Director of science at Pembrokeshire's Darwin Experience, Professor Tony Campbell, is giving a lecture at his home in Welston Court, Milton, on March 10.

The lecture is entitled 'Life that sparkle' and will look at the fascinating world of bioluminescent creatures.

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Its name is a hybrid word, originating from the Greek bios for 'living' and the Latin lumen 'light'.

Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in the form of light emission.

Over 20 years of research into the way in which living creatures can generate their own natural lights enabled Professor Campbell and his colleagues at the University of Wales School of Medicine (now part of Cardiff University) to develop an important new tool for medical and health research.

Tony's research throughout the 1970s and 1980s led him to the discovery that living creatures could produce light using special proteins called luciferases.

He then realised that by combining these special proteins with other molecules, he could use the emission of light to measure important biological processes.

Scientists could use this to accurately measure processes in living cells and, ultimately, to diagnose diseases.

The tools discovered by Tony are now used around 700 million clinical test per year worldwide, and have helped scientists to explore biology and disease - from the process of blood-clotting, to exploring how cells communicate with each other, to screening for potential new drugs.

It has brought substantial income into Cardiff University, and Wales, and has received several accolades for the University, including the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education in 1998.

The technology was selected in 2006 by the Eureka project from Universities UK as one of the 100 most important inventions and discoveries from UK universities in the last 50 years. All this could hardly have been predicted when Tony began his studies in the 1970s.

The Darwin Experience which delivers education and public engagement events which is now based at Pembrokeshire College was set-up by Tony in the early 1990s to help young people and communities access science and medicine, through interactive engagement, and festival events.

Tony and the Darwin Centre hope to inspire people's curiosity in the same way that Tony's was in the 1970s.

In his own words: "It all started with me being curious about how a luminous jelly fish produced its flash."

The Darwin Experience can be contacted on 01437 753 193, Facebook - darwincentre, Twitter - @darwincentre