From The Royal Institution.

Eric Laithwaite uses the concept of analogies (fairy stories) as a way to explain complex topics in science including objects that ‘fall upwards’ and high speed transport using linear induction motors.

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This lecture was filmed at the Ri on Thursday 2nd January 1975.

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In his fifth lecture, Laithwaite uses the concept of analogies (fairy stories) as a way to explain complex topics in science. Laithwaite continues to explore the ‘inertial world’ with more spinning gyroscopes, magnetic springs and objects which ‘fall upwards’. As a finale Laithwaite demonstrates the creation of a ‘magnetic river’ to exhibit his model of high speed transport using linear induction motors.

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Professor Eric Laithwaite (1921-97) presents his second televised series of CHRISTMAS LECTURES exploring the world of engineering, titled ‘The Engineer Through the Looking Glass’. A sequel to his 1966 series, ‘The Engineer in Wonderland’, Laithwaite was the first person to present two series of Lectures on national television. His overriding theme running through this series is that "Science is exciting, curiosity its bait". Just as Lewis Caroll’s Alice peered down the rabbit hole and went through the mirror, Laithwaite describes the engineer’s target as the "seemingly impossible". As he states in his programme notes: "There may be no crown at the end for those who step through the glass, as there was for Alice, but if the delight is there, the journey itself is the reward".

His six lectures explore the varied work of engineers across gravitation, inertia and electromagnetism, including the controversial fourth Lecture where Laithwaite used the behavioural gyroscopes in an attempt to challenge the validity of Newton’s Laws of motion and the laws of thermodynamics.

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