What Are We?

About the lecture

In the first mini-lecture, we ask the question “What am I?”. It’s a question that has interested scientists for centuries. Without access to modern tools such as microscopes, it was impossible to see what we were made of. This first mini-lecture introduces some of the prevailing theories that dominated scientific discussion over the centuries. Who were the key thinkers of this field, and what did they propose? We learn about the camera obscura, the first thinkers to understand how light behaved, including Ibn al-Haytham, Kepler, Descartes, as well as theories of self such as the homunculus, and continuity of form.

About the lecturer

Jake Baum is a parasitologist, cell biologist and medical science innovator. Following a Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees at Oxford, and PhD in London (LSHTM, 2002) he moved to the Walter + Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia to work on the molecular and cellular biology of the malaria parasite. He started his own independent lab at the WEHI in 2010 (www.baumlab.com). In 2013, he returned to the UK to Imperial College London, and was later appointed Professor of Cell Biology and Infectious Diseases (2017). In 2020 he helped found the Imperial College Institute of Infection, a new Institute charged with representing the entire interdisciplinary research portfolio of infection research across the University. In 2022, he was recruited back to Australia to take up a tenured Professorship and position as Head of School of Medical Sciences at UNSW, Sydney. His lab has had a diverse range of interests, across cell biology, drug discovery, novel diagnostics, and vaccine technologies, often working together with industry partnerships.