Leading neuroscientist Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston explores the latest brain preservation techniques, discusses whether we could ever abolish death, and asks if we should. Just as surgeons once believed ...

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 ...

Help us create more opportunities for everyone to discover, discuss and critically examine science and the way it shapes our lives. The Ri has been connecting people with science for over 200 years.

Why join the Royal Institution as a member? The Ri is a charity that brings the public and scientists together to share their interest and passion for science. We empower people to explore and get ...

Humphry Davy was a chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He was director of the Ri from 1801–1825. Born in Penzance, Sir Humphry Davy attended Truro ...

The first ever prototype of Davy’s miner’s safety lamp. Created in 1815, it prevented the methane gas present in the depths of the mines from reacting with the flame and exploding. Following a number ...

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.

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 first surviving Faraday apparatus, dating from 1822, demonstrates his work in magnetic rotation. Faraday used this mercury bath to transform electrical energy into mechanical energy, creating the ...

A brief history of Michael Faraday's correspondence, from 1811–1867. A complete edition of Michael Faraday's approximately 4900 extant letters in six volumes, published by the Institution of ...

This vessel consists of glass flasks fitted one inside the other and sealed at the neck with a partial vacuum between them. The central flask is therefore insulated, keeping the contents cold and ...

These small ‘drawings’, pasted into a laboratory notebook in 1851, are some of Michael Faraday’s original iron filings experiments and represent his theory of lines of force. The pole of a magnet is ...