DS Forums

 
 

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2016 - BBC Four


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 27-12-2016, 12:40
Brian The Dog
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,058
I still recall Eric Laithwaite's lecture back in the 60s & 70s. This was when they carried out real hands on experiments and H&S was very far down on the agenda, hence the kids loved them.
Not forgetting the very sexy Bryson Gore as the assistant.
Brian The Dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 27-12-2016, 12:44
johnan
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 2,475
A very poor lecture in my opinion.

As an engineer and teacher I feel the topic of the lecture conjured up possibiities of one of the most exciting and enthralling, to young people, lectures of recent years but it did not deliver.
I remember Laithwaites lecture keeping me glued to my TV, although he annoyed some fellow scientists, and that is what these talks should be all about..catching the interest of the young.

This one did not deliver.
johnan is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 13:29
jonbwfc
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Bolton. lancs
Posts: 5,746
I remember Laithwaites lecture keeping me glued to my TV, although he annoyed some fellow scientists, and that is what these talks should be all about..catching the interest of the young.
Although in general I disagree with the notion of young people being a uniform body that all react the same way to anything, I believe for a large portion of 'the young'. Laithwaite's lectures would be switched off after about 5 minutes. It's not the 1960's any more.
jonbwfc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 13:48
Johnny_Sinclair
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 66
Not forgetting the very sexy Bryson Gore as the assistant.
Bryson took over from the brilliant Bill Coates.
Johnny_Sinclair is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 13:53
Johnny_Sinclair
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 66
Sending a kid up on the roof to read a meter which has a camera pointing at it anyway!
I also recall Heinz Wolff smearing some goo all over some kids back or whatever then scanning his insides.
Johnny_Sinclair is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 13:58
Brian The Dog
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,058
Although in general I disagree with the notion of young people being a uniform body that all react the same way to anything, I believe for a large portion of 'the young'. Laithwaite's lectures would be switched off after about 5 minutes. It's not the 1960's any more.
OK so we have established that times have change:

Now what in this lecture was so modern and trendy to attract today's children to be fascinated?

It started with a candle and some gun cotton: both have been around hundreds of years. (Gun Cotton: 1846 - Candles/lamps that burnt oil: since caveman times)

We had how electricity is generated with magnets and coils, nothing new there. And Faraday cages.

No mention of mobile phones or Pokemon Go!
Brian The Dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 16:52
lundavra
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 25,460
A very poor lecture in my opinion.

As an engineer and teacher I feel the topic of the lecture conjured up possibiities of one of the most exciting and enthralling, to young people, lectures of recent years but it did not deliver.
I remember Laithwaites lecture keeping me glued to my TV, although he annoyed some fellow scientists, and that is what these talks should be all about..catching the interest of the young.

This one did not deliver.
I also thought that he was not a very good lecturer but it has become an excuse to string together a series of gimmicky "experiments" but usually a couple of the demonstrations will be interesting.
lundavra is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 16:59
iamian
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Up North
Posts: 718
I have watched these for as long as they've been on TV and was fortunate enough to see first hand lectures by Eric Laithwaite, Col. Brian Shaw, Heinz Wolff and many others.
The subject matter is OK but its presentation this year is dull, unimaginative and incoherent. I would not leave the RI with much enthusiasm if I'd sat through this year's lectures.

I simply do not believe that today's teenagers would not have been captivated by those masters of their art. I saw Laithwaite both live and on TV on a number of occasions and he constantly developed his repertoire as science and the world's outlook to it moved on and the same could be said of Heinz Wolff.
iamian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 17:18
Brian The Dog
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,058
The whole concept is wrong if only aimed at children.

The concept at the very start was how much energy does it take to run this lecture room and all the TV equipment? What do the children care about that? Their mobile phones run out of battery life and that's what's important to them, so talk about advances that might result in them only having to charge their phone once a month, once a year or never again and you may just grab their attention.

You have to talk to children in their world and what is their whole world to them.
Brian The Dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 17:39
DigitalSpyUser
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 1,206
I think some youngsters are being stereotyped here. Energy and physics in general will always appeal to a certain number of youngsters (I was one) and not to others. I think those that it will appeal to will like the lectures whatever their content, just for the sake of it. It won't appeal to a lot of youngsters whatever the content.

My favourite lectures were "The Cosmic Onion" with Prof Frank Close. I loved those, especially as I had just started studying physics at University.
DigitalSpyUser is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 20:04
Brian The Dog
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,058
He mentioned evolution! Stone him!!!

Brian The Dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 20:06
AngusMast
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 2,753
I wanted him to say they got a piddling amount of energy from the urinal.
AngusMast is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 20:11
jonbwfc
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Bolton. lancs
Posts: 5,746
Really? REALLY?

Ha, no. We could do without the disco stuff mind.
jonbwfc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 20:16
Brian The Dog
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,058
Burning something = green lab coat time!
Brian The Dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 20:30
Brian The Dog
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,058
Right! Food contains energy. We've got it! (Not that we didn't know in the first place)

Is that really an hours worth saying the same thing with different foodstuffs?
Brian The Dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 20:39
jonbwfc
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Bolton. lancs
Posts: 5,746
I'm finding this all rather incoherent if I'm honest.
jonbwfc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 20:48
Andy2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Vault 101, Cheshire
Posts: 10,183
I have watched these for as long as they've been on TV and was fortunate enough to see first hand lectures by Eric Laithwaite, Col. Brian Shaw, Heinz Wolff and many others.
The subject matter is OK but its presentation this year is dull, unimaginative and incoherent. I would not leave the RI with much enthusiasm if I'd sat through this year's lectures.

I simply do not believe that today's teenagers would not have been captivated by those masters of their art. I saw Laithwaite both live and on TV on a number of occasions and he constantly developed his repertoire as science and the world's outlook to it moved on and the same could be said of Heinz Wolff.
Likewise, and I fully agree about the dullness. The 'volunteers' seem to come ready miked-up and do almost nothing except press a button or read a meter. A far cry from Laithwaite etc.
Andy2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 20:53
Brian The Dog
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,058
He wasn't wearing his green lab coat when that balloon went off! He could have been killed!

Brian The Dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 22:11
Galaxy266
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,764
He wasn't wearing his green lab coat when that balloon went off! He could have been killed!

He was, however, wearing his safety glasses.

But the people sitting in the front row weren't!
Galaxy266 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 22:34
Horza's Drone
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Schar's World
Posts: 473
I'm finding this all rather incoherent if I'm honest.
It's really bad. I'm halfway through the second episode and very tempted to turn it off.
Horza's Drone is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-12-2016, 22:38
davestoke
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 561
They really have been so dumbed down. The old 5 one hour lectures actually left you understanding (well nearly), some quite complex stuff in the past. There have always been the experiments, but they served a purpose. Now, the whole thing is just an excuse for showy demonstrations & I'm left no wiser at the end.
Some people don't care about science, that's fine, they won't watch whatever you do. Other people do & they deserve better than what they are getting now!
davestoke is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-12-2016, 11:17
drillbit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 687
it always seems to be posh kids that get invited, why not some rough inner city kids???
drillbit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-12-2016, 16:27
gomezz
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 28,534
Tonight we see if it is possible to power a mobile phone for a year without plugging it in.

Which is not much of a challenge. I have not plugged my mobile phone in for three years and it is still going strong.
gomezz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-12-2016, 10:54
iamian
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Up North
Posts: 718
Perhaps he would not be acceptable as he isn't an academic but James May would make an excellent presenter on the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. It is well worth remembering that the BBC's front man on NASA's space program and the moon landings, James Burke had no science qualifications.
iamian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-12-2016, 11:18
njp
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 21,645
it always seems to be posh kids that get invited, why not some rough inner city kids???
Why do you think they were "invited". Tickets have to be applied for (and are awarded by lottery, since the lectures are always over-subscribed). All UK schools are eligible.
njp is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 17:58.