It’s a Gas!

On the evening of Wednesday 20 November 2024, RSC Belgium welcomed well-known material scientist and broadcaster Professor Mark Miodownik from University College London to Belgium to talk to us about his new book ‘It’s a Gas’.

Subtitled ‘The Magnificent and Elusive Elements that Expand Our World’ Mark’s new book masterfully reveals an invisible world through his unique brand of scientific storytelling. Why are most gases invisible, odourless and tasteless? Why do some poison us and others make us laugh? And why do some explode while others are content just to make drinks fizzy? 

During the evening Mark took us back to those exhilarating – and often dangerous – moments when scientists were trying to work out exactly what they had discovered in the world of gases. His talk showed that gases are the formative substances of our modern world, each with its own weird and wonderful personality. Examples included how seventeenth-century laughing gas parties led to the first use of anaesthetics in surgery, and how gases made us masters of the sea (by huge steamships) and skies (via extremely flammable balloons). The talk revealed the immense importance of gases to modern civilisation.

A Financial Times Master of Science and chosen by The Times as one of the 100 most influential scientists in the UK, Mark is Professor of Materials and Society at University College London, where he is also Director of the Institute of Making. He is the author of the book Stuff Matters – a New York Times bestseller which won the Royal Society Winton Prize – and Liquid, which was shortlisted for the same prize. He presents BBC TV and radio programmes on science and engineering such as Everyday Miracles and How It Works.

The talk was in the Brel Theatre at the British School of Brussels (BSB) in Tervuren, and was followed by a networking drinks reception with Waterstones Brussels bookshop in attendance allowing members and friends to purchase signed copies of some of Mark's books and have an informal chat with him.

Mark's talk was recorded and will be available on our dedicated YouTube channel and as an embedded video below soon.

Video coming soon!

Top of the Bench 2024 European Eliminator

On Saturday 16 November, the Royal Society of Chemistry Belgium Section held its annual Top of The Bench (TOTB) Competition to select a team of school students to represent the section in the UK National Finals in 2025. After a tough afternoon of competition the overall winner was Team Solvay from St. Georges International School in Luxembourg.

Our TOTB competition took place in the chemistry labs at The British School of Brussels (BSB) in Tervuren with seven teams from four schools taking part. Teams Franklin and Goodenough represented the International School of Flanders (ISF), Teams Kwolek and Baekeland came from Montgomery International School (MIS), Teams Solvay and Hodgkin travelled up from St Georges, and BSB was represented by Team Curie.

Each team was composed of four students with two students from Year 9 UK (3rd year or Grade 8), one student from Year 10 UK (4th year or Grade 9), and one student from Year 11 UK (5th year or Grade 10). The competition itself was split into three parts: a 30 minute group challenge Chemistry Quiz involving creative thinking exercises; a 90 minute group practical activity; and finally age-appropriate individual multiple-choice quizzes with the students having 30-minutes to complete them.

All the teams enjoyed the competition and when the scores from the various elements were added up Team Solvay from St George’s (pictured above with RSC Belgium TOTB organiser Susan Schamp) were first with Team Curie (pictured below with Susan) from BSB second and Team Goodenough from ISF third. This year individual cups were awarded to all team members of the first and second placed teams.

Team Solvay will now be representing RSC Belgium in the UK National TOTB Final which will take place at Cardiff University on 22 March 2025.

The Cardiff competition will be the last TOTB UK Grand Final as the RSC is discontinuing the event. However, the Belgium section is looking to continue our own TOTB event, or a similar practical-orientated team competition, possibly with a modified team age profile that could help widen participation from schools in our area.

Our immense thanks to everyone who took part in the competition or were involved in the organisation of the competition. In particular to Susan who developed the competition elements with Rita Woodward and to Jonathan Norris for use of the labs at BSB.