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A series of one hour programmes enabling small mixed groups, including schoolchildren, graduates and senior scientists to probe important scientific and technological concepts in an interactive format with a world leading expert on a particular topic.
Michael Garret discusses the physical properties of gases and demonstrates how air is liquefied. Liquefied gases are a key resource for survival with an amazing range of applications and there are now few industries which are not in some way dependent on this raw material. Life-saving operations in hospitals, the purification of polluted rivers and lakes, superconductivity (demonstration) are but a few fields which require liquefied gas supplies.
60 minutes. PAL VHS tape
Cost: £25.00 + VAT
This series of half-hour programmes record scientists who are not only outstanding researchers but also outstanding communicators in a format which allows them to reveal their personal views on key concepts and achievements as well as their approach to scientific method .
Helen Sharman, the UK's first astronaut, gives a vibrant account of her personal experience of life in space using models and film are to illustrate the key scientific concepts involved in space flight. Among other things she discusses the way Newton's Third Law and convention apply to space flight, weightlessness and survival. She answers numerous questions from an audience of young schoolchildren (9-12 years).
(Though not of immediate chemical use, this programme is presented by our (UK) most famous chemist at the present time - DM)
39 minutes. PAL VHS tape
Cost: £12.50 + VAT
Held continuously since 1826 when they were instituted by Michael Faraday, the Royal Institution discourses are a means of informing the public about the intellectual, economic, social and ethical aspects of science.
The following programmes are from a series of Royal Institution discourses recorded by the Vega Science Trust for BBC television.
Presented by John Maynard Smith, a lecturer about the essential features of life: heredity and DNA. The processes upon which all life depends are becoming well understand but appear to be far too complicated to have arisen by chance in the primitive oceans. How can this apparent paradox be resolved?
60 minutes. PAL VHS tape
Cost: £25.00 + VAT
In 1985 an experiment, designed to unravel the carbon chemistry in red giant stars, revealed the existence of C60 Buckminsterfullerene (the third allotropic form of carbon). The story of the discovery and the way its symmetry relates to the natural and physical world are described. This elegant cage molecule, which has the same shape as a football, heralds a new era of novel 21st century materials.
Sir Harold Kroto of the University of Essex introduces the molecule C60 Buckminsterfullerene.
60 minutes. PAL VHS tape
Cost: £25.00 + VAT
A significant proportion of our electricity is generated by thermonuclear reactions. The dangers attached to these processes and the radioactive products are well known and publicised. Much less well-known are the measures taken to ensure that the highest levels of safety are realised in practice.
A lecture on nuclear power plant safety presented by John Collier of Nuclear Electric plc, UK.
60 minutes. PAL VHS tape
Cost: £25.00 + VAT
There is a long tradition of applying scientific techniques to study the works of art. The discourse reviews past and present approaches and shows that these advances have not only illuminated art history but also revolutionised our techniques for active and preventative conservation, thus ensuring the survival of works of art for the future.
David Bomford from the National Gallery considers the interface of Science and Fine Art.
60 minutes. PAL VHS tape
Cost: £25.00 + VAT
The discovery of carbon and nanotubes is one of the most exciting advances of the last part of the twentieth-century. These tubes (some one 1000 times smaller than conventional carbon fibres) have tensile strengths of about 100 times that of a steel and conduct electricity like metals. They promise a revolution in structural and electrical engineering.
Sumio Iijima of NEC, Japan considers one of the most exciting materials to come out of the 20th century.
60 minutes. PAL VHS tape
Cost: £25.00 + VAT
How green are you prepared to be? Burning fossil fuel is choking our planet with carbon dioxide, but would you stop using petrol or allow wind farms to be built in your back yard? Is it finally time for renewable energy to stop being the alternative and start becoming the mainstream, eventually transforming our lives? What is the next big energy source?
Chaired by Colin Blakemore, the panel consists of Tony Marmont, Catherine Mitchell, Chris Morris and panel regular Jacqui McGlade.
Streamed Video from Vega Trust
VHS copies available from The Open University
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[ ANGLESEY ALUMINIUM - RTZ | ASSOCIATION FOR SCIENCE EDUCTION | BBC STUDIES | BP EDUCATION SERVICE (BPES) | BRITISH GLASS TECHNOLOGY | BOULTON-HAWKER FILMS LIMITED | CFL VISION | CHANNEL 4 LEARNING | CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION | CONCORD VIDEO AND FILM COUNCIL | CLASSROOM VIDEO | ESSO UK plc | ETSU: NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY ENQUIRIES BUREAU | FOCAL POINT AUDIO VISUAL LTD. | FILMS FOR THE HUMANITIES AND SCIENCES | INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR CONSERVATION EDUCATION | JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION SOFTWARE | LEEDS UNIVERSITY TELEVISION | NEW MEDIA | OPEN UNIVERSITY | RESOURCES IN TRAINING AND EDUCATION LTD. | ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY | SHEFFIELD UNIVERSITY TELEVISION | THE VEGA SCIENCE TRUST | VIEWTECH EDUCATIONAL MEDIA 1 (Formerly EDUCATIONAL MEDIA FILM & VIDEO LTD. Catalogue) | VIEWTECH EDUCATIONAL MEDIA 2 (Formerly VIEWTECH FILM AND VIDEO Catalogue - Includes new material) | THE WELLCOME TRUST ]