Gresham College Lectures

Famous Chords

17 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this lecture, we shall explore a colourful collection of chords that have all acquired their own special, non-technical names. We will consider the...

Picturesque Engineering: Telford's Highland Roads and Bridges

14 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In partnership with the Fulbright Commission.In 1819, Thomas Telford and Robert Southey went on a six-week tour of the Scottish Highlands to inspect t...

Who Benefited from the British Empire?

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Who benefited from the British Empire? In the metropole, did it benefit wealthy landed aristocrats and financiers of the City of London, or did the Em...

The End of Life on Earth

11 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Astronomically speaking, there are a number of ways in which life on Earth could be wiped out. For example, a giant asteroid could hit Earth with such...

Portraits of Native Americans from Pocahontas to Sitting Bull

11 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From 1600 – 1850, artists in England and, later, in North America depicted distinguished Native American tribal leaders, diplomats and warriors to c...

Lungs, Gut, and Skin: Biological Interfaces with the Outside World

05 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We interface with our environment via the air we breathe, the food and water we eat and drink, and through physical contact via our skin.This lecture ...

How Microbes Manipulate Life

03 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Every animal on the planet carries with it an astonishingly diverse microbial zoo – millions of invisible organisms that thrive on the skin and in t...

Defeating Digital Viruses: Lessons From the Pandemic

31 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This talk will explore the potential for harnessing the public health framework for addressing online safety and security.Throughout the COVID pandemi...

Sleep and Mental Health

28 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In recent years, the links between sleep and mental health have been slowly unravelled. We are beginning to understand that not only does mental healt...

The Medieval Agricultural Revolution: New Evidence

27 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

During the medieval ‘agricultural revolution’, new forms of cereal farming fuelled the exceptionally rapid growth of towns, markets and population...

Landscapes of Roman Britain

17 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We used to think Roman Britain was a largely untamed natural landscape of woodland with occasional opulent villas representing the houses of an alien ...

Does the Adversarial System Serve Us Well?

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is the adversarial tradition in English criminal and civil procedure, and how does it compare with the inquisitorial systems found in some civil ...

The Carbon Cycle Behind Net Zero

14 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What happens to carbon dioxide after we emit it? Half is absorbed within a year or two by plants and the oceans, the rest, in effect, stays in the atm...

Viking Pagan Gods in Britain

14 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Norse and Danish invaders - commonly called Vikings - who occupied Britain in the ninth and tenth centuries, brought with them their own pagan god...

The Mathematical Life of Sir Christopher Wren

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Christopher Wren, who died 300 years ago this year, is famed as the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral. But he was also Gresham Professor of Astronomy...

Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II: The Artists’ Challenges

08 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Scores of painters and photographers over the last seventy years have grappled with the formal portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II from life. These range ...

Historical Fiction from Sir Walter Scott to Georgette Heyer and Hilary Mantel

06 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Until the 1970s, historical fiction was a scorned genre that belonged to Georgette Heyer and Jean Plaidy. Over recent decades, literary fiction has tu...

Big Data in Business

06 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Big data has really taken off over the past decade because of the presence of ubiquitous sensor technology everywhere. For example, we are all constan...

Rhythm Disturbances of the Heart

03 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our bodies depend on our hearts maintaining a steady beat, and increasing it appropriately in response to exercise. If the heart goes too fast, or too...

Stonehenge: A History

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our contemporary ideas about Stonehenge and British antiquity were shaped in times of empire and war. They dominate popular histories and inform natio...

Christopher Wren’s Cosmos

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Christopher Wren was one of the most remarkable Gresham Professors of Astronomy. Though best known today as the architectural mastermind behind th...

Queen Victoria: Images of Power and Empire

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture will examine the images of power and empire projected by Queen Victoria over the course of her reign.Beginning with her coronation, it su...

Diminished and Augmented Chords

22 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this lecture, we will delve into the history of opera because that is where the diminished seventh-chord gradually accumulated its expressive power...

Encryption: What's the Problem?

20 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

End-to-end encryption secures messages before they leave a device, preventing them from being read in transit. Increasingly the default protocol for m...

The Role for Financial Services in Boosting Financial Literacy and Inclusion

17 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Numeracy skills, good financial education and financial inclusion are essential ingredients for a thriving, fair economy. The cost-of-living crisis ex...

Microbial Record-Breakers

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Microbes hold astonishing speed records: the remarkable Thiovulum majus races along at 60 body lengths per second – the equivalent of Usain Bolt com...

Slavery and the British Economy

15 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

During debates over the abolition of slavery, supporters of the system claimed that it was vital to the British economy and that abolition would be di...

Living with Mental Health

13 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There is a rising number of people of all ages with mental health illnesses globally, that has been accompanied by a greater willingness to talk about...

Do We Need Barristers?

10 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the distinction between solicitors and barristers? What is the purpose of the independent Bar in our legal sy...

Anglo-Saxon Pagan Gods

08 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When the Western Roman Empire crumbled, the Anglo-Saxon peoples who occupied Britain brought their own paganism with them. This was Germanic, with a p...

Musical Cadences

07 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Composers of tonal music, from the 17th century through to the latest jazz tune or film score, think mainly in terms of how their chords succeed each ...

The Ocean Physics Behind Net Zero

03 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why is the deep ocean cold? And why does this matter for global warming?Doing the maths with pipes and plumbing, not computers, we explore how process...

Lottery-Winning Maths

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The field of probability started when a French nobleman asked the mathematician Blaise Pascal to solve a dispute for him about a game consisting of th...

Louis XIV: Versailles, Europe and the Arts

01 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Louis XIV saw himself as a patron of the arts, as well as an absolute monarch and warlord. He talked to his favourite artists and writers, including B...

DeFi, Crypto, and NFTs in Business

27 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How is the decentralised finance world organised?This lecture discusses how cryptographic technology is applied in business. It discusses blockchains ...

Medical Experts in the Family Court: Where Two Worlds Collide

25 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How does everyday medical practice get interpreted in the courtroom?In cases of child protection, do everyday decisions made in a resource-limited NHS...

The End of Massive Stars

23 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The evolution of our Sun from ordinary star into red giant is radically different from the evolution of much more massive stars towards their end-poin...

Would it be Right to Make Vaccination Mandatory?

20 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Vaccination against disease has saved countless lives, yet it remains a controversial topic because of concerns some hold about safety and potential h...

Breast Cancer: A Cultural History

18 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Breast cancer is one of the most dreaded diseases for women, not only because it can be a serious medical condition resulting in painful therapies, bu...

Microbial Master-Chemists

16 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Microbial chemistry makes bread rise and cheese mature, and turns grapes into wine. Microbes help make engine fuel, life-saving antibiotics and nano-p...

Coronary Heart Disease

10 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Coronary heart disease caused by narrowing and blockage of the heart arteries causes angina, heart attacks and heart failure. It remains one of the co...

Paganism in Roman Britain

19 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What was religion like in Roman Britain? What pre-Roman deities persisted? Which new gods came with Romans?This lecture looks at the evidence: inscrip...

How To Fight Fake News

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Fake news, influence operations, disinformation, misinformation and conspiracy theories are different flavours of falsehoods that have one thing in co...

The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Drawing on examples from the Israel-Palestine conflict, this lecture explores contrasting approaches, theories and practices for interpreting the rela...

London’s Air: The 70th Anniversary of the Great London Smog

12 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the 5th of December 1952 London experienced a major pollution episode, the Great Smog, resulting in thousands of deaths throughout the city.On the ...

Do We Need Judges?

09 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What is the role of the judiciary in England and Wales, how did it develop, and how does it compare with other countries?This lecture will examine how...

The Dominant Seventh Chord

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The name might sound forbiddingly technical, but the chord is immediately recognisable and it has played a hugely important role in tonal music. This ...

Microbial Megastructures

02 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Invisible microbes have created some of the largest structures on the planet. Mycorrhizal fungi form extraordinary subterranean networks that associat...

Lives in Limbo: Jewish Refugees in Portugal, 1940–1945

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Alfred Wiener Holocaust Memorial LectureThis lecture highlights the experiences of Jewish refugees fleeing from antisemitic persecution and from W...

The Atmospheric Physics Behind Net Zero

29 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 Conve...

The Maths of Game Theory

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Irish Question and the Ulster Question Then and Now

21 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 maj...

Love, Trust & Crypto

21 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The crypto movement began as a reaction to the concentration of economic power in the traditional financial system (and associated financial crises). ...

Why Did Europe’s Economies Diverge from Asia?

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Opposition in Russia: The Trials of Alexei Navalny

15 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Alexei Navalny is the leading opposition leader in Russia. He is also currently serving a lengthy prison sentence in a Russian correctional colony.Thi...

Machine Learning and the 4th Industrial Revolution

15 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 revolutio...

The End of our Sun

14 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 dramatica...

Polio: A Cultural History

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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....

What Is the Exposome and Why Does It Matter to Your Health?

08 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Adultery in the Novel, from Flaubert to Sally Rooney

07 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Adultery became the subject of some of the greatest European novels of the nineteenth century, including Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina. English nove...

Partition of British India: 75 Years On

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 2022 Royal Historical Society Colin Matthew Memorial LectureThe partition of British India in 1947 was the world’s largest migration outside war...

What is the Metaverse?

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Should We Permit Voluntary Assisted Dying?

02 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The English courts have wrestled with challenges to the restrictions on euthanasia and assisted suicide for years, while the government has resisted c...

The Politics of Fabric and Fashion in Africa 1960-Today

31 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 expresse...

Let’s Decolonise the History of Mathematical Proofs!

31 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

How Mathematical Proofs Are Like Recipes

31 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This talk considers mathematical proofs through an analogy to cooking recipes: that proofs give recipes for mathematical actions to be carried out by ...

The Invention of Mathematical Proof in the Renaissance

31 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In practice, mathematicians have been 'proving' their results in many ways, in many places, for thousands of years. In principle, however, w...

Britain's Foreign Policy in a Fast-Changing World

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 2022 Peter Nailor Memorial LectureFor 40 years Britain's national strategy rested on two main pillars: close partnership with the United Stat...

Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Toussaint Louverture (the “Black Spartacus”), was one of the main leaders of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), which overthrew slavery and led t...

Triads, Major and Minor

26 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The major triad is considered the foundation of tonal music, its privileged position owed to its presence in the harmonic series of acoustics. The min...

Why Net Zero?

25 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What will it take to stop global warming and how long have we got?These are huge questions for humanity, nature, society and geopolitics. Understandin...

The Lost Cities and Amazing Heritage of Kenya

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The coast of Kenya has a series of impressive medieval ruins. Amongst the monuments are tombs, grand houses, mosques, and palaces. East African archae...

The Maths of Coins and Currencies

14 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 cheate...

Tuberculosis: A Cultural History

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tuberculosis (and especially drug resistant strains) is a major global health problem, with over nine million people developing the disease annually a...

The Microbial Basis of Life

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Single-celled microbes underpin all life on Earth, and even complex organisms like humans retain a surprising amount of their microbial heritage. Life...

Are We Too Reliant on Medical Imaging?

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 sca...

Bypassing Banks Using Tech

10 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Financial intermediaries, like banks, mutual funds and brokers, who connect investors to firms (who need finance), have existed for thousands of years...

Do We Need Juries?

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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....

The End of Planetary Atmospheres

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Planet Venus is a hellish place and seemingly hostile to life, although recent measurements claimed the detection of biogenic signatures. Less than a ...

War and Peace in Europe from Hitler to Putin

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How can we understand the war in Ukraine in the light of European history over the past century? Is Putin a '20th-century Hitler' as some ha...

Gods of Prehistoric Britain

27 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Britain has one of the richest of all pagan heritages in Europe, defined as the textual and material evidence for its pre-Christian religions. The isl...

Who owns the Internet?

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The emergence of the global Internet challenged the notion that states have sovereignty over what their citizens see and hear, and what they can say. ...

The Hidden Legacy of COVID-19

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

No one has been left untouched by COVID-19. Many individuals have been left with the physical and mental health consequences of the virus- now known a...

Progresses: Royal Courts on the Move in Tudor and Stuart England

16 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Most summers Tudor and Stuart monarchs took their court on an extended progress round the home counties staying at their own palaces and the houses of...

What Makes a Good Judge?

29 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone agrees that good judges are essential for the maintenance of the Rule of Law in a democratic society. But what makes a judge a good judge and...

Inigo Jones and the Architecture of Necessity

20 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Inigo Jones is the architect best-known for the Banqueting House on Whitehall, one of the icons of British state architecture. He is less well known f...

The Journey from Black-Hole Singularities to a Cyclic Cosmology

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The “singularity theorems” of the 1960s demonstrated that large enough celestial bodies, or collections of such bodies, would, collapse gravitatio...

How to Finance a Company

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How should companies raise money? This lecture will look at both debt (bank loans and bonds) and equity (shares given to other founders, or sold on t...

Protestant Missions and European Empires: Allies or Adversaries?

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

By the later eighteenth century, Protestant countries’ empires were spreading across the globe but Protestant churches were wriggling free of state ...

Life in the Universe

14 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How can life form in the Universe, and what are the necessary ingredients for habitability so that planets can sustain life? Can we expect life elsewh...

Where Is Globalisation Headed? A Supply Chain View

13 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The conflict in Ukraine – and earlier events like Brexit - led prominent asset managers such as BlackRock to declare the “end of globalisation.”...

The Maths of Gyroscopes and Boomerangs

13 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Spinning things are strange. Why does a spinning top stand up? Why doesn't a rolling wheel fall over? How does a falling cat always manage to lan...

Investigative Journalism: A New Global Power?

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Internet and enhanced tools of digitalisation and communication have given opportunities to investigative journalists undreamed of even 10 years a...

How Genetic Adaptation Helped Humans Colonise the Globe

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Modern humans evolved in Africa and successfully colonised the globe only in the last 100,000 years or so, a feat made possible by cultural and geneti...

Natural Prosperity and the Wellbeing Economy

06 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What does Natural Prosperity look like? In this lecture we envision a new, more equitable future where wellbeing and nature-based solutions take the ...

Operating Systems

01 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Early computers were either designed to do one thing or, if they were programmable, they would be loaded-up with the program, it would run, and then a...

Should the Commonwealth Caribbean Abolish Appeals to the Privy Council?

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the Commonwealth Caribbean, final appeals were traditionally heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, or ‘Her Majesty in Council’....

The Incredible Sine Wave and its Uses

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The beautiful sine wave turns out to have a huge number of practical applications, from the motion of springs, to waves in the sea, to sound waves, li...

The Year 1948 in Soviet Music

27 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the aftermath of the Soviet war victory, ideological control was tightened again, contrary to expectations. The six leading Soviet composers (inclu...

How to Value a Stock

25 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do you value stocks? Finance textbooks argue that you should look at their dividends. But many stocks don’t pay dividends, and even if they do, ...