The Master’s Book Club

Join us to hear from Churchill College alumna and Honorary Fellow Prof. Helen Czerski, a physicist, writer and broadcaster, in conversation with the Master of Churchill College, Prof. Sharon Peacock, as they discuss Helen’s award‑winning book Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World.

Earth has a story that is rarely told. Not the fish or the dolphins, but the ocean itself: a single vast engine, powered by sunlight, that shapes our climate, our weather, and the whole of human history.

In Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World, Helen Czerski dives deep into this hidden system, tracing the powerful currents, invisible ocean walls and underwater waterfalls that drive life on our planet. From the ancient Polynesians who navigated the Pacific by reading the waves, to the Greenland shark living silently in the deep for hundreds of years, she reveals the thrilling extent to which all life, including our own, exists at the mercy of this great engine.

Timely, elegant and passionately argued, Blue Machine offers a fresh perspective on what it means to live on an ocean planet. It won the 2024 Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing and was named a top non-fiction book of 2023 by both The Times and the Financial Times.

Entry is free but this is a ticketed event and booking is essential.

This event takes place in the Wolfson Hall and will be followed by a drinks reception at 7pm. All are welcome to attend.

Helen Czerski is a physicist, writer and broadcaster whose research focuses on breaking waves, bubbles and how the ocean controls the exchange of gases between air and sea. She is an alumna of Churchill College and now an Honorary Fellow. Based at University College London, Helen has spent months working on research ships in the Antarctic, Arctic, Pacific and North Atlantic, alongside leading laboratory‑based research. A regular science presenter on the BBC, she is currently co‑host of Radio 4’s Rare Earth and is committed to sharing the beauty and intricacy of the physical world with the widest possible audience.

The Master's Book Club: Hosted at Churchill College, Cambridge by Prof. Sharon Peacock, this In Conversation series explores recent books published by members and Fellows of the College. Wide‑ranging discussions shed new light on the ideas shaping our past, present and future, and how they connect to the world we live in today.