Six Lower Sixth boys with a passion for the sciences put their research and presentation skills to the test when they recently competed for the prestigious Bedford School Talalay Science Prize.
The competition involves the submission of a written report and an oral presentation to a judging panel of the Heads of Biology, Chemistry and Physics, Head of Science, and the Head Master, plus an audience of top achieving pupils of all ages.
The judges ranked the boys under the headings of originality, creativity, and communicational skills. After each presentation, the boys were asked a series of questions about their topics and, whilst this part of the competition is challenging, it is also an enjoyable and informative experience for all.
The process of preparing for and delivering the Talalay presentation affords an outstanding opportunity to explore an area of academic interest and to develop the skills needed to communicate difficult material effectively and with confidence – qualities which will be essential for a student’s future career. This year’s outstanding winner was Dylan Morgan-Jones, who spoke eloquently on the mysteries of the ‘Relativity of Simultaneity’, as he attempted to explain the counter-intuitive phenomenon written about by Albert Einstein and published in his 1905 paper incorporating special relativity.
Dylan, who joined Bedford School at the start of the Sixth Form, decided a few weeks before the competition that he was going to pick Relativity of Simultaneity following a lesson from Mr Watson, Teacher of Physics, which piqued his interest and desire to find out more about the subject.
Dylan explained, “I didn’t really understand how prestigious the award was until recently, because I am new to the school, but I now know the gravity of it and so it was an absolute honour to win first place – it was really big for me as Leon Talalay was one of the most accomplished Old Bedfordians we have got. The prize itself is assessed so well and it’s something you just don’t get in other schools. Talalay is so much more than just academic ability – it is more rounded as you’re also assessed on your ability to present knowledge.”
This year’s entrants and their topics:
- Antonino Muffoletto: ‘Can the mRNA vaccination momentum be used to propel tumour immunotherapies?’
- Sutong He: ‘Flow Chemistry’
- Varun Nathan: ‘Muscles and citrulline malate’
- Dylan Morgan-Jones: ‘Relativity of Simultaneity’ (winner)
- Shayann Jadoon: ‘Regenerative Medicine’
- Tai Tsang-Goodwin: ‘The Black Hole Information Paradox’
OB Paul Talalay (1934-40)
The Talalay Science prize was donated to the school in 1992 by Old Bedfordian’s Leon (1934-36) and Paul Talalay (1934-40) in recognition of the high standard of teaching that they received, particularly in the sciences, while at Bedford School. Paul Talalay was a distinguished medical Professor at John Hopkins University in the United States, where he had been researching DNA sequencing and the development of natural anti-carcinogens for many years and was a worldwide authority in his field. Paul associated his time at Bedford as being crucial to his development in the sciences.