In–Person and Virtual Lecture Series

October 15: Tom Vassos, The Stunning View from Planet Earth

Discover celestial marvels in Earth’s astronomical theatre in the sky. Witness natural wonders, from the transient beauty of fire rainbows to breathtaking nebulas. Explore mysterious doomsday meteorites – 4.5-billion-year-old time capsules that reveal secrets of Earth’s inception.

October 22: Tom Vassos, Expedition to the Bizarre and Extreme Cosmos

Dare to venture into the wild frontiers of the cosmos that defy imagination, exploring the extremes of our astounding Universe. Immerse yourself in celestial titans such as supernova explosions, wormholes and Black Holes – cosmic monsters with voracious appetites.

October 29: Tom Vassos, Amazing Time Travel Movies and Real Science

Explore the fascinating world of time machines and the intersection of imaginative Hollywood movies with the reality of time travel based on cutting-edge astrophysics. Embark on a voyage to unravel the mysteries of time travel into the past or future – and the baffling paradoxes that arise.

November 5: Tom Vassos, The Quest for Alien Life – Are We Alone?

Where are all the aliens? Why haven’t we met them? What do they look like? Are UFOs really visiting aliens? When and where might we discover alien life in the future? Living in the golden age of astronomy and space exploration, we could uncover the answers in our lifetimes.

November 12: Tom Vassos, A Superhuman View of the Cosmos

Imagine what the skies would look like if we all had superhuman vision. Experience stunning astrophotographs of nebulas, galaxies and supernova explosions hidden to the naked eye. Explore the afterglow of the Big Bang as we unveil concrete evidence of our cosmic genesis.

November 19: Ian Tripp, Aviation and Space Pioneers

Explore humankind’s thrilling adventures in flight, from daredevil skydiving stunts to jet-powered hoverboards and flying cars. Take a voyage to the International Space Station and experience life with heroic astronauts, celebrating the bold spirit of exploration that propels us to the stars.

December 3:  Ian Tripp, Revealing Our Star-Studded Origins

Embark on a captivating journey to unveil the cosmic origins of elements that constitute our very being. Explore the profound connections linking us to the farthest extremities of space. Imagine visiting alien worlds where you would possess superhuman powers that defy earthly limitations.

Tom Vassos

Tom Vassos is an astronomer, university instructor, founder of Cosmologists Without Borders, member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and author of several books in the series The Inspiring Universe Collection. Mr. Vassos is a science communicator who is frequently invited as a guest expert on radio and television, and he is the Astronomer-in-Residence for Holland America and Royal Caribbean cruise lines. Mr. Vassos delights in imparting his knowledge to space enthusiasts, young minds and lifelong learners everywhere.

Ian Tripp

Ian Tripp has been fascinated with outer space since his dad told him about Sputnik in the 1950s. He has devoted thousands of hours over six decades exploring astronomy and the space race, getting informal education at various events at the University of Toronto and the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Ian is a big fan of science fiction, especially Star Trek and Star Wars. As an amateur astronomer/astrophotographer, he uses stabilization binoculars with solar filters and a Hestia smartphone telescope. Ian’s astronomy memories include several eclipses, transits of Venus and Mercury, and especially giving night sky tours to strangers.

October 17: Who Wants to be a Tourist?

To set ourselves up for the discussions ahead, we explore the distinction between travel and excursioning, and between the identity of the “tourist” and the “traveller,” asking how the adventurous and intrepid traveller has historically been compared (perhaps unfairly?) with the blinkered and uncultured tourist.

October 24: The Birth of the Tourist – The Grand Tour

From the late seventeenth century, elite travellers from Northern Europe, inspired by Classical civilization, took extended tours of the Continent, with Italy as their favoured destination. We explore their motivations, their routes and ways in which the profile of the Grand Tourist changed in the century before the French and Napoleonic Wars.

October 31: Discovering the Delights of Home – The Home Tour

For many travellers, wars that ravaged continental Europe in the aftermath of the French Revolution brought an end to the leisurely Grand Tour era and turned attention to the delights of the Home Tour. We explore the contours of the British Home Tour, the influence of Romanticism and the canonical sights and sites that constituted it.

November 7: Getting Around – Transport, Technologies and the Birth of Mass Travel

Who in the nineteenth century didn’t marvel at the power of the Iron Horse, as the railway remade ideas of time and space? In addition to the railway’s transformative power, we explore the earlier expansion of roads and canals, and highlight the changes wrought by steam on waterborne navigation – on rivers, lakes and oceans. We also explore ideas of mobility and immobility in travel, and how class, race, gender, age and other factors figured into experiences of travel as we chart the rapid expansion of the tourism sector in the nineteenth century.

November 14: What Should We See? Guides and Guidebooks

Travellers use both texts and knowledgeable guides to navigate through unfamiliar terrain, impart “local knowledge” and enhance their experiences. We explore how these very different instruments of travel authority developed and have been used.

November 21: A Bed for the Night: The Hotel in History

Hotels offer a place to lay one’s head – and so much more. We explore hotels as travel infrastructures, examine their symbolisms and discuss their diversity of forms as we analyze the meaning of the hotel in modern travel. From modest inns to grand hotels, we ask how these institutions were linked to changing transport networks, financial structures and cultures of travel.

November 28: Colonizing Space – Imperial Travellers and their (Dis)Comforts

Tourists were attracted to colonial spaces. But far from being a straightforward extension of the colonial project or a playground for Western travellers, colonial spaces also offered opportunities for complex social interactions, local entrepreneurialism and intercultural encounters.

December 5:  Does Tourism Take a Holiday? War and Travel

War doesn’t necessary “kill” travel, but it does transform it profoundly. New types of travellers emerge – soldiers, for instance – while many well-established infrastructures such as hotels and railways are mobilized for new uses. We explore these themes, using Britain’s experience of World War I as a case study and mapping out the complex terrain of wartime work and leisure on the home front. We also end our series by reviewing the long history of “getting away from it all” (or at least the impulse to get away) and exploring new directions that the “lure of being elsewhere” has taken in the past few decades. Our discussion includes new frontiers of travel, the widening profile of tourists and the impact of pandemic on travel practices and institutions.

Kevin James is Professor of History at the University of Guelph, where he holds the endowed Scottish Studies Foundation Chair. He is the author of many publications exploring tourism history. He has also appeared on many television programs in Canada and the UK, and as Director of the Centre for Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph is engaged with academic and community partners in exploring many dimensions of Scottish economic, social and cultural history.