Success for Richard III team at prestigious event
The team behind the scientific detective story of the decade, the discovery of King Richard III, proved to be a big hit at the Royal Society’s annual display of the most exciting cutting-edge science and technology in the UK.
Chosen as one of 22 exhibitors to showcase their research at the prestigious Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2015, the team of scientists, historians, archaeologists and engineers at the University who worked tirelessly to find and identify the king who had been lost for 500 years, was described by organisers as the 'most popular and talked-about' of all of the exhibits at the week-long event.
The exhibit gave visitors the opportunity to meet members of the University team who provided a thorough account of the interdisciplinary research used to identify the remains of King Richard III.
Visitors were asked to look at the evidence the team uncovered during the search for Richard’s remains and asked to vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ as to whether they think it was really him - and at the end of the week, it was reassuring to see that the public agreed with the science with the majority voting 'Yes'.
Dr Turi King, from our Department of Genetics and School of Archaeology and Ancient History, and who led the DNA analysis of Richard's remains, said: “The exhibit showcasing the University's role in the Richard III project at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition has been a fantastic way of engaging the public with the science and multidisciplinary research involved. Around 14,000 people visited the exhibition, including thousands of schoolchildren and we hope we have inspired a new generation to take an interest in the sciences and that they enjoyed the exhibition as much as we did.”
You can relive the experience via the Richard III's Royal Society Twitter Storify