Ri ArchivesThis black and white film from the late 1950s details the scientific researches of Michael Faraday undertaken at the Royal Institution, followed by (from 25:00 onwards) a presentation from William Henry Bragg on the life and work of Faraday.
This historical film explains the foundation of the Royal Institution, highlighting original objects from the Ri’s collection before entering the famous lecture theatre to look in on a schools lectures being given by Lawrence Bragg. Bragg and Bill Coats are seen demonstrating a Whimshurst machine and a Faraday cage and talking through the principles of electricity.
The film then moves into a restaging of Faraday's (played by Tony Thawnton) life and experimentation, showing him in his bookbinder’s workshop and then later undertaking his electrical researches at the Ri. The film, interspersed between reconstruction and animation, highlights the importance of magnets and Faraday’s theory of lines of force. The film explains and demonstrates in detail the work of Hans Christian Ørsted, Faraday’s development of the first electrical motor and the development of the electro-magnet.
Prelude To Power: 1931 Michael Faraday CelebrationRi Archives2016-10-24 | This black and white film from the late 1950s details the scientific researches of Michael Faraday undertaken at the Royal Institution, followed by (from 25:00 onwards) a presentation from William Henry Bragg on the life and work of Faraday.
This historical film explains the foundation of the Royal Institution, highlighting original objects from the Ri’s collection before entering the famous lecture theatre to look in on a schools lectures being given by Lawrence Bragg. Bragg and Bill Coats are seen demonstrating a Whimshurst machine and a Faraday cage and talking through the principles of electricity.
The film then moves into a restaging of Faraday's (played by Tony Thawnton) life and experimentation, showing him in his bookbinder’s workshop and then later undertaking his electrical researches at the Ri. The film, interspersed between reconstruction and animation, highlights the importance of magnets and Faraday’s theory of lines of force. The film explains and demonstrates in detail the work of Hans Christian Ørsted, Faraday’s development of the first electrical motor and the development of the electro-magnet.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comBubble Model of a Metal - Cavendish Laboratory 1946Ri Archives2016-10-24 | A silent black and white teaching film created in 1946 by William Lawrence Bragg and J.F. Nye, the two pioneers of bubble raft modelling. Possibly the first bubble raft film ever created, it demonstrates the structure and mechanical properties of a metal. It demonstrates the construction of a bubble raft, the geometry of a dislocation within a bubble raft and the compression of a single 'crystal' between parallel plates. It highlights each of the stages with the use of a photograph of a bubble raft which can be turned to various angles in order for the viewer to see any dislocations, 'slip planes' and formations of defects such as holes in the structure. It goes on to describe the result of covering a surface of a liquid with bubbles is to form a 'polycrystalline' raft composed of areas with different orientations and the development of 'grain boundaries'. The film ends by describing and demonstrating 3-dimensional crystals and that with more than one layer of bubbles, different arrangements of close packing can be observed. This film was made by the Kodak Research Laboratory in Middlesex.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comMetal Structures ExcerptRi Archives2016-10-24 | A silent excerpt from 'Metal Structures' showing the demonstration of close packing of atoms within structures through the filling up of a 3-dimensional pyramid shape with ball-bearings to form a dense arrangement of congruent spheres in regular arrangement (or lattice shaped).
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comYoung and the Wave Theory of Light - with Sir Lawrence BraggRi Archives2016-10-24 | Sir Lawrence begins by outlining the two contesting theories of light: the particles theory and the wave theory, which were held in the eighteenth century. This he follows with a description and demonstration of Thomas Young's famous pinhole experiment; an experiment which validated the wave theory. Sir Lawrence turns to diffraction, showing its effects with the use of Young's original Wave Trough of 1800 and explaining interference fringes in a series of fascinating demonstrations.
From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas. These lectures, 'adapted to a juvenile auditory' to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate. The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions – over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented.
In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose. The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution. At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room. An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room. The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable. The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
A description of the fundamental properties of magnetic materials is followed by demonstrations with the lodestone, a modern magnet, and a magnetic compass. Magnetic attraction, repulsion and induction are next described and illustrated. Finally, Sir Lawrence discusses Faraday's outstanding contribution to the subject, reconstructing many of his original experiments and supplementing these with demonstrations illustrating the effects of the magnetic field. From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas.
These lectures, 'adapted to a juvenile auditory' to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate.
The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions – over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented.
In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose. The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution.
At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room. An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room.
The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable. The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comCrystals - Alan Holden 1958Ri Archives2016-10-24 | This colour film from 1958 and made by the Physical Science Study Committee shows Alan Holden from the Bell Laboratories explaining how crystals are formed and why they are shaped the way they are. The film goes on to show crystals growing while under a microscope. Alan Holden (1904-1985) was a physicist who helped to develop sonar equipment used to detect submarines during World War II. Born in New York City, went to work for the Bell Laboratories Division of the American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation in N.J., after receiving his bachelor's degree from Harvard in physics and mathematics in 1925. Later, in 1935, he joined the research staff where he worked as a physicist until retiring in 1960. During World War II, he helped to develop methods for producing the large crystals that form the heart of the sonar equipment used by the United States Navy to locate enemy submarines. The Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC), made up of a group of MIT scientists, created a series of films in the late 1950s and early 1960s aimed at teaching the physical sciences.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films:youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comPrelude to PowerRi Archives2016-10-24 | Entitled 'Prelude to Power: The story of Faraday and the Induction Ring', this black and white film from the late 1950s details the scientific researches of Michael Faraday undertaken at the Royal Institution. This historical film explains the foundation of the Royal Institution, highlighting original objects from the Ri's collection before entering the famous lecture theatre to look in on a schools lectures being given by Sir William Lawrence Bragg. WL Bragg and Bill Coats are seen demonstrating a Whimshurst machine and a Faraday cage and talking through the principles of electricity. The film then moves into a restaging of Faraday (played by Tony Thawnton) life and experimentation, showing him in his bookbinder's workshop and then later undertaking his electrical researches at the Ri. The film, interspersed between reconstruction and animation, highlights the importance of magnets and Faraday's theory of lines of force. The film explains and demonstrates in detail the work of Hans Christian Ørsted, Faraday's development of the first electrical motor and the development of the electro-magnet. This film is presented by the EFVA, The organisation for European Economic Co-Operation and The Educational Foundation for Visual Aids.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comExploring the Colours of Soap Films in MotionRi Archives2016-10-24 | This film, possibly made at the Royal Institution in the early 1930s by ASG Lawrence, demonstrates the colours produced in soap films when a steady jet of air is directed over the surface. Soap films are thin layers of liquid surrounded by air. The soap film shown has been created by dipping a wire ring into a soap solution to form a thin film of the solution stretched flat across the ring. The viewer sees the switch from black and white, setting up of the demonstration, to colour to allow the bright iridescent colours produced by the interfering of reflected light waves, a process called thin film interference which is determined by the thickness of the film, to be shown. The air jet over the soap film allows streams and vortex patterns in a great variety of colours to form themselves over the film. On stopping the air jet, the colours re-arrange themselves to their previous positions, rising or falling in coloured showers according to their thickness relative to the position on the film at which they are released from motion.
This early demonstration film shows the further phenomena of soap films, the symmetrical patterns produced when the air jet is glanced off the film surface, the response of the soap film to sound disturbance, and the effect known as the 'black' condition where the soap film thins out to a few molecules of soap and water, passing beyond the stage at which interference colours can be produced. The demonstration goes on to show the effect that a wet pad of ammonia solution has on the soap film when held near. There is a further demonstration of rapidly producing the 'black' stage across the soap film, with the normally smoothly graded bands usually seen now being broken up by the rapid development, as the black area quickly extends by the aggregations of black 'clots' all over the soap film. The film ends with a nozzle pierced with four air holes sending air jets over the soap film surface, producing patterns of extended symmetry and beauty of contrast.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Filmed in 1939, it shows Doctor Irving Langmuir, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1932) for "for his discoveries and investigations in surface chemistry". This film was part of a series presenting Nobel Laureates demonstrating their experiments to inspire enduring contributions to progress. By these living biographies it was hoped their work may be immortalized. The film shows Dr Langmuir, and his associate Doctor Katherine Blodgett, presenting their work as a living record. It starts with a brief clip of a Nobel Prize giving ceremony, before going onto show Dr. Langmuir describing his background and research, including his discovery of the incandescent lightbulb. You then get to see Dr Langmuir in his laboratories at the General Electric Company. He uses the film to describe his interest in science and in particular atoms and molecules. He demonstrates his thin film experiments, showing motion on the surface of liquids before going on to show the spread of protein films on the surface of water and the patterns that can be made. This short film then highlights the work of Dr Katherine Blodgett who for some time acted as Dr Langmuir assistant. It shows her demonstrating her innovation of thin film technologies on glass, creating 'invisible glass' which has a low reflectance. The film shows how some instruments can be made so that they are easier to read/see because the sunlight does not get in the way because they have non-reflecting film.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comA TeleprinterRi Archives2016-10-24 | Short black and white silent film showing in detail the various parts of a teleprinter in action. Teleprinters were invented in order to send and receive messages without the need for operators trained in the use of Morse code. A system of two teleprinters, with one operator trained to use a typewriter, replaced two trained Morse code operators. The teleprinter system improved message speed and delivery time, making it possible for messages to be flashed across a country with little manual intervention firstly receiving a message and then printing it out. The film focuses on each aspect of the electronic device, concluding by producing the message '˜Time for all good men to come to the aid of the party'.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comPlastics and Rubbers - Properties of Matter #4Ri Archives2016-10-24 | Sir Lawrence first compares naturally and artificially produced plastics and describes their structure. Demonstrations illustrate how simple molecules, by chemical reaction, are transformed into macro-molecules, this section of the film concluding with an experiment showing the manufacture of a plastic. The construction of rubber is next described, its nature being illustrated both experimentally and with the aid of models.
From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas. These lectures, 'adapted to a juvenile auditory' to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate. The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions – over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented.
In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose. The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution. At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room. An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room. The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable. The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comSoap Films in Motion - film trim showing equipment set upRi Archives2016-10-24 | This film shows the experimental setup used in 'Exploring the Colours of Soap Films in Motion': youtu.be/yNDkeFOol7g?list=PLal2Dq06taLZZASQs9Z5FLqtrj3BLe4Qw It shows the various stages of the demonstration taking place, focusing on the equipment used and the soap film produced inside a glass box. This is completely filmed in black and white, allowing the viewer to see the complete set-up without being distracted by the colours produced on the soap film.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
This silent film is likely to be an excerpt from a longer film on bubble rafts, possibly made in the 1940s by William Lawrence Bragg.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comFilm trims from Experiments with the Bubble Model of Metal Structure - November 1952Ri Archives2016-10-24 | In these silent film trims you see Sir William Lawrence Bragg demonstrating the close packing structure of metals. The film shows the use of bubble rafts to demonstrate dislocations in metal structures and how they can correct themselves.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comDemonstration of Michael Faradays Lines of ForceRi Archives2016-10-24 | A silent excerpt from an educational film describing Michael Faraday's discovery of lines of force. Made by Kodak, the'cine-Kodagraph' film describes how lines map out the direction and strength of an electric field around a magnet. The force upon an electrified particle is in the direction of the lines. The force is greatest when the lines are most closely crowded. The film uses illustrations to show the distribution of lines of force when two conducting spheres, with equal opposite charges, approach and recede. The film ends by showing how the demonstration was made and filmed, using a controllable moving camera projecting onto a static board illustrated with the lines of force. The film shows a young William Lawrence Bragg undertaking the demonstration, possibly in advance of his 1934 Royal Institution CHRISTMAS LECTUERS of electricity.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Possibly filmed through a microscope, this early film demonstrates the random motion of particles suspended in a fluid (a liquid or a gas) resulting from their collision with the quick atoms or molecules in the gas or liquid. The term "Brownian motion" can also refer to the mathematical model used to describe such random movements, which is often called a particle theory.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.com50 Years a Winner - Silent excerpt featuring a young child #2Ri Archives2016-10-24 | In 1965 the BBC commissioned a programme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir William Lawrence Bragg winning the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915, jointly with his father William Henry Bragg, for the development of X-ray Crystallography. This short, silent, excerpt is taken from the documentary, possibly featuring one of Lawrence’s grandchildren.
The Nobel Foundation were already celebrating the anniversary and work of WL Bragg by inviting him to speak about the developments in his area of study and to present the first ever Nobel guest lecture in the same year. Everyone was taking such a keen interest not only because the field of x-ray crystallography had spread into all areas of science, creating further Nobel Prize winners and helping to determine the structure of DNA, enzymes, haemoglobin, myoglobin and Vitamin B12, but also as WL Bragg won the Nobel Prize at the age of 25 (still the youngest ever person to be awarded one of the scientific prizes) he was the first person to reach his 50th anniversary celebrations. The '50 Years a Winner documentary' was first broadcast on the 2nd December 1965 and featured interviews with prominent scientists of the day, including those which had been mentored by Bragg for instance Max Perutz, Frances Crick and James Watson, about the impact of Lawrence's work on the world. This short, silent, excerpt is taken from the documentary possibly featuring one of Lawrence's grandchildren.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comWaves and Vibrations - with Sir Lawrence BraggRi Archives2016-10-24 | The reflection of waves is described and their expansion and compression is then illustrated experimentally. Sir Lawrence demonstrated the effect of waves crossing each other and explains this effect with the aid of models and animated diagrams. The Doppler Effect is described and illustrated dramatically by means of ASDIC recordings. Finally, Sir Lawrence considers and demonstrates the effect when a body is travelling through a medium faster than the waves travel in that medium.
From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas. These lectures, 'adapted to a juvenile auditory' to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate. The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions – over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented.
In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose. The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution. At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room. An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room. The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable. The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comMovement of a Magnetic Fluid and other film excerptsRi Archives2016-10-24 | A series of film excerpts showing the movement of a magnetic fluid beneath a glass plate under a microscope. Contained within the film there is also a computer model of a Protein, produced by Michael Levitt, Christian Sander and Peter S. Stern at the Weizmann Institute of Science Israel.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comBubble Model of a MetalRi Archives2016-10-24 | This short black and white silent film is an early educational film demonstrating the creation of bubble rafts and how they can represent the structure of a metal. The concept of bubble raft modelling was first presented in 1947 by Sir William Lawrence Bragg and John Nye of the Cavendish Laboratory. Legend claims that Bragg conceived of bubble raft models while pouring oil into his lawn mower. He noticed that bubbles on the surface of the oil assembled into rafts resembling the plane of close-packed crystals. This film was made by the Kodak Research Laboratory in Middlesex. It demonstrates the construction of a bubble raft, the geometry of a dislocation within a bubble raft and the compression of a single 'crystal' between parallel plates. It highlights each of the stages with the use of a photograph of a bubble raft which can be turned to various angles in order for the viewer to see any dislocations,'slip planes' and formations of defects such as holes in the structure.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comCrystal Growth IIRi Archives2016-10-24 | This early black and white silent film, possibly created as a teaching aid, shows the growth of a crystal under a microscope. It uses time-lapse imaging techniques to allow the viewer to see a spiral growth slowly appear on the surface of a crystal. This is possible an excerpt from a longer teaching film on the subject of crystal growth.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
The proof of this relationship is shown in a number of fascinating demonstrations. Sir Lawrence describes the magnetic properties of iron, and in a series of experiments illustrates its behaviour when subjected to the influence of a magnetic field. From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas. These lectures, 'adapted to a juvenile auditory' to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate. The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions – over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented. In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose.
The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution. At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room. An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room. The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable. The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Lawrence Bragg first describes and illustrates the structure of atoms and molecules. This is followed by a demonstration that conveys ideas not only on the size of atoms and molecules but also of the progressive development of microscopic instruments and techniques. Two classical experiments are performed in close-up, one demonstrating the wetting of oil molecules and the other showing Brownian motion
From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas. These lectures, adapted to a juvenile auditory to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate. The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions and over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented. In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose. The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution. At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room. An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room. The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable. The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comAnimal MovementRi Archives2016-10-24 | Black and white silent film trims demonstrating the movement of a walking and trotting horse. Within the film there is a section of time-lapse footage, showing close-up shots of the horse's legs and the precise movements they make. This excerpt was probably used within a lecture demonstration at the Royal Institution.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comCrystal GrowthRi Archives2016-10-24 | This early black and white silent film demonstrates the growth of a crystal under a microscope. It uses time-lapse imaging techniques to allow the viewer to see a spiral growth slowly appear on the surface of a crystal containing a single screw dislocation. Further crystal growth can then be seen from different angles.
It was first pointed out in 1949 by FC Frank that growth of crystals at low super-saturations, essential for good crystals, could take place because of the formation of dislocations in the crystal so that any real crystal should have a number of dislocations with a screw component, terminating on the face. When growth takes place on these exposed molecular terraces, the edges of these layers develop into spirals centred on the dislocation. This phenomenon is highlighted by this film. This film was made by AJ Forty and WR Harding at the HH Wills Physical Laboratory, University of Bristol.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
The nature of electromagnetic waves is demonstrated first with the aid of models and then by a reconstruction of Faraday's experiment on induction. The range of electromagnetic waves is next illustrated, followed by a series of experiments using a klystron. The measurement of wavelengths is introduced by showing standing waves with the Vinycomb model, Sir Lawrence then illustrating the same principles by applying electromagnetic waves to Young's pinhole experiment.
From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas. These lectures, 'adapted to a juvenile auditory' to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate. The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions – over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented. In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose. The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution. At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room. An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room. The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable. The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films:youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comArrangement of Atoms and Molecules in Crystals demonstrated by Sir William Henry BraggRi Archives2016-10-24 | This film produced by General Electric in 1930s, shows Sir William Henry Bragg, Director of the Royal Institution demonstrating the arrangement of atoms and molecules in crystals. Sir William Henry Bragg explains how x-rays can be used to see into the structure of solid bodies and how these structures help to determine their properties. He goes on to describes how groups of atoms and molecules meet together to form crystallization in many substances which we never would have thought would have had a crystalline structure. Bragg describes and shows the structure of diamond with the use of a model and how the atoms are arranged with respect to one another. It is this structure which helps to produce the unique properties of diamond which WH Bragg goes on to describe. The importance of creating models is further explained with the description of the structure of 'paraffins' and how traditionally in chemistry these were thought to be long chain compounds. With advances in x-rays, these organic substances can now be made in into model form and their precise structures determined. William Henry Bragg goes on to describe the difficulties in undertaking the x-ray crystallographic experiments on paraffins and other organic bodies to determine structure but that it is only natural for chemists to try and hence to complete a model of their structure. Bragg finishes the film by saying"x-rays can help him (organic chemist) by showing exactly how atoms are arranged, why then we are helping to advance the cause of scientific knowledge and that really is what this x-ray work is trying to do."
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comThe Movement of Dislocations in Aluminium FoilsRi Archives2016-10-24 | This short black and white silent film shows the movement of dislocation in aluminium foils under a microscope. Possibly created as an early teaching aid it shows subgrains, dislocations and irregular motion within the structure of aluminium foils.
Created by P.B. Hirsch, R.W. Horne and M.J. Whelan in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. S
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comBubble Model - Combinations of DislocationsRi Archives2016-10-24 | An early black and white silent film demonstrating the combination of dislocations within a bubble raft model. The film shows a bubble raft model up close, highlighting areas of dislocations and gaps in structure. It demonstrates that as a bubble raft is compressed these areas of dislocation move in order to repair the overall structure of the model. It goes on to demonstrate crystal boundaries and recrystallization of the bubble raft model. This film is likely to be an excerpt from a longer film on bubble rafts, possibly made in the 1940s -1950s by William Lawrence Bragg.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comIce FlowersRi Archives2016-10-24 | This 1930's black and white silent film shows the formation of ice flowers within the structure of ice as it melts. Probably an excerpt from a teaching film on the subject of Tyndall's Ice Flowers, it allows the viewer to look through a microscope and see the naturally occurring crystalline forms which build up within ice as it freezes. These are produced at a rapid rate so it is only as the ice melts through the absorption of heat that the formation of the structures appears.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comThe Bubble Model of a Crystal at High Temperatures - Tokyo Metropolitan University 1958Ri Archives2016-10-24 | This black and white silent teaching film demonstrates the behaviours of a bubble raft at high temperatures, with respect to heat expansion, the melting process, the degeneration of nearby vacancies, grain boundary and the recrystallization. The film shows the apparatus used to form and film the bubble raft model on the surface of a soap solution. A perfect crystal lattice, a stationary dislocation and running dislocations are shown. An impurity atom, a bubble of different size from that of the bubbles in mother lattice is also introduced and a dislocation is formed. The model is then set under vibration to simulate the heat motion in a real crystal. The apparatus is reset to form a grain boundary separating two lattice grains of specified angle of misorientation within the model. The film goes on to show and describe the misorientation angles, boundary shifts and grain slides that occur due to temperature changes.
This film was photographed by Tomonori Zempo. It was supported financially by the Scientific Research Fund granted by the Ministry of Education, and technically by Prof. Yoshio Suge. It was directed by Einosuke Fukushima, Akiya Ookawa and produced by Einosuke Fukushima, Tokyo Metropolitan University Tokyo, 1958.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comLiquid CrystalsRi Archives2016-10-24 | This short, coloured, demonstration film shows the formation of liquid crystals. The liquid crystal state is a distinct phase of matter observed between the crystalline (solid) and isotropic (liquid) states. A liquid crystal may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. There are many different types of liquid-crystal phases, which can be distinguished by their different optical properties (such as birefringence). When viewed under a microscope using a polarized light source, different liquid crystal phases will appear to have distinct textures. The contrasting areas in the textures correspond to domains where the liquid-crystal molecules are oriented in different directions.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comBubble ModelRi Archives2016-10-24 | An early black and white silent film demonstrating the creation of a bubble raft model on the surface of a liquid. The film shows bubbles being created via a constant stream of air being added just below a surface of a liquid. The film then shows the larger bubble raft model under closer light, highlighting the creation of dislocations and fractures within the model structure. This film is likely to be an exert from a longer film on bubble rafts, possibly made in the 1940s -1950s by William Lawrence Bragg.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comBubble Raft Model - part 2Ri Archives2016-10-24 | A short film demonstrating the creation of a bubble raft and highlighting that on manipulation that dislocations in the structure can be formed and repaired, similar to the close-packing seen in crystal structures. This silent film is likely to be an excerpt from a longer film on bubble rafts, possibly made in the 1940s by William Lawrence Bragg.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films:youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comRefraction and the Scattering of Light - with Sir Lawrence BraggRi Archives2016-10-24 | An explanation of double refraction is followed by Sir Lawrence demonstrating its effects by means of Polaroid, a crystal of calcite and a lamp incorporating an iris diaphragm. The effects that are associated with the scattering of light are described, each description being supplemented by a demonstration. Sir Lawrence ends with a series of experiments in refraction effects using two pieces of Polaroid.
From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas. These lectures, 'adapted to a juvenile auditory' to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate. The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions – over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented.
In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose. The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution. At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room. An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room. The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable. The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
He discusses the earth's magnetism and illustrates Wegener's novel theory of the history of the continents. In a series of vivid demonstrations Sir Lawrence shows how more recent knowledge of magnetism has fully validated Wegener's theory. From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas.
These lectures, 'adapted to a juvenile auditory' to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate.
The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions – over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented.
In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose. The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution. At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room.
An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room. The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable.
The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
A demonstration goes on to show how bubbles on a surface of liquid can show the same structure as metals; this is a bubble raft experiment. The rest of the film, narrated by Bragg, uses bubbles to demonstrate the idea of dislocations in the structure of metals and how these occur at the points of greatest stress. The bubbles help to show how dislocations occur through rapid crystallisation and through collapse within a structure to create a hole. The bubble raft is further used to demonstrate how dislocations can correct themselves by pairing up or leaving a vacancy in a row within a structure. Crystal Boundaries are further described and demonstrated through the use of a bubble raft, showing how they might exist were two extremes meet. This can be were angles are or where disordered deformations occurs.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films:youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comPasadena Rubidium ClockRi Archives2016-10-24 | A short animated film showing the electrical flow within a Rubidium Clock. A Rubidium Clock or rubidium standard is a frequency standard in which a specified hyperfine transition of electrons in rubidium-87 atoms is used to control an output frequency. It is the most inexpensive, compact, and widely used type of atomic clock, used to control everything from television stations, stat nav stations and GPS. It is likely that this is an excerpt from a longer film explaining the principles behind atomic clocks, how they work and why they are important.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comMetals - Properties of Matter #3Ri Archives2016-10-24 | Some of the very different properties possessed by metals are first shown. Models are used to illustrate the characteristics of a metal, and an experiment with aluminium demonstrates its essential crystalline structure. Sir Lawrence next discussed the treatment of metals and follows this by experiments showing treatment of metals and follows this by experiments showing how the one and the same piece of metal can be made to possess different properties according to how it is treated. From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas.
These lectures, 'adapted to a juvenile auditory' to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate. The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions – over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented.
In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose. The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution. At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room. An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room. The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable. The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.com50 Years a Winner - Silent excerpt with Captain Harold HemmingRi Archives2016-10-24 | In 1965 the BBC commissioned a programme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir William Lawrence Bragg winning the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915, jointly with his father William Henry Bragg, for the development of X-ray Crystallography.
The Nobel Foundation were already celebrating the anniversary and work of WL Bragg by inviting him to speak about the developments in his area of study and to present the first ever Nobel guest lecture in the same year. Everyone was taking such a keen interest not only because the field of x-ray crystallography had spread into all areas of science, creating further Nobel Prize winners and helping to determine the structure of DNA, enzymes, haemoglobin, myoglobin and Vitamin B12, but also as WL Bragg won the Nobel Prize at the age of 25 (still the youngest ever person to be awarded one of the scientific prizes) he was the first person to reach his 50th anniversary celebrations. The '50 Years a Winner documentary' was first broadcast on the 2nd December 1965 and featured interviews with prominent scientists of the day, including those which had been mentored by Bragg for instance Max Perutz, Frances Crick and James Watson, about the impact of Lawrence's work on the world. This short, silent, excerpt is taken from the documentary possibly featuring one of Lawrence's grandchildren.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comExcerpt from Experiments with the Bubble Model of Metal Structure - November 1952Ri Archives2016-10-24 | This film is a silent excerpt from 'Experiments with the Bubble Model of Metal' created by Sir William Lawrence Bragg, V.M Lomer and J.F. Nye, it demonstrates, through the use of a 'bubble raft', the idea of dislocations in the structure of metals and how these occur at the points of greatest stress.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films:youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comDislocations and Stacking Faults in Stainless SteelRi Archives2016-10-24 | A silent black and white film possibly created as an early teaching aid to highlight the various dislocations and faults which can be observed within stainless steel. The film allows the viewer to see the microscopic structure of stainless steel through a microscope. It shows the shunting motion of dislocations, the movement of extended dislocations, partial dislocation reactions, positive and negative dislocations, partial dislocations separating to form stacking faults and the nucleation of dislocations near the edge of the foil, Created by P.B. Hirsch, R.W. Horne and M.J. Whelan in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, with the assistance of W Bollmann, Battelle Memorial Institute Geneva, Switzerland.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films:youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.com50 Years a Winner - Silent trim featuring a young child #1Ri Archives2016-10-24 | In 1965 the BBC commissioned a programme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir William Lawrence Bragg winning the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915, jointly with his father William Henry Bragg, for the development of X-ray Crystallography.
The Nobel Foundation were already celebrating the anniversary and work of WL Bragg by inviting him to speak about the developments in his area of study and to present the first ever Nobel guest lecture in the same year. Everyone was taking such a keen interest not only because the field of x-ray crystallography had spread into all areas of science, creating further Nobel Prize winners and helping to determine the structure of DNA, enzymes, haemoglobin, myoglobin and Vitamin B12, but also as WL Bragg won the Nobel Prize at the age of 25 (still the youngest ever person to be awarded one of the scientific prizes) he was the first person to reach his 50th anniversary celebrations. The '50 Years a Winner documentary' was first broadcast on the 2nd December 1965 and featured interviews with prominent scientists of the day, including those which had been mentored by Bragg for instance Max Perutz, Frances Crick and James Watson, about the impact of Lawrence's work on the world. This short, silent, excerpt is taken from the documentary possibly featuring one of Lawrence's grandchildren.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
A series of six outside broadcasts filmed at the Royal Institution in the late 1950s and early 1960s, The Nature of Things was presented by William Lawrence Bragg with the assistance of Bill Coates. After demonstrating that the regular structure of crystals resemble "soldiers on parade or the pattern of a wallpaper", Bragg showcases a range of gemstones arranged according to the Mohs scale of mineral hardness such that the next stone up the scale will scrath the one before it. Exploring the wondrous properties of diamonds he then explains how a extraordinarily high refractive index makes the gemstone sparkle so brilliantly before advising the 'Ladies' of the audience to clean the back of their diamonds! Bragg was a specialist in crystals having worked with his father William Henry Bragg to determine the molecular structure of crystals using their X-ray diffraction patterns in 1912-13; a discovery for which he received the Nobel Prize two years later. Coates recalled Bragg once remarking to him: "never talk about science, show it to them", which is what The Nature of Things set out to do. Like the CHRISTMAS LECTURES, the programmes were structured around a series of demonstrations and were filmed as a lecture in the Ri's theatre. Although the filming took place with an audience of adults, the series was aimed at children and broadcast on children's television. As he states at the end of the series, he hoped it would provoke "deep interest in the science of everyday things".
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films:youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comA series of Time Lapse FilmsRi Archives2016-10-24 | A series of silent time-lapse film footage trims joined together, covering the growth of a plant, the germination of a seed, a pendulum smashing through a disc, a wasp hovering over a flower head, and a lizard catching an insect to eat.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comReflection Refraction and Polarization of Light - with Sir Lawrence BraggRi Archives2016-10-24 | Sir Lawrence begins by demonstrating some of the familiar effects of reflections and refraction by means of a beam of light passing through water, a prism and lenses. This is followed by a description of total internal reflection, a model of a diamond being used to demonstrate its effects. Sir Lawrence now turns to polarization, explaining what is meant by polarized light and illustrating its effects both experimentally and with the aids of models.
From the original programme notes: Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution of Great Britain Since 1826 a series of lectures, planned for young people, has been given at the Royal Institution during the fortnight after Christmas. These lectures, 'adapted to a juvenile auditory' to use the nineteenth-century phase, were started as a new venture in science teaching. It is the tradition to illustrate the CHRISTMAS LECTURES with numerous experiments which are on an impressive scale and as far as possible of a novel type. Many experiments first shown in the Royal Institution theatre have become classical bench-experiments in schools and colleges, and many of the best popular scientific books have been based on CHRISTMAS LECTURES. A scheme was launched in 1955 to give corresponding lectures throughout the school year, because it seemed very desirable to use the facilities and traditions of the Institution to the full and thus make it possible for a larger audience to participate. The idea was proposed in the first place to a few science teachers in schools, and with their help it was started in a small way. The lectures had an enthusiastic reception, and the scheme soon grew to its present proportions over twenty thousand young people now come to the lectures each year. The main idea behind them is to show experiments, illustrating the basic principles of science, which are on too large a scale or involve too complicated apparatus to be readily staged with school resources. The majority of the lectures are on physical subjects, but chemistry and biology are also represented.
In 1965, Lord Bowden, who was then Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, expressed a wish that the lectures given by Sir Laurence Bragg be recorded in the form of films, and arranged that a sum of money be earmarked for that purpose. The series Sir Lawrence Bragg at the Royal Institution is the result of his interest. The films have been commissioned by the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids and shot on the premises of the Royal Institution. At first an attempt was made to film the actual schools' lectures, but there were a number of drawbacks to this procedure. Ideal positions for the cameras were not possible in a crowded lecture room. An hour's talk is too long, the film had to be divided into three or four sections, and it was not easy to tailor beginning and ends to the sections. It was finally realised that it would be much better to shoot each film as a separate project, with no audience and complete freedom for the camera team to take the long shots and close-ups in the best way. The possibility of close-up shots is a great advantage, because it enables effects to be shown which it would be impossible to demonstrate in a large lecture room. The present series consists of sixteen films covering the schools' lectures dealing with magnetism, the properties of matter, and vibrations and waves. It is hoped to include electricity and other subjects in a further series. In the main, the experiments are those actually shown in the schools' lectures, modified for filming where desirable. The action before the camera is in each case carefully rehearsed so that the performance of the experiment is seen as clearly as possible. No attempt however has been made to prepare a 'script'. The talk is quite informal, not a prepared one, in the belief that it will be fresher and more interesting if given in this way. It is hoped that the imperfections, inevitable in an impromptu talk, will be overlooked for the sake of its more personal nature.
Crown copyright information is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.com50 Years a Winner - Silent trim featuring William Lawrence Bragg drawing with his grandsonRi Archives2016-10-24 | In 1965 the BBC commissioned a programme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir William Lawrence Bragg winning the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915, jointly with his father William Henry Bragg, for the development of X-ray Crystallography.
The Nobel Foundation were already celebrating the anniversary and work of WL Bragg by inviting him to speak about the developments in his area of study and to present the first ever Nobel guest lecture in the same year. Everyone was taking such a keen interest not only because the field of x-ray crystallography had spread into all areas of science, creating further Nobel Prize winners and helping to determine the structure of DNA, enzymes, haemoglobin, myoglobin and Vitamin B12, but also as WL Bragg won the Nobel Prize at the age of 25 (still the youngest ever person to be awarded one of the scientific prizes) he was the first person to reach his 50th anniversary celebrations. The '50 Years a Winner documentary' was first broadcast on the 2nd December 1965 and featured interviews with prominent scientists of the day, including those which had been mentored by Bragg for instance Max Perutz, Frances Crick and James Watson, about the impact of Lawrence's work on the world. This short, silent, excerpt is taken from the documentary possibly featuring one of Lawrence's grandchildren.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
This 1950's film has been made by the Metal Physics Group of Tube Investments Research Laboratories, Hinxton Hall, Cambridge. It shows the growth of gold layers formed inside and electron microscope. The demonstration uses both a thin carbon substrate and a thin flake of Molybdenite alternately to grow the gold layers, and at times shows a 20 x increase in actual growth rate to get a more visual effect. During two sequences, recrystallization occurs during growth and black and white islands are shown in different orientations (double positioning).
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films: youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on Twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comDavy Faraday Research Laboratory Staff on the Roof of the Royal InstitutionRi Archives2016-10-24 | A short film taken on a hand held cine camera, showing the staff of the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory on the roof of the Royal Institution. Traditionally the research group at the Ri used to have a yearly photograph taken on the roof of the Ri. This short film captures the research group led by Sir William Lawrence Bragg in the late 1950's -early 1960's. The film shows some of the interior of the Ri, including the Michael Faraday statue in the grand entrance before a panning shot of the outside of the building and the Ri Porter on duty is filmed. It is interesting to note that the traffic is moving in the opposite direction compared with today. The famous columned facade of the Ri can be seen, black in colour from fumes compared to today's conserved and cleaned columns in cream.
Subscribe to our other YouTube channel for weekly science talks and explosive short films:youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution We're on twitter: twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.comSolidification of ExplosivesRi Archives2016-10-24 | A short silent film showing the solidification of explosives and the growth of crystals under a microscope. The film shows the setting up of the apparatus, microscope and camera, before switching to show crystals appearing to grow as if the viewer were looking down the microscope. A computer image of an octahedron then can be seen slowly turning into a cube formation. There is an additional film excerpt attached to the end of the footage showing a computer model crystallographic structure.
For this film, and several others in our collection, we have tried to contact any known copyright holders and believe it to be an orphan work. If you are the rights holder, would like it to be taken down, or have any more information, please get in touch at richannel@ri.ac.uk.