Knoxville Torch Club
Past Meetings for the years 2004 - 2006
2006| January 19, 2006 Stephen Levy V.P. PEMDA M.S. Engineering Science  |
"U.S. Alternatives Towards Energy Independence" Mr. Levy has worked constantly on renewable energy and will talk about our options for renewable energy. In particular, he will cover the costs/benefits and technical progress of solar, wind, and ocean power sources in addition to the need for new nuclear power stations. Mr. Levy will be passing out handouts and CDs on energy alternatives. ------ Former Director of the EPRI Power Electronics Applications Center 30 years with Army Research in Pulse Power Program Manager for $25M Army Pulse Power Center under 'Star Wars' program President of the Technical Society of Knoxville |
| February 16, 2006 Walter Farkas, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, UT |
“Science and Government: Before and During the Bush Administration." |
| March 16, 2006 | No meeting |
| April 20, 2006 Steve Hilderbrand |
"Space Elevator" |
| May 18, 2006 Christopher P. Craig, Ph.D. Lindsay Young Professor of Classics and Director of College Scholars, UTK |
"Augustus: The Symbol and the Man" This talk is meant to honor the memory of our friend, the distinguished classicist Harry Rutledge, by focusing upon one of his favorite subjects. Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was by turns implacably bloodthirsty and famous for clemency, a Machiavellian politico and a paragon of public morality, the resident of an unpretentious house and the man who made the humble old Rome into a city of marble. Finally, he was the man who revolutionized the government of the greatest empire in the world, ushering in a despotism under the pretense of restoring the republic. The tensions of the Augustan achievement produced a flowering not only of architecture but also of literature, including the poetry of Vergil and Horace, the stirring narratives of the historian Livy, the outrageous love poems of Ovid. More than any other single individual, Augustus inspired what Poe would call "the grandeur that was Rome." This talk will examine the public image that Augustus created for himself, and the man behind the symbols. |
| June 15, 2006 Igor Alexeff Pres. of the TN Inventors' Assoc. |
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| July 20, 2006 | No meeting |
| August 17, 2006 | No meeting |
| September 21, 2006 | |
| October 19, 2006 Maestro Brain Salesky, Knoxville Opera Company |
"Maestro Salesky became the fourth General Director and Conductor
in May 2005." He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University took graduate studies at The Juilliard School and has assisted conductors Leonard Bernstein, Daniele Gatti, Gianfranco Masini. Mr. Salesky first won critical plaudits during his six-year tenure as a resident conductor and administrator with the New York City Opera where he was a three-time recipient of the Julius Rudel Award. |
| November 16, 2006 Authors, Former Wehrmacht Captain William Lubbeck and David B. Hurt |
"AT LENINGRAD’S GATES - The Combat Memoirs of a Soldier
with Army Group North" In collaboration with David B. Hurt, a Professor at Pellissippi State, Mr. Lubbeck has drawn on his wartime notes and letters, his Soldbuch, a divisional history, and his personal memories to recount his four years of frontline experience. Containing unique firsthand accounts of both triumph and catastrophe, At Leningrad’s Gates provides a fascinating glimpse into the experience of combat on the Eastern Front. |
| December 21, 2006 Michael Toomey, Ph.D. Staff Historian, East Tennessee Historical Society and Managing Editor of The Journal of East Tennessee History. |
“Making History Personal: The East Tennessee Historical Society” The East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS) is committed to making East Tennessee’s unique history a personal experience for all. ETHS was founded in 1834 and has a membership of about 2,000, with a broad mission to preserve, promote, and interpret the history of East Tennessee. Dr. Toomey will discuss how the Society accomplishes its mission through publications, lecture series, educational outreach, family programming, workshops, tours, and exhibits, most of which are free and open to the public. Looking to the future, Dr. Toomey will describe a new signature exhibit which is set to open late next year. The exhibit will tell the story of East Tennessee from about 1750 to the present. |
2005
| January 20, 2005 William Wade, Ph.D. Professor of Mathematics, UTK |
"A History of Our Number System." Our number system is incredibly complicated. It contains whole numbers, rational numbers, irrational numbers, imaginary numbers, and complex numbers. We shall look at the long and fascinating history of how this system developed. Along the way we answer the following questions: 1) Why were these concepts introduced? 2) Could the system have been made simpler? 3) Are these concepts based in reality, or are they the product of mathematicians' imaginations? |
| February 17, 2005 Daniel Berry, Program Director, WUOT |
"Ten Things You Don't Know About Public Radio." Daniel Berry, Program Director of University of Tennessee Public Radio Station, WUOT, will offer an inside look at noncommercial radio in the 21st century. It has changed more than one might suspect. |
| March 17, 2005 Melanie Wood |
"Color Sells.....and the Right Color Sells Better." The methodology of color professionals and the psychology of color in the marketplace. |
| April 21, 2005 Robert Bast, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History and Director of the MARCO Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies |
"In Pursuit of Excellence: Introducing MARCO*,
UT's Newest Institute." * (The Medieval and Renaissance Curriculum and Outreach Project ).. |
| May 19, 2005 David W. Dewhirst Dewhirst Properties, LLC |
"Downtown Knoxville Two and Half Years Later: What
has changed? What is ahead?" David W. Dewhirst is one of the most active developers in downtown Knoxville. In November 2002, he gave a presentation reporting on what was going on downtown at that time. In this talk, he will look back at what has been accomplished and what is on the drawing boards. |
| June 16, 2005 Tom Parkhill Executive Director of the Tennessee Stage Company |
"My Life on and behind the Stage." Tom Parkhill will talk about the history and mission of the Tennessee Stage Company and its role in the arts world in Knoxville and beyond. He will also talk about how he came to decide to devote his career to promoting the theater in Knoxville. |
| July 21, 2005 | No meeting - summer off. |
| August 18, 2005 | No meeting - summer off. |
| September 15, 2005 Martha Jean Bratton, Ph.D. Principal, Christenberry Elementary School |
"Changes in the public school system over the past 30 years." |
| October 20, 2005 Neal Stewart, Ph.D. Department of Plant Sciences, UTK |
"Environmental Impacts of Genetically Engineered
Plants." The prevailing notion among many people and in the press is that environmental impacts of biotechnology are negative. However, as of late 2003, over thirty-eight trillion engineered plants have been grown in the United States with no measurable negative effects, and no environmental disasters. In fact, these plants have provided laudable environmental benefits: millions of gallons of insecticide have not been sprayed and tons of soil have not eroded, largely because of biotechnology. The future holds the promise of new plants designed to actually clean up environmental problems and restore endangered species. Dr. Stewart concludes that due to these benefits, genetically modified plants are not the monsters they are made out to be. Dr Stewart is the author of Genetically Modified Planet, Environmental Impacts of Genetically Engineered Plants. |
| November 17, 2005 Allen Johnson, Ph.D. Professor, Emeritus, UTK |
"What you hear and may not know in listening
to music." |
| December 15, 2005 Martha Jean Bratton, Ph.D. Principal of Christenberry Elementary School, Knox County |
"Changes in Public Education over the
past 50 Years" Dr. Bratton has spoken to the Torch Club before about her success with cochlear implants. |
2004
| January 15, 2004 James B. Roberto, Ph.D. Associate Laboratory Director, Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
"The Promise of Nanoscience." Michael Crichton, in his bestseller, Prey, describes a world gone mad with self-replicating microscopic robots escaping from the laboratory to terrorize humankind. Several decades earlier, Arthur C. Clarke, in his The Fountains of Paradise, described elevators to space. And while these accounts are fantasy, they are rooted in the emerging science and technology of materials at the nanoscale--with typical dimensions of a few billionths of a centimeter. Small is different, and nanoscale materials exhibit revolutionary properties (such as unprecedented strength) that make this field one of the fastest growing areas of research. Central to nanoscience is a convergence of scientific and engineering disciplines at the molecular scale and new fabrication schemes based on self-assembly. Recent advances and opportunities in nanoscience will be discussed with implications for what has been described as the next industrial revolution. |
| February 19, 2004 Baldwin Lee, M.F.A. Professor, School of Art, UTK |
"Photographic Portraiture: Snap Shots, Mug Shots, and Art." |
| March 18, 2004 Otis H. Stephens, Ph..D., J.D. Professor, Law, UTK |
"The Supreme Court: Today and Tomorrow." Professor Stephens will review the jurisprudential philosophies of the present members of the Supreme Court and the combinations they form in deciding cases and will then discuss the outlook for changes in the Court's make-up based on possible resignations of present Justices and the recent history of confirmation fights." |
| April 15, 2004 Steve Hillenbrand |
"Cas Walker, Man or Myth." Mr. Hillenbrand will discuss the life and times of Knoxville's most controversial mayor, most flamboyant businessman, and certain finalist for the title of Knoxville's Greatest Character. |
| May 20, 2004 Alison Ensor, Ph.D. Professor of English, UTK |
"Mark Twain and Tennessee." |
| June 17, 2004 Jack Neely, Metro Pulse columnist |
"From the Shadow Side," Mr. Neely will discuss his third collection of essays about Knoxville history. |
| July, 15, 2004 | No meeting during the summer. |
| August 19, 2004 | No meeting during the summer. |
| September 16, 2004 Albert Richie Estate Attorney |
"A Dummy's Guide to the Crusades" The Crusades has been a frequently invoked analogy to the US response to the 9/ll terrorist attack, by those deploring US action. Our speaker realized that he had so little knowledge about the Crusades that he could not determine how apt the analogy is. So he tried to learn more about the Crusades, and he will pass on what he has learned, conscious that he has only crossed the threshhold of knowledge about 200 tumultuous years of history. |
| October 14, 2004 James McDonough, President Knoxville Botanic Garden and Arboretum |
"The Promise of the Knoxville Botanic Garden and Arboretum" Mr. McDonough will review the progress toward creating a public botanic garden on the Howell Nursery site in east Knoxville. He will recount the history of the property and its purchase for a botanic garden and show slides of the property and the improvements. Finally, Mr. McDonough will reveal the plans to complete the creation of a public garden on the property. |
| November 18, 2004 | No meeting. |
| December 16, 2004 | No meeting. |