A Note About Objectivity

One of my favourite video projects is in some peril.

Objectivity is the video series where we look at historic items and papers from various archives and museums.

Most (but not all) of the objects are science-related… and most (but not all) have been filmed at The Royal Society.

From 2015 to 2023 the channel received support from the Royal Society itself.

This funding made it possible to travel to London and employ the services of our excellent videographer and editor James Hennessy.

Unfortunately that funding has come to an end.

I have nothing but gratitude for the opportunity and understand that priorities change. The Royal Society has our eternal thanks for helping Objectivity come into existence.

But we would like to continue - and need some help.

Objectivity is beloved by its audience, although its viewership is smaller than other projects like Numberphile and Periodic Videos.

The channel does not have a big enough audience to sustain itself with advertising.

I think our best option is to grow its number of Patreon supporters.

We already have a great base of supporters - see them here - but would like to encourage YOU to join them by signing up here.

Patrons get access to extra material, including behind the scenes photos, hi-res images of objects and papers, and bonus footage.

And from now on, supporters at the ESTEEMED PATRON level and above will be credited on the videos (example at end of our latest video).

PLEASE JOIN OUR PATREON HERE

For those not inclined to use Patreon, you can make a one-off donation here. Any help is gratefully received.

BUT AS ALWAYS THE BEST WAY TO SUPPORT THE CHANNEL IS BY WATCHING AND SUBSCRIBING.

We are grateful to everyone who takes the time to watch the videos - we love making them.

I should note that while Royal Society funding has ceased, their generous co-operation has not. We’re still welcome to film with Keith Moore, Rupert Baker and the library team. We plan to keep visiting and show you more treasures from the society’s wonderful store rooms.

The society staff have been incredibly helpful and patient with us over many years - they are superstars.

We also hope to go further afield and show you more treasures from other collections. (We have already been to some cool places, like NASA and a mummy’s resting place)

And we also hope to keep bringing you special guests like those featured in this ever-growing playlist.

Dressed to Impress

Thanks Jennese for this great email (and pictures of Nathaniel). It relates to Periodic Videos and our beloved Professor Martyn Poliakoff.

“My son Nathaniel is 7, he is a huge fan of the show! He loves learning about the elements and seeing all of the different experiments. For Halloween this year he wanted to be the Professor!

“He insisted on having his very own elements tie and has refused to take it off since last night.

“Thank you for all of the work you do. Your videos are amazing and far reaching! We live outside of Chicago Illinois in the U.S. Not only has he learned the whole periodic table and started building his own stick and ball compounds, I have learned all kinds of new facts myself. I hope this finds all of you well. We enjoy your show so much and look forward to new videos to come!

“Thanks again!”

And while I think of it, here’s a thank you “card” scribbled by an audience member during a recent public lecture given by The Prof.

A Nice Email

A perk of this job is occasionally receiving nice emails from strangers.

This one is from Nathan in Australia - it’s shared with his permission and I have added some links.

SUBJECT: Peter Haran in Vietnam 50th anniversary commemoration speech

Hi Brady,

My name is Nathan, and I work as a speechwriter for the Australian government. Recently, I was asked to write the national commemorative address to mark 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War.

I’ve been a fan of your work for many years, and was quite moved by the stories you posted with your father retelling his time in Vietnam. I re-visited them during my research for the speech. This led me to research your father a little more and it lead me to an oral history project he participated in some 20 years ago. At the end he was asked something along the line of how he would like future generations to remember the war and he said:

“The Vietnam War reflected Australia’s character. It showed all the good things about Australians under extreme, extraordinary conditions.”

I know it was just two quick sentences, but after all my research I felt it nicely captured a sentiment among the veteran community and was something that might resonate with them, so I included his quote (with attribution) in the speech. I was pleased to see when I attended the ceremony today that the Minister elected to keep the quote.

I wish I could have featured more of your father’s story in the speech, but sadly we’re always limited in what we can say. But just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for sharing his story. I think he, and the people he served alongside, were really remarkable people, and it’s sad that it took so long for their service to be properly recognised.

 Anyway, thought you might appreciate hearing about that, and please also pass on my gratitude to your father for sharing is story and for the service he gave our country.

 Many thanks,

Nathan

PS: Here is a link to the full speech the minister delivered: https://minister.dva.gov.au/news-and-media/minister/vietnam-veterans-day-national-commemorative-service

Private Denis Ferguson with dog Marcus and Private Peter Haran with dog Caesar

A Reaction Video Squared

Numberphile viewers may be familiar with The Parker Square - an ill-fated mathematical construction by Matt Parker.

Well, recently I recorded a follow-up video with mathematician Tony Várilly-Alvarado.

He explained that the elusive “3x3 Magic Square of Squares” may be impossible!

A crumb of comfort for Matt perhaps?

I wanted Matt’s reaction, so asked him to film a “reaction video”.

Enamoured by the farce of it all, I also asked Matt to record a reaction to his reaction.

Matt obliged, and added some great little gags (love the popcorn move!)

Your Name on the Wall

People who support our chemistry channel (Periodic Videos) via Patreon receive an unusual perk.

Their names are included on our unique Periodic Table of Patrons, which is regularly updated and shared on our website.

But the next version (*) will also be printed out and adorn the wall of Professor Martyn Poliakoff’s office.

Sir Martyn has an assortment of Periodic Tables on his office walls - and this will be a welcome addition.

So if you’d like to be part of it (and support our endeavours), go to Patreon and choose your element.

You can choose an element that’s already “supported” - or maybe be the first person to support an unloved element like Mercury, Magnesium, or even Gold!

If you already support the project, you could move to a different element for posterity on the Prof’s wall!?

(*) the first version to be printed will be the one at the end of March and start of April 2023… While the online table will be updated monthly as usual, the hard copy office-mounted version will only be updated occasionally!

PERIODIC VIDEOS PATREON

Below is the March 2023 version - the next version will be the one we put on The Prof’s wall!

Spooky Action at a Distance

Most years we try to make videos about the Nobel Prize winners in chemistry and physics.

You can see past videos on chemistry at Periodic Videos and on physics at Sixty Symbols.

But this year we had a “spooky” coincidence.

I had a video with Professor Mike Merrifield scheduled for 4 October - it was about so-called Spooky Action at a Distance and Bell’s Inequality.

Literally minutes before I was due to press publish, the Nobel Prize in Physics was announced.

It related to Bell’s Inequalities.

Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger were honoured for “experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science”.

We will probably still do a Sixty Symbols video on the prize in more detail soon… But here’s a fresh video about Bell’s Inequality.

As I am away in the US at the moment - this could truly be called “Spooky Action at a Distance”.

LATER ADDITION: Here is our reaction video to the prize announcement.

A Queen Playlist

The recent death of The Queen is dominating all forms of media this week - so in-keeping with the reminiscing and Queen-related articles...

Firstly, how The Royal Society deals with the death of a monarch (and its patron).

From The Diamond Jubilee 10 years ago… Etching the Queen onto a Diamond.

The Mace!

How The Queen helped me get my job at the BBC - listen from 52:50.

Another Queen-related podcast.

Do chess videos count?

And here’s me getting a medal from Prince Charles - now King Charles III.