Sidney graduate is a guest on Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

Sidney graduate student John Aveson is a guest at the second of this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, 'Why Chocolate Melts and Jet Engines Don't'.

This year's lectures are being given by Dr Mark Miodownik, from King's College London. In the second of three programmes John, who is studying for a PhD in Materials Science and Metallurgy, demonstrates the strength of different materials used for jet engines.

The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures date back to 1825 and were the brainchild of Michael Faraday. You can watch this year's lectures on BBC Four. Lecture two will be broadcast on December 28th at 8pm, and will be available on the BBC iPlayer.

This is an archived news story, first posted in 2010.