2026 Allan Sefton Memorial Lecture
About
The Allan Sefton Memorial Lecture is held annually and is named in honour of the late Allan Sefton, who was well-known as a naturalist and conservator of the environment. The Lecture is a public occasion where a distinguished Australian scientist or environmental advocate speaks on a topic of wide environmental interest.This year's guest speaker is Honorary Professor Allen Nutman, who will be delivering a presentation titled "An everchanging Earth: Environment-life-atmosphere in deepest time"
Chemical evidence and ancient microbial structures from 3.7-billion-year-old rocks in Greenland show that simple life already existed in the oceans at that time. Despite the Sun being much weaker, Earth was warm enough to avoid freezing because the atmosphere contained much more carbon dioxide (CO₂) than during recent geological times. Over tens of millions of years, life helped remove CO₂ from the atmosphere by storing it in rocks, which helped regulate Earth’s temperature. However, changes in plate tectonics sometimes removed a significant amount of atmospheric CO₂, contributing to major ice ages such as the Snowball Earth between 720 and 640 million years ago.
DATE: Tuesday 18 August 2026
TIME: 5:30pm - 6:30pm with light refreshments at the conclusion of the lecture
LOCATION: Lecture Theatre 1, Building 20 & Online via Webex, University of Wollongong
Date
Tuesday 18 August 2026 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM (UTC+10)Location
Lecture Theatre 1, Building 20
Northfields Avenue, Gwynneville NSW 2500
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2026 Allan Sefton Memorial Lecture
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