In 2025 we’re celebrating 200 years of the CHRISTMAS LECTURES and Ri Discourses – both landmark moments in the Ri’s rich history of engaging public audiences with science – as well as the discovery of ...

From the first electrical transformer to the tube that told us why the sky is blue, view the actual objects scientists of the Royal Institution built in some of the world's most famous experiments.

During school holidays we run a range of exciting hands-on workshops, bringing to life all areas of science – including mathematics, computing and engineering. All workshops take place in our building ...

Houston, We Have a Microbe: What Happens When Bacteria Leave Earth? We know that space travel has a big impact on the human body, but have you ever wondered how the world of microbiology reacts to ...

The Royal Institution was founded to 'introduce new technologies and teach science to the general public through lectures and demonstrations'. We've been connecting people to science for over 200 ...

The Big Bang has long been accepted as the ultimate origin of our universe - but what if it’s just the beginning of the story? In this talk, astrophysicist Niayesh Afshordi will explore the fierce ...

Could the atomic energy contained in a gram of radium really drive a ship across the Atlantic? Did a traffic light near the Royal Institution really give Leo Szilard his idea of the chain reaction?

When ChatGPT-3 crash-landed onto our computers in November 2022, you’d have been forgiven for thinking this massive leap in artificial intelligence had sprung out of nowhere. From one day to the next, ...

Chemist Judy Wu explores the ongoing significance of a chemical compound first isolated at the Ri 200 years ago: benzene. Join us for this special Discourse as we Discover200, celebrating 200 years of ...

The Royal Institution is a charity that brings the public and scientists together to share their interest and passion for science. We've been doing it for 225 years and have an international reach, ...

In Lecture one of the 2020 CHRISTMAS LECTURES, geologist Chris Jackson shows us how the planet’s oldest rocks and fossils tell a story of radical climate changes throughout history and how the Earth’s ...

An early example of a chemical battery made up of a stack of plates of two different metals on a wooden base held in place by three glass rods and sandwiched with blotting paper. To use the battery ...