Tuesday 8th July 2025
An iconic location, a historic organisation, a prestigious lecture, an international audience and an honour for Moss Safari. This blog reports on the L.V. Martin Lecture for the Quekett Microscopical Club at the Natural History Museum, London, show casing Moss Safari.
I was delighted to be invited to give the L.V. Martin lecture 2025 by the Quekett Microscopical Club. I had the excitement of traveling to one of my favourite places, the Natural History Museum in London and talk to a group of like-minded members of Quekett.
Giving the L.V. Martin Lecture is a rare honour and a significant moment in my journey with Moss Safari. The lecture is part of a longstanding tradition of public science communication by the Quekett Microscopical Club, an institution with a deep-rooted history in making the microscopic world accessible to everyone. Being invited to deliver this lecture recognises Moss Safari not just as a quirky passion project, but as something meaningful and worthwhile.
L.V. Martin
The lecture itself is named in memory of L.V. Martin, a dedicated microscopist and long-time member (and past president 1972–1973) of the Quekett Microscopical Club, who made significant contributions to amateur microscopy. His legacy lives on through this annual lecture, which celebrates individuals who share his passion for exploring and communicating the hidden worlds revealed through the microscope. To follow in his footsteps, even momentarily , is both humbling and deeply inspiring.
Quekett Microscopical Club
The Quekett Microscopical Club, founded in 1865, is one of the world’s oldest and most respected societies dedicated to both amateur and professional microscopists. And to deliver this lecture at the Natural History Museum in London, in the Neil Chalmers Seminar Room, no less, is the capsule on the moss cushion. This setting, steeped in scientific heritage, reminds us that science is not just about labs and textbooks, but about stories, excitement, and helping people see the world with new eyes. That’s exactly what Moss Safari aims to do.
The lecture
It was hard to choose what I wanted to present. I knew the audience would be mixed from amateurs to experts in various aspects of microscopy. What could I offer? I am after all an enthusiastic amateur and I suspected that many of the audience would know far more about microscopy and the microscopic Big Five than I do. However, I am a professional educator: I know the issues facing STEM education, the challenges of teaching microscopy and the pedagogy of Moss Safari. This is perhaps my unique selling point.
I concentrated the first part of the lecture on the main issues that I see regarding science education: the increasing disconnect from nature, the lack of opportunities for youngsters to do practical work in science lessons and the poor experiences of using microscopes and finally the issues of encouraging young people to follow STEM related career pathways. The second part was focused entirely on my Moss Safari and the recent book – how it came to be, the purpose and the fascinating stories of the microscopic Big Five.
Reflections
I was given a very warm welcome and enthusiastic introduction by the QMC current president, Terence Hope, a semi-retired neurosurgeon. The audience in the lecture theatre was maybe 15 people with an international audience online of about 45 people. I really enjoyed sharing my thoughts and emphasising the importance of outreach work in inspiring microscopy in young people (and older people too!). It was a receptive audience and I could get into a flow. In the middle of the talk, I invited participants to consider what their Big Five would be in their field of interest. This generated some thoughtful ideas across a range of interests. Afterwards, I had a number of questions and observations that showed how people had engaged with my thoughts. Terence kindly said that it was one of the best L.V. Martin lectures that he had attended and the after conversations were enjoyable and enlightening. The buzz was real and I am am still buzzing from the experience.
Some of the Quekett committee generously took me and Geoff out for some dinner at a lovely Vietnamese restaurant where we could continue our conversations. It was lovely to meet people in person that I had only met via email or as faces in squares on zoom meetings. I have been a member of QMC for a couple of years now and feel like I have made a proper contribution and have done Moss Safari justice is sharing it with like minded people.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Robert Ratford, Lisa Ashby and the QMC committee for inviting me. Thank you also to the QMC members who made me welcomed and valued both in person and virtually (via Zoom and social media). Thanks Geoff for supporting me and taking the photos.
Follow up
If you would like me to give a lecture on the above topics at your organisation, please contact me.
If you’d like to become a member of Quekett, please see here.
If you are interested in the Moss Safari book, please see purchasing options here.
And as always, feel free to follow Moss Safari on social media
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