Theatrical science performance: From Plum Cake to Quarks

In collaboration with Hub Science, our FameLab team will present an original theatrical science performance entitled From Plum Cake to Quarks, which – in a simple and entertaining way – tells the story of a number of historic breakthroughs that took place in the development of atomic theory at the beginning of the 20th century. The performance was first presented at Researchers' Night 2013.

Through Anna Christodoulou's script and narration directed by Costas Vrettou, we'll gain an understanding of the relationship between an atom and a plum cake and find out about Ernest Rutherford and which of his experiments turned everything we know about the physics of the structure of the atom on its head. We'll also learn about Rutherford's relationship with Niels Bohr and the idea of 'quantum jumps' conceived by Bohr. Our questions about what lay behind the Curie discoveries will be answered and we'll find out what we mean when we say that particles and waves coexist in light.

By revealing the extraordinary efforts of a whole generation of scientists to change the way we view the world, the performance will give us the opportunity to explore the fascinating subject of atomic theory and discover some of the strange twists and turns it took during its development.

Information & bookings