This annual lecture was instituted in honour of Robert (Robin to his friends) Schlapp when he retired in 1968. Robin was appointed to a Lectureship in Applied Mathematics in 1925 as an assistant to Charles G Darwin, the first Tait Professor of Natural Philosophy. When Max Born replaced Darwin in 1936, Robin took on most of his administration and lecturing duties. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1964. The lecture has been given by many distinguished physicists, including Nobel Prize winners Edward Appleton and Paul Dirac (photo).