From Bean to Bar: The Sweet Science of Chocolate
Holiday Lecture for Families



In December 2008, over 1,000 children, parents, and other curious community members visited Harvard University to explore the science of chocolate at our annual Holiday Lecture. Howard Stone and postdoctoral fellow Amy Rowat led the audience down to the molecular level to explain why some chocolate melts in your mouth but not your hand. Children in the audience helped demonstrate what makes chocolate bars smooth and creamy as well as phenomena such as crystallization and melting. The successful public lecture will be repeated in May 2009 in Cambridge and with our PREM partners at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

David A. Weitz (Physics & Applied Physics)
Cynthia M. Friend (SEAS)
Howard A. Stone, and
Amy Rowat
Harvard MRSEC (DMR-0820484)