Join Professor Jim Al-Khalili as he takes our audience on a journey exploring the physics of time at this Christmas Lecture live stream.

Overview

About Time

In the 2026 Royal Institution CHRISTMAS LECTURES® theoretical physicist ProfessorJim Al-Khalili will investigate what time is and why it remains one of science’s most tantalising mysteries.

Across three lectures, Jim will tackle the awe-inspiring physics of time, investigating a series of mind-melting questions: Does time have a direction? Have humans already time travelled? Is the future all mapped out? Did time exist before the Big Bang? Does time even exist at all? And why are our heads aging faster than our feet?!

Episode 1 - What Is Time?

Jim swings from the roof of the Royal Institution’s iconic Theatre and smashes crystals as he explores the curious ways we measure time. He'll test whether our brains are good timekeepers and uncover the truth that time may not actually be constant throughout the universe!

Biography of the speaker:

Professor JimAl-Khalili is a theoretical physicist (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theoretical_physicist) and science populariser. He is a professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in science at the University of Surrey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Surrey). He is a regular broadcaster and presenter of science programmes on BBC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC) radio and television and a frequent commentator about science in other British media.

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