The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including young people, in an informative and entertaining manner. The Managers of the Royal Institution conceived and initiated the Christmas Lecture series in 1825, at a time when organised education for young people was scarce. Many of the Christmas Lectures were published.
History
The Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures were first held in 1825, and have continued on an annual basis since then except for four years during the Second World War. They have been hosted each year at the Royal Institution itself, except in 1929 and between 2005 and 2006, each time due to refurbishment of the building. Michael Faraday was the most famous lecturer, hosting the series on nineteen occasions. Recent series have toured Japan, Korea and Singapore among other countries.
The Nobel laureate Sir William Bragg gave the Christmas lectures on four occasions, and his co-laureate son Sir Lawrence Bragg gave them twice. Other notable lecturers have included Desmond Morris (1964), Eric Laithwaite (1966 & 1974), Sir George Porter (1969 & 1976), Sir David Attenborough (1973), Heinz Wolff (1975), Carl Sagan (1977), Richard Dawkins (1991), Susan Greenfield (1994), Dame Nancy Rothwell (1998), Monica Grady (2003), Sue Hartley (2009), Alison Woollard (2013), Danielle George (2014), and Saiful Islam (2016).Professor from Newcastle becomes only sixth woman to present Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, Newcastle Chronicle, 2014-08-19, The Royal Institution, 2018-10-02
In 1994, Professor Susan Greenfield became the first female scientist to present the Christmas Lectures. The first non-white science lecturer was Kevin Fong in 2015, and in August 2020 it was announced that Professor Christopher Jackson would jointly present the 2020 lecture series, thus becoming the first black scientist to do so.
The props for the lectures are designed and created by the Royal Institution's science demonstration technician, a post which Faraday previously held. A popular technician, with the advent of television, serving from 1948 to 1986, was Bill Coates. The technician is informed of the general subject of the lectures during spring, but the specifics are not settled until September, with the recordings made in mid-December. By 2009, the lectures had expanded to a series of five sessions each year. However, in 2010 the Royal Institution cut back on costs, as it had become over £2 million in debt, and this resulted in a reduction from five lectures to three.
Television A 15-minute preview of a Christmas Lecture by G. I. Taylor was the first to be televised, in December 1936, on the BBC's fledgling Television Service. This was the first scientific experiment shown on television. Occasional lectures were broadcast in the subsequent decades, and each series was broadcast in its entirety on BBC Two from 1966 to 1999 and Channel 4 from 2000 to 2004. In 2000, one of the lectures was broadcast live for the first time.
Following the end of Channel 4's contract to broadcast the lectures, there were concerns that they might simply be dropped from scheduling as the channel was negotiating with the Royal Institution over potential changes to the format, while the BBC announced that "The BBC will not show the lectures again, because it feels the broadcasting environment has moved on in the last four years." Channel Five subsequently agreed to show the lectures from 2005 to 2008, an announcement which was met with derision from academics. The lectures were broadcast on More4 in 2009. In 2010, the lectures returned to the BBC after a ten-year absence from the broadcaster, and have been shown on BBC Four each year since then.
In January 2022, the RI launched an appeal to trace copies of those televised lectures which are missing from the BBC's archives, these being the complete series of five lectures each from 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970 and 1971, plus one episode of David Attenborough's 1973 lectures, "The language of animals".
List of Christmas lectures
1825 to 1965 The following is a complete list of the Christmas Lectures from 1825 to 1965:
Year Lecturer(s) Title of series 1825 John Millington Experimental Philosophy, including Dynamics, Mechanics, Pneumatics, Hydrostatics, Optics, Magnetism, Electricity, and Astronomy. 1826 John Wallis Astronomy 1827 Michael Faraday Chemistry 1828 George John Wood The History, Architecture, Rites, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs &c. of the Ancient World 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 1851Michael Faraday Attractive Forces 1852 Chemistry 1853 Voltaic Electricity 1854 The Chemistry of Combustion 1855 The Distinctive Properties of the Common Metals 1856 Attraction 1857 Static Electricity 1858 Metalline 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, Vapour 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 Atoms 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 1885James 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 Signalling to a Distance 1907 David Gill Astronomy, Old and New 1908 William Stirling The Wheel of Life 1909 William Duddell Modern Electricity 1910 Silvanus 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 Charles Edward 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 due to the Second World War 1943 Edward Andrade Vibrations and Waves 1944 Harold Spencer Jones Astronomy in our Daily Life 1945 Robert Watson-Watt Wireless 1946 Hamilton Hartridge Colours and How We See Them 1947 Eric Keightley 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 Frank 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 L. F. Boyd, Graham Sutton, George E. R. 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 R. E. D. (Richard Evelyn Donohue) Bishop Vibration 1963 Ronald King Energy 1964 Desmond Morris Animal Behaviour 1965 Bernard Lovell, Francis Graham-Smith, Martin Ryle, Antony Hewish Exploration of the Universe
Since 1966 The following is a list of televised Christmas Lectures from 1966 onward : Year Lecturer(s) Title of series Lecture titles Network 1966 Eric Laithwaite The Engineer in Wonderland1. The White Rabbit
2. Only the Grin was Left
3. The Caucus Race
4. Curiouser and Curiouser
5. If only I were the right size to do it
6. It's the Oldest Rule in the Book BBC Two 1967 Richard L. Gregory The Intelligent Eye1. Ancient Eyes and Simple Brains
2. Learning to See Things
3. Playing with Illusions
4. How Illusions Play Games with Us
5. Human Eyes in Space
6. The Future-Machines that See? 1968 Philip Morrison Gulliver's Laws: The Physics of Large and Small1. The World of Captain Gulliver
2. Meat and Drink Sufficient...
3. A Prodigious Leap?
4. Lilliput and Brobdingnag since the Industrial Revolution
5. Dwarf and Giant Numbers
6. Beyond the Map 1969 George Porter Time Machines1. In the Beginning...
2. Clockwork Harmony
3. The Tick of the Atom
4. Big Time, Little Time
5. Faster, Faster