Christmas Lecture (Royal Institution)
The Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution ( English Royal Institution Christmas Lectures ) are since 1825 by the Royal Institution organized Christmas lecture series .
The Christmas lectures evolved from the afternoon lectures that have been held at the Royal Institution since 1800. A series of 22 lectures on natural philosophy was originally planned, aimed specifically at young listeners between the ages of 15 and 20, and taking place during Christmas, Easter and Whitsun during the free time. The first Christmas lecture was given in 1825 by John Millington (1779–1868), professor of mechanics at the Royal Institution, the second a year later by a now unknown amateur astronomer by the name of John Wallis. After a second, less successful Easter lecture, which was held in 1827 by the professor of natural history John Harwood (approx. 1794–1854), the lectures were only held at Christmas time.
The term “ Christmas Lectures ” became established in the 1850s for the series of lectures actually called “ Juvenile Lectures ” . It was finally officially used in the early 1860s.
Until the beginning of the 1860s, Michael Faraday had a major impact on the design of the Christmas lectures. From 1827 on, he was responsible for a total of 19 episodes, most of which consisted of six individual lectures. The popular Christmas lecture entitled Chemical History of a Candle ( The Chemical History of a Candle ) was kept from him the year 1860/1861. It was published in book form in 1861 and has been translated into numerous languages.
Until the 1890s, lectures were mainly given by professors from the Royal Institution, including William Thomas Brande (7 episodes), John Tyndall (12 episodes), James Dewar (9 episodes), Edward Frankland , William Odling and John Hall Gladstone .
On December 29, 1927, shortly after Edward Andrade's Christmas lecture, the institute's own transformer station exploded, but nobody was harmed. The lecture hall, which had held an audience of one thousand, was then rebuilt. Today it can accommodate around 430 listeners.
In the late 1950s, the Royal Institution wanted to make its work better known. Therefore, in 1959 Lawrence Bragg produced a series of six 15-minute television programs entitled The Nature of Things , the broadcast of which reached about four million viewers and was considered a great success. The regular television broadcast of the Christmas lectures began in 1966/67 with Eric Laithwaite's The Engineer in Wonderland on BBC2 .
List of Christmas Lectures
| year | Lecturer | Title of the lecture |
|---|---|---|
| 1825 | John Millington | Natural Philosophy |
| 1826 | John Wallis | Astronomy |
| 1827 | Michael Faraday | Chemistry |
| 1828 | J. Wood | Architecture |
| 1829 | Michael Faraday | Electricity |
| 1830 | Thomas Webster | Geology |
| 1831 | James Rennie | Zoology |
| 1832 | Michael Faraday | Chemistry |
| 1833 | John Lindley | Botany |
| 1834 | William Thomas Brande | Chemistry |
| 1835 | Michael Faraday | Electricity |
| 1836 | William Thomas Brande | Chemistry of the Gases |
| 1837 | Michael Faraday | Chemistry |
| 1838 | John Wallis | Astronomy |
| 1839 | William Thomas Brande | The Chemistry of the Atmosphere and the Ocean |
| 1840 | John Frederic Daniell | The First Principles of Franklinic Electricity |
| 1841 | Michael Faraday | The Rudiments of Chemistry |
| 1842 | William Thomas Brande | The Chemistry of the Non-Metallic Elements |
| 1843 | Michael Faraday | First Principles of Electricity |
| 1844 | William Thomas Brande | The Chemistry of the Gases |
| 1845 | Michael Faraday | The Rudiments of Chemistry |
| 1846 | John Wallis | The Rudiments of Astronomy |
| 1847 | William Thomas Brande | The Elements of Organic Chemistry |
| 1848 | Michael Faraday | The Chemical History of a Candle |
| 1849 | Robert Walker | The Properties of Matter and the Laws of Motion |
| 1850 | William Thomas Brande | The Chemistry of Coal |
| 1851 | Michael Faraday | Attractive Forces |
| 1852 | Chemistry | |
| 1853 | Voltaic Electricity | |
| 1854 | The Chemistry of Combustion | |
| 1855 | The Distinctive Properties of the Common Metals | |
| 1856 | Attractive Forces | |
| 1857 | Static Electricity | |
| 1858 | The Metallic Properties | |
| 1859 | The Various Forces of Matter and their Relations to Each Other | |
| 1860 | The Chemical History of a Candle | |
| 1861 | John Tyndall | Light |
| 1862 | Edward Frankland | Air and Water |
| 1863 | John Tyndall | Electricity at Rest and Electricity in Motion |
| 1864 | Edward Frankland | The Chemistry of a Coal |
| 1865 | John Tyndall | Sound |
| 1866 | Edward Frankland | The Chemistry of Gases |
| 1867 | John Tyndall | Heat and Cold |
| 1868 | William Odling | The Chemical Changes of Carbon |
| 1869 | John Tyndall | Light |
| 1870 | William Odling | Burning and Unburning |
| 1871 | John Tyndall | Ice, water, vapor and air |
| 1872 | William Odling | Air and Gas |
| 1873 | John Tyndall | The Motion and Sensation of Sound |
| 1874 | John Hall Gladstone | The Voltaic Battery |
| 1875 | John Tyndall | Experimental Electricity |
| 1876 | John Hall Gladstone | The Chemistry of Fire |
| 1877 | John Tyndall | Heat, Visible and Invisible |
| 1878 | James Dewar | A soap bubble |
| 1879 | John Tyndall | Water and Air |
| 1880 | James Dewar | Atom |
| 1881 | Robert Stawell Ball | The Sun, the Moon and the Planets |
| 1882 | John Tyndall | Light and the Eye |
| 1883 | James Dewar | Alchemy in Relation to Modern Science |
| 1884 | John Tyndall | The Sources of Electricity |
| 1885 | James Dewar | The Story of a Meteorite |
| 1886 | The Chemistry of Light and Photography | |
| 1887 | Robert Stawell Ball | Astronomy |
| 1888 | James Dewar | Clouds and Cloudland |
| 1889 | Arthur Rücker | Electricity |
| 1890 | James Dewar | Frost and Fire |
| 1891 | John Gray McKendrick | Life in motion; or the Animal Machine |
| 1892 | Robert Stawell Ball | Astronomy |
| 1893 | James Dewar | Air: Gaseous and Liquid |
| 1894 | John Ambrose Fleming | The Work of an Electric Current |
| 1895 | John Gray McKendrick | Sound, hearing and speech |
| 1896 | Sylvanus Phillips Thompson | Light, Visible and Invisible |
| 1897 | Oliver Lodge | The Principles of the Electric Telegraph |
| 1898 | Robert Stawell Ball | Astronomy |
| 1899 | Charles Vernon Boys | Fluids in Motion and at Rest |
| 1900 | Robert Stawell Ball | Great Chapters from the Book of Nature |
| 1901 | John Ambrose Fleming | Waves and Ripples in Water, Air and Aether |
| 1902 | Henry Selby Hele-Shaw | Locomotion: On the Earth, Through the Water, in the Air |
| 1903 | Edwin Ray Lankester | Extinct Animals |
| 1904 | Henry Cunynghame | Ancient and Modern Methods of Measuring Time |
| 1905 | Herbert Hall Turner | Astronomy |
| 1906 | William Duddell | Signaling to a distance |
| 1907 | David Gill | Astronomy, Old and New |
| 1908 | William Stirling | The Wheel of Life |
| 1909 | William Duddell | Modern Electricity |
| 1910 | Sylvanus Phillips Thompson | Sound: Musical and Non-Musical |
| 1911 | Peter Chalmers Mitchell | The Childhood of Animals |
| 1912 | James Dewar | Christmas Lecture Epilogues |
| 1913 | Herbert Hall Turner | A Voyage in Space |
| 1914 | Charles Vernon Boys | Science in the Home |
| 1915 | Herbert Hall Turner | Wireless Messages from the Stars |
| 1916 | Arthur Keith | The Human Machine Which All Must Work |
| 1917 | John Ambrose Fleming | Our Useful Servants: Magnetism and Electricity |
| 1918 | D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | The Fish of the Sea |
| 1919 | William Henry Bragg | The World of Sound |
| 1920 | John Arthur Thomson | The Haunts of Life |
| 1921 | John Ambrose Fleming | Electric Waves and Wireless Telephony |
| 1922 | Herbert Hall Turner | Six Steps Up the Ladder to the Stars |
| 1923 | William Henry Bragg | Concerning the Nature of Things |
| 1924 | Francis Balfour-Browne | Concerning the Habits of Insects |
| 1925 | William Henry Bragg | Old Trades and New Knowledge |
| 1926 | Archibald Vivian Hill | Nerves and Muscles: How We Feel and Move |
| 1927 | Edward Andrade | Engines |
| 1928 | Alexander Wood | Sound waves and their uses |
| 1929 | Stephen Glanville | How Things Were Done in Ancient Egypt |
| 1930 | Arthur Mannering Tyndall | The Electric Spark |
| 1931 | William Henry Bragg | The Universe of Light |
| 1932 | Alexander Oliver Rankine | The Round of the Waters |
| 1933 | James Hopwood Jeans | Through space and time |
| 1934 | William Lawrence Bragg | Electricity |
| 1935 | Kenneth Mees | Photography |
| 1936 | Geoffrey Ingram Taylor | Ships |
| 1937 | Julian Huxley | Rare Animals and the Disappearance of Wild Life |
| 1938 | James Kendall | Young Chemists and Great Discoveries |
| 1939-1942 | No lectures | |
| 1943 | Edward Andrade | Vibrations and Waves |
| 1944 | Harold Spencer Jones | Astronomy in our Daily Life |
| 1945 | Robert Watson-Watt | Wireless |
| 1946 | Hamilton Hartridge | Colors and How We See Them |
| 1947 | Eric Rideal | Chemical Reactions: How They Work |
| 1948 | Frederic Bartlett | The Mind at Work and Play |
| 1949 | Percy Dunsheath | The Electric Current |
| 1950 | Edward Andrade | Waves and Vibrations |
| 1951 | James Gray | How Animals Move |
| 1952 | F. Sherwood Taylor | How Science Has Grown |
| 1953 | John Ashworth Ratcliffe | The Uses of Radio Waves |
| 1954 | Frank Whittle | The Story of Petroleum |
| 1955 | Harry W. Melville | Big Molecules |
| 1956 | Harry Baines | Photography |
| 1957 | Julian Huxley and James Fisher | Birds |
| 1958 |
John Ashworth Ratcliffe , James M. Stagg , Robert LF Boyd , Graham Sutton , George Deacon , Gordon de Quetteville Robin |
International Geophysical Year |
| 1959 | Thomas Allibone | The Release and Use of Atomic Energy |
| 1960 | Vernon Ellis Cosslett | Seeing the Very Small |
| 1961 | William Lawrence Bragg | Electricity |
| 1962 | Richard Evelyn Donohue Bishop | vibration |
| 1963 | Ronald King | Energy |
| 1964 | Desmond Morris | Animal Behavior |
| 1965 |
Bernard Lovell , Francis Graham-Smith , Martin Ryle , Antony Hewish |
Exploration of the Universe |
| 1966 | Eric Laithwaite | The Engineer in Wonderland |
| 1967 | Richard L. Gregory | The Intelligent Eye |
| 1968 | Philip Morrison | Gulliver's Laws: The Physics of Large and Small |
| 1969 | George Porter | Time Machines |
| 1970 | John Napier | Monkeys Without Tails: A Giraffe's Eye-view of Man |
| 1971 | Charles Taylor | Sounds of Music: the Science of Tones and Tune |
| 1972 | Geoffrey G. Gouriet | Ripples in the Ether: The Science of Radio Communication |
| 1973 | David Attenborough | The Language of Animals |
| 1974 | Eric Laithwaite | The Engineer Through the Looking Glass |
| 1975 | Heinz Wolff | Signals from the interior |
| 1976 | George Porter | The Natural History of a Sunbeam |
| 1977 | Carl Sagan | The Planets |
| 1978 | Erik Christopher Zeeman | Mathematics into Pictures |
| 1979 | Eric M. Rogers | Atoms for Engineering Minds: A Circus of Experiments |
| 1980 |
David Chilton Phillips with Max Perutz in Lecture 5 |
The Chicken, the Egg and the Molecules |
| 1981 | Reginald Victor Jones | From Magna Carta to Microchip |
| 1982 | Colin Blakemore | Common sense |
| 1983 | Leonard Maunder | Machines in Motion |
| 1984 | Walter Bodmer | The Message of the Genes |
| 1985 | John David Pye | Communicating |
| 1986 | Lewis Wolpert | Frankenstein's Quest: Development of Life |
| 1987 | John Meurig Thomas and David Phillips | Crystals and Lasers |
| 1988 | Gareth Roberts | The Home of the Future |
| 1989 | Charles Taylor | Exploring Music |
| 1990 | Malcolm Longair | Origins |
| 1991 | Richard Dawkins | Growing Up in the Universe |
| 1992 | Charles JM Stirling | Our World Through the Looking Glass |
| 1993 | Frank Close | The Cosmic Onion |
| 1994 | Susan Greenfield | Journey to the Center of the Brain |
| 1995 | James A. Jackson | Planet Earth, An Explorer's Guide |
| 1996 | Simon Conway Morris | The History in our Bones |
| 1997 | Ian Stewart | The Magical Maze |
| 1998 | Nancy Rothwell | Staying Alive |
| 1999 | Neil F. Johnson | Arrows of Time |
| 2000 | Kevin Warwick | Rise of the Robots |
| 2001 | John Sulston | The Secrets of Life |
| 2002 | Tony Ryan (scientist) | Smart stuff |
| 2003 | Monica Grady | Voyage in Space and Time |
| 2004 | Lloyd Peck | To the End of the Earth: Surviving Antarctic Extremes |
| 2005 | John Krebs | The Truth About Food |
| 2006 | Marcus you sautoy | The Num8er My5teries |
| 2007 | Hugh Montgomery | Back from the Brink: The Science of Survival |
| 2008 | Christopher Bishop | Hi-tech Trek |
| 2009 | Sue Hartley | The 300-Million-Year War |
| 2010 | Mark Miodownik | Size Matters |
| 2011 | Bruce Hood | Meet your brain |
| 2012 | Peter Wothers | The Modern Alchemist |
| 2013 | Alison Woollard | Life Fantastic |
| 2014 | Danielle George | Sparks will fly: How to Hack your Home |
| 2015 | Kevin Fong | How to survive in space |
| 2016 | Saiful Islam | Supercharged: Filling the future |
| 2017 | Sophie Scott | The Language of Life |
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- Frank AJL James (Ed.): Christmas At The Royal Institution: An Anthology of Lectures by M. Faraday, J. Tyndall, RS Ball, SP Thompson, ER Lankester, WH Bragg, WL Bragg, RL Gregory, and I. Stewa . World Scientific, 2008, ISBN 9789812771087 .