Zbigniew Szydlo

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Zbigniew (or Andrew) Szydlo born in England to Polish parents and educated at Latymer Upper School, then at Imperial College and University College London. He currently teaches chemistry at Highgate School in North London. He holds MSc, PhD, DIC, ACGI, FRSC, CChem.

An expert on the history of alchemy, he has had a book published by the Polish Academy of Sciences entitled: "Water that does not wet hands: The Alchemy of Michael Sendivogius". The former is a Polish alchemist, who Szydlo believes has not received proper recognition for his works. He frequently gives lectures in the United Kingdom on topics including the history of chemistry. He has appeared in three television serials: as a chemistry teacher in That'll Teach 'em (Channel 4, 2006) and Sorcerer's Apprentice (CBBC, 2007) and as a science historian in Absolute Zero (BBC4, 2007). He is also considered a substantial figure in the fields of free thinking, entrepreneurialism, the ability of the individual to stand out from the crowd and swim upstream against the tide of conventional thought.

There are a number of unique chemical reactions that he has mastered as a highly convincing repertoire of displays, captivating audiences regularly for some decades. These include: Zinc/Sulfur fusion, Ethanol/Chromium Trioxide, Silicon tetrachloride/.880 ammonia, Potassium Chlorate pellet/white phosphorus and others. He regularly uses these experiments, along with some 6th formers, to amuse young children at the Pre-Preparatory section of the school.

Other interests include music (he is an accomplished player of a number of instruments including accordion), Polish dancing, automobile engineering (in particular Triumph Herald and 1960's Vintage Rolls Royce), meteorology, beekeeping, photography, mycology and collecting pocket watches.He is most notably known by pupils for the numerous fun and interesting experiments with big bangs and smoke. He is also known for bursts of eccentricity such as sniffing and tasting pure ethanol.

He works along side James Fisher and Martin Scott, all members of the Chemistry Department at Highgate School.