Cundill Lecture with Lisa Jardine

The winner of the 2009 Cundill Prize in History, Lisa Jardine, will be delivering the Cundill Lecture in History on November 15, 2010 at 4:00p.m.

Lecture title: 1688 AND ALL THAT: SOME LASTING CONSEQUENCES OF GOING DUTCH

Lecture abstract: In GOING DUTCH Lisa Jardine traced with a broad brush the way in which English and Dutch cultures were altered in the course of the seventeenth century, preparing the ground for a seamless takeover of the English crown by William III in 1688-9. In her Cundill lecture she will look at events surrounding the 1688 invasion through a stronger lens, and show how the careers of the brothers Christiaan Huygens (the distinguished scientist) and Constantijn Huygens (secretary to William III) were altered by it in important ways. She will argue that we ought to consider the post-invasion rise of Sir Isaac Newton in a different light if we link it to his dealings with the Huygens brothers.

Lisa Jardine CBE is Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters and Centenary Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge and Jesus College, Cambridge. She holds honorary doctorates from the University of St Andrews, Sheffield Hallam University and the Open University. She is a Trustee of the V&A Museum and was for five years a member of the Council of the Royal Institution. She is Patron of the National Council on Archives. For the academic year 2007-8 she was seconded to the Royal Society as Advisor to its Collections. In 2008 she became Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the arms-length body that regulates assisted reproduction in the UK. She was the 2009 winner of the Cundill Prize.