Dr Wayde Martens recently visited the far north as part of the 2016 O'Donnell Schools Lecture series.
The Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) lecture series was introduced in 1980 and is open to students in years 11 and 12 studying chemistry and Science. This year's topic wasn't for the faint-hearted. It was "Photocatalysis: harnessing the sun using nanotechnology"
Photocatalysis is the speeding of a chemical reaction by light energy harvested by a catalyst.
"Dr Wayde Martens' visit went very well (as have all the RACI visiting lectures throughout the years). In total we had around 120 students attend his presentations throughout the day. His topic was very high level science so only our top physics and chemistry students fully understood all the scientific concepts he discussed. They found it very interesting and stayed back at lunch to talk to him further. Thank you (BLA) for your efforts and look forward to next year" Jason Richardson, Mareeba State High School
"Many many thanks for the lecture at Smithfield High this week. The students certainly enjoyed it and found it very informative. We had 21 girls, 14 boys and two staff attend" Robert Callin, Head of Department (Science) Smithfield State High School.
"We had Dr. Wayde Martens present to our school on Monday. He presented to 30 year 10 students and 30 year 11 and 12 chemistry students. The students really enjoyed his demonstration and lecture. Hopefully he has inspired some to study chemistry at uni! Thanks for organising this opportunity for us. It was a great way to celebrate science week!" Renee Krause, Head of Department Science & INTAD, Bentley Park College.