Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

I have long been a fan of the Royal Institutions Christmas Lectures since I was a child and look forward to them every year. They  have been held annually  since 1825, presenting the latest ideas in science and technology to the next generation of scientists and engineers.

This year, the lectures were presented by Christopher Bishop, Chief Research Scientist at Microsoft Research, Cambridge and Professor of computer science at Edinburgh University. The subject of the lectures was the computer revolution and how computers have changed our lives.

Of particular interest for us SEO people was the forth episode which covers the internet and how search engines find web pages. Briefly the lecture goes into how the pages link together and how PageRank works, even mentioning about anchor text. In the programme, the audience is shown how PageRank is distributed between four web pages using a water model, much like the water models of the British economy. It is a really good demonstration because it doesn’t involve any prior knowledge of the mathematics. The result just appears because  of the flow of water.

I was hoping to be able to point to some YouTube video of the programme, however I could not find it. It is still available using Channel five’s, Demand Five service but I fear that this will only be available for a month or so. Later in the year the programme may be availabe on the Royal Institution’s web site.