A student from Chiswick will be starring in the annual Christmas Lectures, presented by the Royal Institution and televised as part of the BBC’s Christmas content.

Oisin Sadek, aged 12 who attends Thomas London day school in Battersea attended the filming of the third of three historic science and engineering lectures in London on Thursday 15 December and supported the lecturer, Saiful Islam, with an exciting demonstration for the show.

This year, the lectures will describe something invisible that drives everything around us, from our bodies to mobile phones, from aeroplanes to all the stars in the universe 'Energy'.

It cannot be created or destroyed, it just transforms from one form to another – the challenge is whether we can harness and use it for our own purposes when it changes from one form to another.

The three Lectures will take us on an incredible journey through these powerful transformations to inspire the next-generation of scientists. The 2016 Christmas Lectures will be broadcast as part of the BBC’s Christmas schedule on BBC Four at 8pm on the 26, 27 and 28 of December.

Oisin helped Saiful to demonstrate to the audience how many AA batteries it would take to power your mobile phone for a whole year. Oisin’s demo forms part of the third programme called ‘Fully Charged’ which will appear on screen on 28 December.

He commented: “I thought the lecture was really interesting, and the demos were cool and fun to do. Being a volunteer was scary but also quite nice and fun. My favourite part of the lecture was when they exploded a big balloon full of hydrogen”.

When asked about presenting the Christmas Lectures, Saiful Islam said “I would like to ignite a spark of excitement and a deeper understanding of energy. I also want children to understand that the pursuit of science is the proper way to unravel the mysteries of the world around us and is full of beauty and an exciting discovery. I’d like people to understand that chemistry plays a crucial role in developing new, clean energy technologies, one of the biggest challenges facing our society today. It’s a fantastic opportunity to inspire and inform a wider audience about materials for energy. Hopefully it will help to create a further buzz about chemistry and the global energy challenge.”

Filmed in front of a live audience in the iconic theatre at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the original idea for science and engineering events for children was pioneered by Michael Faraday in 1825.

They were first broadcast on national television in 1936, making this year the 80th anniversary and the Christmas Lectures the world’s oldest televised science series.

For more information about the 2016 lectures please visit rigb.org/christmas-lectures/supercharged-fuelling-the-future 

Based on information supplied by Nel Taylor.