Paraphrasing that famous line from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Research Engineer and science broadcaster Rhys Phillips will look at the phenomenon of lightning in a light hearted and informative talk suitable for the whole family, Rhys will explain the processes that lead to a lightning strike and the different types of lightning that can exist. He will then move on to show what happens to aircraft when they are hit by lightning and explain how we protect against damage from this. This talk will also give the audience a chance to see exactly what happens in our lightning lab and answer the question that everyone is asking – can a piggy bank survive a lightning strike?!

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Rhys Phillips is a research engineer at Airbus Group in Newport where he was worked since 2009. He graduated from Cardiff University in 2008 with a joint honours degree in Mathematics & Physics. He is an award winning science presenter, presenting science stage shows to schools and the general public around the world having recently presented in Guadeloupe, New Caledonia, Morocco, Australia and New Zealand. Rhys is also an experienced broadcaster presenting his own weekly jazz and science radio shows as well as being a regular guest on BBC national and regional radio. Rhys volunteers in numerous roles for the Institution of Engineering & Technology within the South Wales Local Network, the Electromagnetics Technical Network and the Young Professionals Community Committee. He represents Airbus Group as part of the National Centre for Universities and Business’ ‘Future Leaders Network’, and is a member of the Queen Elizabeth Prize Young Search Group, the Wales Festival of Innovation stakeholder group and the Welsh Government Cross Party Group on Science & Technology. Rhys is a co-founder of both Cardiff Science Festival and Cardiff Jazz Festival and when not behind a microphone or in the lab, he can be found performing on stage with his jazz band, Imperfect Tenth.