40 years later, chemistry show is still a hit

It would seem to hold all the appeal of listening to someone read the dictionary aloud. But hundreds of people will pack into a room on the UW-Madison campus Saturday to attend a presentation on the properties of carbon dioxide, liquid nitrogen and zirconium.In short, the choice activity in Madison on Saturday is a chemistry lecture.If it sounds like a snooze, then you donâ??t know Bassam Shakhashiri. This is the 40th time the UW-Madison professor has held his annual Christmas show extravaganza, otherwise known as “Once upon a Christmas cheery, in the lab of Shakhashiri.”