University lecturer to deliver BBC Christmas lectures

The Royal Institution's annual Christmas Lectures, televised by the BBC, will this year be given by Dr Neil Johnson, Fellow and Tutor at Lincoln College and University Lecturer in Physics. The first of the five lectures, which will be shown daily, is on BBC 2 at 11.20 a.m. on Boxing Day. Dr Johnson's series, entitled Arrows of Time, will address the fundamental questions `What is time' and `What is the time'. He will investigate why time seems to only move forwards, and will measure the fastest possible speed in the universe using a microwave oven and a plate of marshmallows. In addition, Dr Johnson will test out Einstein's theory directly, using an atomic clock which will be despatched to Shanghai aboard a Virgin Airlines plane. When the clock returns, during the final lecture, it is expected to have experienced a real time-warp. The final lecture will also concentrate on some of the more bizarre properties of time in the quantum world, and the possibilities of teleportation and time-travel in the next millennium, when science fiction may become science fact.