague in 1713. From the 'personal protective equipment' of the time to the deserted landmarks of the city, this was an opportunity to be immersed in the forgotten history of the pneumonic and bubonic plagues.

7:00pm EDT - Afterparty: MC3 goes back to Merton

Mertonians joined via the Merton Spatial Chat platform, and mixed and mingled in several 'locations' across the College.

 

Mertonians in America are welcome to contact with the Merton College Charitable Corporation (MC3), a US-based charitable organisation bringing together Mertonians in the Americas and supporting the College, by writing to Merton3na@gmail.com.