Science competition winners uncover Christmas Lectures secrets

18 January 2023

The winners of the 2022 ‘Unsung Heroes of Science’ competition have gone behind-the-scenes of the Royal Institution’s famous Christmas Lectures, as part of their prize for creating the top-scoring video in this year’s contest.

In mid-December, Megan and Vidarshana, from Henrietta Barnett School in London, were invited to take part in rehearsals for the annual lecture series, this year delivered by forensic anthropologist Professor Dame Sue Black and broadcast on the BBC. In addition to watching some of the filming in the Royal Institution’s world–famous theatre, the girls explored behind-the-scenes of the historic building. They were also instrumental in trialling one of the demonstrations that make the lectures iconic, working with Dame Sue to carry a giant dagger towards a model of flesh and bone. This demonstration can be seen in action in the first of the three Christmas Lectures, all of which are still available to watch on iPlayer.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch Megan and Vidarshana’s video about pioneering geneticist Nettie Stevens here. You can find out more about the Unsung Heroes of Science competition, and watch all the shortlisted videos since 2019, here – and look out for the 2023 competition coming soon!

Hertford College is very grateful to the Royal Institution for their support of the competition.