Mark’s Guinness World Record Attempt
UK attempt to smash the World Record for the longest lecture
In October 2015 Mark produced and performed a charity fund raising 24 hour space lectures. Four years on and fully recovered from the physical and mental challenge he is now setting his sights on attempting to break the World Record for the longest lecture. The current record was set in 2014 by Arvind Mishra from the Graphic Era University in India who lectured for 139 hours, 42 minutes and 56 seconds on Scientific Computation. That’s the equivalent of lecturing for over FIVE AND A HALF DAYS!
Mark has been preparing hard for the attempt. At this year’s Norwich Science Festival he will be presenting his 24 Hour Space Spectacular where he will lecture for 24 hours with no sleep. Sign up to the Facebook event here where you can watch the show online and completely free as part of the #NorwichSciFestAtHome event
During the Norwich Science Festival in October 2019, he went two nights without sleep and to test his ability to lecture when sleep deprived, after 58 hours awake performed a one hour lecture.
His warm-up lecture “Introduction to the Universe – Sleep Not Essential” went without a hitch despite referring to ‘hedrogen’ when talking about hydrogen, helium and stellar evolution! When asked how the lecture went Simon Fox from the Youth STEMM award reported “Disappointingly Slick!”. It seems Mark has the psychological stamina to try and smash the World Record so the attempt is on….
As an ambassador for Barnardo’s he is always on the lookout for ways to raise money for them. His World Record attempt is a great opportunity and already, Mark has raised over £2000. You can donate on his JustGiving page by clicking on this button
Mark is always keen to seek science outreach opportunities and this sleep deprived experience presents a great opportunity. Checkout the information on Mark’s Bio-Data Page for more information.
Mark’s world record attempt will now not start on 12 September 2020 due to Covid19. As soon as a revised date has been identified it will be announced here. Check back for updates and follow the official accounts on twitter at @gwrlecture or Instagram @markthompsonastronomer
Thank you to the supporters of Mark’s world record attempt…so far
