In his TEDxNewcastle talk, Professor Andrew Szydlo aims to promote chemistry as the science of remarkable changes, which are often overlooked yet so important in our everyday life.

Szydlo is an internationally acclaimed chemistry teacher and holds a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science from UCL, and is an expert on the history of alchemy (his 1994 book ‘Water Which Does Not Wet Hands’ is considered to be the standard reference work on the Polish alchemist Michael Sendivogius).

His polymath spirit extends even further: he’s a violin, bugle and accordion player, as well as a professional photographer. Throughout the years Andrew has wowed audiences all around the world with his pyrotechnical approach to teaching and demonstrating chemical sciences on stage and has appeared many times on TV.