Glass is a naturally formed material due to volcanic activity, lightning strikes and meteorite impacts and has been used by man to make tools, jewellery and weapons for many thousands of years.

Since it was discovered how to manufacture glass it was first used as a simple decorative material, then to produce elegant containers and tableware and latterly has been developed into a highly sophisticated material utilised in construction, space exploration and in many areas of scientific and technological discovery, advancement and experimentation.

The lecture will endeavour to explain, in simple terms and with many illustrations, how the manufacture of glass has developed over the years since it was first accidentally produced by Phoenician traders on the beaches of north Syria.