Royal Institution Christmas Lectures Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–42 because of the Second World War. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including young people, in an informative and entertaining manner. Michael Faraday initiated the first Christmas Lecture series in 1825. This came at a time when organised education for young people was scarce. Faraday presented a total of nineteen series in all. The Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures were first held in
John Peters Humphrey a refugee from France who was working on behalf of the Free French. In 1943, Laugier moved to Algeria to teach at the University of Algiers and later became the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. While at McGill University, John Peters Humphrey founded the McGill Debating Union, one of the world's most successful and prominent debate societies. In 1946, Assistant Secretary-General to the United Nations, Henri Laugier, appointed John Peters Humphrey as the first Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights, within the United Nations Secretariat. Humphrey was a principal drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human