Before net zero, climate policy was all about contraction and convergence of emissions between rich and poor to achieve, in the words of the Rio Convention, “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere” at a safe level. But scientists struggled to establish what that “safe” level was, making little progress in over a quarter of a century. And it was not because we were incompetent: for fundamental reasons in physics and probability theory, we were asking the wrong question. ...
Nov 29, 2022•2 hr 2 min
When we buy, sell, bargain, barter, bid at auctions, and compete for resources, we want to be sure that we are using the best strategies. Game theory can help us understand precisely these kinds of situations. That’s why in 1994, the Nobel Prize for Economics was won by a mathematician – John Nash. Using games like the Prisoner’s dilemma, this lecture explains the work of game theorists such as Nash, David Blackwell and John von Neumann. A lecture by Sarah Hart The transcript and downloadable ve...
Nov 24, 2022•2 hr
Britain before 1914 was convulsed by the Irish Question. Since the Act of Union of 1800, Ireland had been governed without the consent of the vast majority of Irish Catholics, who comprised around 3/4 of the population. Home Rule was the suggested solution. But there was a second question, the Ulster Question arising from the presence of a large Protestant minority in the north east of Ireland, who rejected rule from Dublin. This lecture asks whether better answers are available today. A lecture...
Nov 21, 2022•2 hr 2 min
The crypto movement began as a reaction to the concentration of economic power in the traditional financial system (and associated financial crises). It involved the creation of a new type of financial recording system, that did not depend on any one individual keeping records, did not allow falsification, and prevented fraud and double spending. Crypto is underpinned by public-private key encryption, hashing and mining and allows a completely decentralised system to write enforceable contracts ...
Nov 21, 2022•59 min
The levels of income in parts of China and India were similar to those in Europe in the middle ages, until the Mediterranean pulled ahead – followed by northern Europe, initially Holland and then Britain. This ‘great divergence’ was one of the fundamental shifts in history – and is only now being reversed. Did the divergence arise from imperialism and a 'drain' of wealth from Asia, or did it arise from internal features of Asian and European Society? A lecture by Martin Daunton The transcript an...
Nov 17, 2022•2 hr 5 min
Alexei Navalny is the leading opposition leader in Russia. He is also currently serving a lengthy prison sentence in a Russian correctional colony. This lecture will look at the use of the processes of the law by the Russian state to silence and isolate Navalny and to neutralise other forms of internal dissent. It will consider more widely the state of the rule of law in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. A lecture by Thomas Grant KC The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are...
Nov 15, 2022•2 hr 2 min
AI technology is already changing the face of the world as we know it. This lecture looks at the reasons why AI is hailed as an unprecedented revolution using practical examples from healthcare and business. Humans and machines will coexist and make joint decisions, but what does this mean for humanity? Learn what this gigantic shift, a 4th industrial revolution, entails and how you can harness the benefits and avoid the traps. A lecture by Dr Loubna Bouarfa The transcript and downloadable versi...
Nov 15, 2022•2 hr 1 min
Our nearest star, that is the engine sustaining life on Earth, will one day run out of fuel. When this happens, the Sun will start expanding dramatically, forming a red giant and engulfing much of the solar system including the inner planets, vaporizing oceans; formerly icy planets will become habitable. A lecture by Professor Katherine Blundell OBE The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/end-sun ...
Nov 14, 2022•2 hr 1 min
Polio has a major role in the cultural history of the West. The early symptoms – which were often mild flu-like symptoms – would end in paralysis. Vaccinations against the disease proved controversial, given their trials on incarcerated prisoners and the use of “poster children”. Epidemics of the disease illustrate the uneven transmission of ideas about health and sickness. They show how the period's germ theories resulted not only in mass deaths, but also in the demonisation of immigrants and p...
Nov 11, 2022•54 min
Our health and susceptibility to disease are not wholly written in our genes. They are influenced throughout our lives by the environments in which we live, through our exposures to chemical agents, the infections we experience, to the psychosocial stresses of daily life. This appreciation of the role our environment plays in shaping our health and wellbeing is encompassed in the concept of the exposome, bringing together advanced statistical methods, exposure science and modern multi-omic techn...
Nov 08, 2022•2 hr 5 min
Adultery became the subject of some of the greatest European novels of the nineteenth century, including Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina. English novels of the period needed adultery for their plots, yet flinched from treating the subject openly. Through the twentieth century to the present – from Ulysses and A Handful of Dust to recent fiction by Zadie Smith, Tessa Hadley and Sally Rooney – adultery has fascinated novelists. Why is this? And do male and female authors treat adultery differently...
Nov 07, 2022•2 hr 4 min
The 2022 Royal Historical Society Colin Matthew Memorial Lecture The partition of British India in 1947 was the world’s largest migration outside war and famine. It may feel like a distant historical event, but 75 years on its impact continues to resonate in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and in Britain. Many of those who lived through that tumultuous time migrated to Britain. In this lecture, which considers the importance and power of oral history, we will hear first-hand testimonies; understand ...
Nov 04, 2022•2 hr
What exactly is the Metaverse? And is it really that new? This talk will explore our emotional connections to cyberspace, our feelings of presence and immediacy in online environments, and what this means for the intensity of our experiences, good and bad. As technology promises ever more immersive, embodied experiences involving 360 degree vision, touch, and even taste, how might this merging of cyber and physical affect our lives? A lecture by Professor Victoria Baines The transcript and downl...
Nov 03, 2022•2 hr
The English courts have wrestled with challenges to the restrictions on euthanasia and assisted suicide for years, while the government has resisted calls to liberalise the law. Meanwhile, terminally ill people continue to travel overseas to clinics such as Dignitas, to end their lives. Assisted dying raises fundamental questions about respect for individual autonomy, protection of the vulnerable and the role the State should play. This lecture will explain the law and explore arguments for and ...
Nov 02, 2022•2 hr
1960 was the year of Africa. Over seventeen countries rid themselves of colonial rule and a new sense of pride in being Black and African was expressed through myriad artforms, notably via the fashioning of the body. Using objects in the V&As ‘Africa Fashion’ exhibition this lecture explores how fibre and fabric carried meaning in the moment of independence and carries meaning now in the cutting-edge work of Africa’s contemporary fashion creatives, Aphia Sakyi, Thebe Magugu and Artsi Ifrach....
Oct 31, 2022•52 min
What is a “valid mathematical proof”? To inquire into such a hotly debated question we might want to look at how past mathematicians tackled this question. This lecture will provide examples outside of what has been called a “colonial library”, using in particular Sanskrit sources, to argue that mathematical texts from all over the world contained not only proofs but also many other types of mathematical reasoning whose stories still need to be documented. A lecture by Professor Agathe Keller Th...
Oct 31, 2022•58 min
This talk considers mathematical proofs through an analogy to cooking recipes: that proofs give recipes for mathematical actions to be carried out by the reader. We will see linguistic evidence that written proofs often include explicit instructions in the imperative mood, just like recipes. This will lead to philosophical insights about mathematical diagrams, reading and writing proofs, and why maths is like the Great British Bake Off. A lecture by Dr Fenner Tanswell The transcript and download...
Oct 31, 2022•44 min
In practice, mathematicians have been 'proving' their results in many ways, in many places, for thousands of years. In principle, however, what is a proof? Usually, we look to geometry, specifically the geometry of Euclid. But what are the fundamental building blocks of a Euclidean proof? Until quite recently, the Renaissance, this question remained open—due to uncertainties about who Euclid was, the structure of his arguments, and even the layout of his pages. This lecture looks at how the lang...
Oct 31, 2022•39 min
The 2022 Peter Nailor Memorial Lecture For 40 years Britain's national strategy rested on two main pillars: close partnership with the United States, and a leading role in Europe. Both remain important, but the dramatic shifts in global geopolitics of recent years must make us re-appraise Britain's diplomatic priorities. How has Russia's aggression in Ukraine changed the focus of our foreign policy? How can the UK- outside the EU- best exercise influence to protect its interests and promote its ...
Oct 28, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Toussaint Louverture (the “Black Spartacus”), was one of the main leaders of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), which overthrew slavery and led to the proclamation of the world’s first independent post-colonial state. The lecture discusses his extraordinary life and legacy, as well as the international impacts of the Haitian Revolution across the 19th and 20th centuries, and how its ideals of equality, justice, and solidarity are still relevant to our times. A lecture by Dr Sudhir Hazareesingh ...
Oct 27, 2022•56 min
The major triad is considered the foundation of tonal music, its privileged position owed to its presence in the harmonic series of acoustics. The minor triad lacks this acoustic foundation, which led to it being treated as less stable, and even pieces in a minor key usually ended on the major form of the same triad. From the late 18th century onwards, major was paired with joy and minor with sorrow, and composers could play with these associations. A lecture by Marina Frolova-Walker The transcr...
Oct 26, 2022•1 hr 12 min
What will it take to stop global warming and how long have we got? These are huge questions for humanity, nature, society and geopolitics. Understanding our changing weather and its impacts is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time. But understanding how to stop changing it turns out to be surprisingly simple. You don’t need to be a scientist or policy wonk to appreciate what it will take to stop global warming. Focusing on fundamentals has surprising implications. A lecture by My...
Oct 25, 2022•57 min
The coast of Kenya has a series of impressive medieval ruins. Amongst the monuments are tombs, grand houses, mosques, and palaces. East African archaeologists date the high point of this heritage to the 13th century. The Kenyan museums contain impressive, reconstructed artefacts that animated the urban life of these lost cities. In this lecture, Robin Walker will present this heritage and put it in its proper place as a powerful chapter in Africa's history. A lecture by Robin Walker The transcri...
Oct 20, 2022•52 min
People have used money – and made counterfeits - for thousands of years. Archimedes came up with a clever way of finding out if you’ve been cheated by a goldsmith. Making coins with the right proportions of the right metals presented a huge mathematical challenge for Fibonacci and other mathematicians in the middle ages. This lecture will discuss mathematical elements of coin design, denominations, and why former Gresham Professor of Astronomy Sir Christopher Wren favoured decimal coinage. A lec...
Oct 14, 2022•59 min
Tuberculosis (and especially drug resistant strains) is a major global health problem, with over nine million people developing the disease annually and 1.5 million dying from it. The history of TB reveals the complex and often contradictory meanings assigned to this disease. The terms used to talk about TB – phthisis, consumption, the “white plague”, and the “wasting disease”, for example – reveal a great deal about popular perceptions relating to contagion and individual social responsibility....
Oct 13, 2022•1 hr
Single-celled microbes underpin all life on Earth, and even complex organisms like humans retain a surprising amount of their microbial heritage. Life began when free molecules became encapsulated in a lipid membrane and transformed into a self-replicating entity. Subsequently, multiple cells came together, forming a remarkable symbiosis that ultimately led to all complex, eukaryotic, cells and laid the foundations for multicellular life. Understanding this microbial legacy has some surprising i...
Oct 13, 2022•56 min
Imaging is used every day in medical healthcare, and the likelihood is that if you go to hospital that you will receive an X-ray, ultrasound or CT scan. With increasing reliance on complex imaging and the NHS now at breaking point, this lecture asks whether we have become too reliant on imaging and if so, how that manifests in today’s healthcare. This lecture assesses the potential advantages and disadvantages of such a system and what the potential solutions might be. A lecture by Professor Owe...
Oct 12, 2022•55 min
Financial intermediaries, like banks, mutual funds and brokers, who connect investors to firms (who need finance), have existed for thousands of years. Because they control a scarce resource, information, these intermediaries are expensive. Platforms, like crowdfunding platforms (organised meeting places for investors to meet firms) offer an alternative. Today's technological revolution is all about the competition between centralized intermediaries and decentralized platforms. This lecture disc...
Oct 10, 2022•59 min
This lecture looks at the development of juries in the common law world, addressing key questions about the role of juries in England and Wales today. Juries in modern English law are mainly used in criminal trials, civil trials, and coroners’ inquests, and the English jury system differs from other common law jurisdictions, some of which use juries more, less, or not at all. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the jury system, and do jury trials or bench trials deliver fairer outcomes? A l...
Oct 06, 2022•1 hr
Planet Venus is a hellish place and seemingly hostile to life, although recent measurements claimed the detection of biogenic signatures. Less than a billion years ago, Venus’s atmosphere underwent a dramatic runaway greenhouse effect rendering it likely to be uninhabitable. This lecture will consider what can be learned about the possibility of catastrophic climate change on Planet Earth, in the light of thermodynamics and of what has happened to Earth’s twin, Venus. A lecture by Professor Kath...
Oct 05, 2022•58 min
