The Christmas Lecture

Join Marcus du Sautoy, the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, as he takes guests on a mathematical journey through the games we love to play, revealing how mathematics connects games across centuries and cultures. All are welcome to attend the sixth annual Christmas Lecture on Saturday, December 12. 

Step inside the 2025 Christmas Lecture with Dr. Tatiana Erukhimova — the high-energy Texas A&M physicist whose viral demos have earned over one billion views worldwide. From freezing balloon animals to stabbing potatoes with straws, every demo showcases the wonder of hands-on physics.

How does the James Webb Space Telescope reveal hidden parts of the Universe? And what can infrared light show us that our eyes can’t see? Join Dr. Michelle Thaller, astrophysicist and former NASA science communicator, for a Christmas Lecture exploring the invisible Universe — from newborn stars to distant galaxies!

Explosive chemistry meets holiday magic! Join Dr. Kate Biberdorf — aka Kate the Chemist — for a high-energy show packed with colorful reactions, booming blasts, and reindeer toothpaste at Notre Dame’s 2023 Christmas Lecture!

How can you stop a pandemic from sweeping the world? Can ancient Greek proportions predict the stock market? And why is learning to play chess so much easier for computers than learning to read a sentence? Math, according to New York Times bestselling author, Jordan Ellenberg, helps every kind of thinker think better — it hones our intuition, sharpens our judgment, tames uncertainty, and lets us see the deeper structure and logic of our world.

In this Christmas Lecture at the University of Notre Dame, neuroscientist Greg Gage, co-founder of Backyard Brains, demonstrates real electrophysiology experiments using DIY neuroscience tools — including the famous SpikerBox. Watch live brain-to-muscle control, neuron recordings, and hands-on demos that reveal how the brain looks, sounds, and communicates!