Gentrain Lectures are usually held in LF 103 from 1:30 to 2:30 pm unless differently specified. Visitors are welcome; no charge or registration is required. Parking is $1.00 (quarters only) for non-society menbers.

September 1, 2010 - Geological Origins of the Monterey Peninsula Ed Clifton, Geologist Emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey, Point Lobos docent and Monterey Bay Aquarium volunteer, will describe the geologic processes that have created this spectacular area. The Monterey Peninsula and the rocks that underlie it have a long, complex history that began while dinosaurs still ruled the earth. The history involves the slow grinding of great plates of the earth's crust, fiery volcanoes, giant submarine canyons and movements of the earth's surface that continue today. Creatures both strange and familiar witnessed these changes and left their mark upon the rocks. Earthquakes attest to the continuing history of this geologically active part of the world Ed Clifton has been a geologist for more than five decades. After graduating with a degree in Geology from the Ohio State University, he earned his Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins University in 1963 and immediately joined the U. S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park CA, where he spent the next 28 years, primarily in the Branch of Pacific Marine Geology.  In 1991 he retired from the USGS and joined Conoco as an internal consultant, working on rocks from many parts of the world.  In 1999 he retired from Conoco and returned to the San Francisco Bay area, and in 2001, he and his wife moved to Monterey. Much of Ed's USGS Research was done underwater using SCUBA, and in 1969 and 1970 he participated as an aquanaut in the Tektite Man-in-the-Sea projects.  He and three marine biologists retain the world record for underwater habitation below 30 feet (60 days in Tektite 1, 1969). He has published nearly 200 papers and abstracts and in 2004 received the Society for Sedimentary Geology's Pettijohn Medal for Excellence in the Study of Sedimentary Rocks. September 15, 2010 - The Sicilian Vespers It was Easter Monday, March 30, 1282. In Palermo a French soldier attempted to body search a beautiful young Sicilian bride. The outraged husband and all the unarmed Sicilian men with him attacked the group of French soldiers and tore them apart. Within a week there was not a French man, woman or child alive in Sicily. This is the story that has been told for centuries, but perhaps the facts indicate a more complex tale. Before the story of the Vespers was over, much of the Mediterranean world would be involved. The French, of course, the king of Aragon, the Pope, and the Emperor of Byzantium would all have parts to play, and the balance of power in Europe would be permanently changed. The question is whether these European powers were already at work behind the scenes before the Vesper bells rang out. Was the shaming of a beautiful woman the cause or the excuse for a revolution? Alison Schwyzer taught Philosophy and Religion in Gentrain for over 25 years. She got her BA at Vassar and her Ph.D. at Berkeley