Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/dvvOi_nUCRM Space itself is wobbly. We exist on a choppy sea, its surface roiled by disturbances caused by the movements of black holes hundreds of millions of light-years away. The detection of these 'gravitational waves' by observatories such as LIGO is a story of scientific persistence and precision engineering, resulting in a completely new way of looking at the cosmos. The lecture will highlight the latest results from LIGO's observing run, d...
Dec 06, 2024•46 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/UzxyNc8vuNs Traditional risk factors for mental illness include genetics, perinatal factors, substance use, negative life events, trauma and organic disorders. Yet, more recently, it has been found that higher rates of mental illness are also seen in minoritised and marginalised groups. This lecture outlines the different types of discrimination – personally mediated, structural/institutional and internalised – and the evidence linking these with ...
Dec 03, 2024•50 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/Tt_xU005mik This Lecture unveils the hidden history of Americans who risked their lives to save others during WWII. These intrepid people travelled the globe to aid victims of Nazi Germany and its allies, often staying to rescue as many as possible when the victims’ peril turned lethal. Discover the stories of these individuals, particularly women who embraced the independence and transformative impact of their relief efforts. This lecture highlig...
Nov 29, 2024•42 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/EyU7TCE1QJQ With Brexit, the US presidential election and the Covid pandemic, conspiracy theories now seem to be everywhere. It’s commonly argued that the internet has fuelled their popularity, leading to a loss of faith in mainstream media, science, democracy and even truth itself. But what if the rise of conspiracy theories is a symptom rather than the cause of a collapse of trust in civic institutions? This lecture was recorded by Peter Knight ...
Nov 27, 2024•54 min
What links an ancient shipwreck to the textile mills of Northern England? Both contained forerunners of the computing we use today. Computer language and software also have a long history, featuring military research and the repurposing of early programs widely used in manufacturing. This lecture will delve far back into the archives of processing, prediction, difference, and analytical engines, to discover who really made them work. This lecture was recorded by Victoria Baines on 24th September...
Nov 22, 2024•47 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/_Q_30OIPzXw The human brain has a very distinct and complex appearance with valleys and ridges folding over themselves. The same convolutions are found in large mammals, but not in smaller ones. This observation suggests that size and geometry play a role. Yet, these beautiful shapes have defied a complete description or understanding. This lecture will address questions stemming from this picture: How do these shapes emerge? How are they arranged...
Nov 19, 2024•50 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/leCxdECjyDM Reducing health inequalities is a matter of social justice. Strategies must address the social gradient in health, and efforts should extend beyond healthcare to address the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. This lecture argues economic circumstances, while important, are not the sole drivers of health inequalities, and closing the health gap will take evidence-based action across the whole of society. Thi...
Nov 15, 2024•52 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/IJT3B9WZntc Rediscovering remarkable historical figures such as the Birka Warrior Woman, Hildegard of Bingen, and King Jadwiga offers a fresh perspective to understand an era often dismissed as 'nasty, brutish, and short'. Rather than being exceptions, this lecture will reveal the considerable influence and power held by medieval women and shed light on the gradual erosion of female agency over subsequent centuries. Through their rediscovery, it w...
Nov 12, 2024•51 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/sYqJomnunFg The deeper exploration of Paganism begins with its roots in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, and the question of how ancient paganism was regarded then. It considers the mainstream views of that paganism in that period, which veered between regarding it as a religion of ignorance, tyranny and bloodshed, and one of great artistic and literary achievements that prepared the way for Christianity. It goes on to show how new ideas about it...
Nov 08, 2024•47 min
The management of water supplies, flooding and water pollution in the UK is currently the subject of great controversy, and public interest has never been higher. Following a short introduction by Professor Carolyn Roberts, this focused day will include three debates in which experts will discuss contrasting views on the nature of a specific problem, and how it might be solved. Audience involvement will be encouraged through questions. The First Panel Discussion will explore water supply in the ...
Nov 05, 2024•2 hr 18 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/D3Lz-M1P9Vk The 1968 Presidential Election remains the most divisive in modern U.S. history, with Democrat Hubert Humphrey, Republican Richard Nixon, and independent George Wallace at the forefront, and outgoing President Lyndon Johnson working behind the scenes. This lecture explores the striking parallels between 1968 and the 2024 Election, drawing on previously unexplored archives and numerous interviews. It challenges conventional views, revea...
Nov 04, 2024•47 min
Behind the sublime precision and expressive power of Bach’s music lies a mischievous spirit. From puzzle canons (where the performer must solve a riddle to reach the score), melodies that run upside-down and backwards against themselves, hidden symbols, endless loops, to the embedding of numbers and names into the music, this lecture explores Bach’s ingenious trickery. Unravelling this thread, enhances an appreciation – and sense of humanity and playfulness – to his transcendent music. This lect...
Nov 03, 2024•47 min
This lecture was recorded by Martin Daunton on 22nd October 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London. Martin is Visiting Professor of Economic History. Martin was also Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, between 2004 and 2014, and he is Emeritus Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge. The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are...
Oct 30, 2024•55 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/gtCsGQ14nU0 This lecture examines ‘Send in the Clowns’, probably the most commercially successful song written by the revered Stephen Sondheim. Yet it confounds the expectations of a showstopper by being written for an actress of limited singing ability, the late Glynis Johns. This lecture reflects on how it works in the context the musical A Little Night Music and explores how it came to be covered by major singers including Frank Sinatra, Judy C...
Oct 25, 2024•52 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/YltPv0VUFgQ With the ongoing war in Ukraine, long-term planning for security in Europe is essential. What will be the role of NATO, EU enlargement, and the support of the UK to ensure a Europe of peace and prosperity? Against the backdrop of Russian aggression, potential changes in US policy and rising populism, what elements will constitute a new European security architecture? This lecture was recorded by Baroness Catherine Ashton on 7th October...
Oct 22, 2024•44 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/wiAFxEnq8t4 Gresham College has been delivering public lectures since 1597 through times of great social, political and technological change. Its commitment to deliver lectures for free to the general public has led to intermittent financial challenges to its generous sponsors. The arrival of the internet, mobile devices and social media have offered both opportunity and further challenge. In an era supposedly characterised by shorter attention sp...
Oct 22, 2024•51 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDRNuI4Vwmk We often think of immunity as being a human, or at least mammalian, phenomenon. But in fact almost all living organisms have some form of immune system. In this lecture we’ll lift the lid on the astonishingly diverse immune mechanisms used by bacteria, amoebae, nematodes and many other microbial forms of life in their constant battle against viruses and each other. This lecture was recorded by Robin May on 2nd October 20...
Oct 11, 2024•41 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKaTcobzidk In a year of elections, climate change is emerging as a divisive political issue, and in many countries for the first time. This may be partly a consequence of past efforts to keep it apolitical through over-reliance on stealth policies and technocratic institutions. This lecture will discuss the need political debate about climate and the calls for an emphasis on “third way” climate solutions, designed to appeal to the ...
Oct 08, 2024•52 min
While Lycurgus of Sparta and Solon of Athens are now the best-known lawgivers of Greek antiquity, there were many others, from king Minos in Crete to Zaleucus and Charondas in southern Italy. This lecture explores the specific roles attributed to Greek lawgivers in fact and legend, revealing how and why they captured later political imaginations – with mention of how some even set laws to music. This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 26th September 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London. Melis...
Oct 04, 2024•45 min
This first lecture looks at the power that is given to advocates in a country that has a constitutional structure like the US. I have brought The American Constitution powers an American lawyer in ways unavailable to the British. I will illustrate this difference from my own experience of bringing 88 cases against the President of the US. I have thus far lost just one. This lecture was recorded by Clive Stafford Smith on 19th September 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London. Clive is the Gresham Pro...
Oct 01, 2024•37 min
What is modern Paganism, and how does it relate to witchcraft, Druidry and other phenomena? This lecture is designed to answer that question, and in doing so to provide an overview of the different traditions that make up Paganism today. It will show what they have in common, and what makes each one unique. It will suggest the ways in which Paganism differs from other religious traditions and what it has especially to offer the modern world. It will also address the question of its relationship ...
Sep 23, 2024•45 min
Watch the Q&A session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFCDvsq6N5g For centuries scientists have tried to identify what is special about the human brain. How do we approach this problem from a mathematical standpoint? The first hypothesis is that bigger is better, in some sense. In this introductory lecture, scaling laws and simple ideas from statistics will be used to study this problem, both in humans and animals, as well as uncover some basic principles that govern brain size and tes...
Sep 20, 2024•55 min
The first lecture in the series considers the most famous telescope of all, the Hubble space telescope. A project more than forty years in the making, Hubble overcame an initial disaster with a misshapen mirror to drive a revolution in every part of astronomy, providing iconic views of everything from a comet crashing into Jupiter to a surprisingly vibrant, distant Universe. This lecture focuses in particular on what Hubble has revealed about the life - and death - of stars. This lecture was rec...
Sep 17, 2024•44 min
Many decades ago, as a young graduate from drama school, I was presented with a stark choice – either to shape my story myself, through writing, or to feel aggrieved at the detrimental narratives circulating about people like me in Britain at that time. I chose the latter, and in this talk I will talk about how story-making is a conscious act of speaking ourselves into being - drawing on literature, theatre and the visual arts. This lecture was recorded by Bernardine Evaristo on 25th June 2024 a...
Sep 06, 2024•35 min
The Gray's Inn Reading 2024 Does the UK’s constitution provide too much freedom for those that wish to abuse it? Specific examples of this might include Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s lawbreaking during COVID, the selection of Liz Truss as Prime Minister, the ability of the Government to force controversial policies (such as the Rwanda Bill) and the sacking of the Cabinet Secretaries and Permanent Secretaries. Or does the UK constitution, perhaps in contrast to that of the United States and many...
Aug 21, 2024•37 min
In The Republic, Plato explores the predicament of the Cave: a passive citizen body, a conniving and self-interested set of sophistic opinion-formers and demagogic political leaders, a systematically misleading and damaging order of political structures and common beliefs and appetites. Does this have lessons for tackling climate change? In clinging to our current way of life and its fossil-fuel infrastructure, are we trapping ourselves in a modern version of Plato’s Cave—and if so, how might we...
Aug 09, 2024•40 min
This lecture will explore the world of the second Bloomsbury generation, delving into the intricacies of being young and queer in the 1920s, and how their open way of living and loving is still relevant to our present day. Lesser known than their predecessors, they continued the celebration of freedom of expression and creativity. The lecture will introduce artists and intellectuals such as Eddy Sackville-West, Stephen Tomlin and Julia Strachey, who led an unapologetic life by pushing gender bou...
Aug 02, 2024•42 min
One of the crucial ideas in finance is that markets are efficient – that they fully reflect all available information. If so, what about market bubbles? Over the last year, people have been willing to pay exorbitant amounts for extremely odd assets such as Non-Fungible Tokens, meme stocks etc. Why do they do this? This lecture will explore some investors’ systematic behavioural biases, and how these can be used to predict returns. This lecture was recorded by Raghavendra Rau on 10th June 2024 at...
Jul 26, 2024•53 min
This lecture confronts the worldwide phenomenon of the persecution of suspected witches, now a serious, contemporary problem condemned by the UN in 2021. It will show what has been unusual about Europe in this global pattern, and why the notorious early modern witch hunts there commenced and ended. This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on 5th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-n...
Jul 22, 2024•49 min
The idea of proof is fundamental to mathematics. We could argue that science consists of testable theories, and therefore that it is about what can be disproved, not what can be proved. In law, the test is “beyond reasonable doubt”. Famous conjectures in mathematics have been tested by computers for trillions of numbers – but we still call them conjectures. In this lecture we’ll talk about what mathematicians mean by proof, and I’ll show you some of my favourites. This lecture was recorded by Sa...
Jul 12, 2024•51 min
