Gresham College Lectures

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/wpF0oB9Mz-0 The US Constitution, both in its structural element and the Bill of Rights, reflect a catalogue of colonial complaints about the British system as well as centuries of evolution in the law. In general terms, contrary to the slightly complacent attitude of the British legal authorities. This lecture will demonstrate, most of the original...

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/JCTgxcPu78I The human immune system rivals the brain in its complexity. Billions of cells coordinate their activity with amazing precision to protect us from infection. Immune cells can respond to millions of different pathogens within seconds and yet rarely respond to a false alarm. This lecture explores how cells achieve this, what happens when th...

This lecture will explore corporate governance mechanisms designed to address agency problems, including executive compensation, boards of directors, and shareholder activism. Additionally, it will examine how solutions addressing one agency problem might create another. This lecture was recorded by Raghavendra Rau on 5th November 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London Raghu is the Mercers School...

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/LW0DLhTxfCE This festive lecture explores the unusual roots of the song ‘White Christmas’ and its role in establishing the concept of the commercial Christmas song. It will explain how the song’s release during the summer months hints at how its potential as an enduring seasonal classic was not anticipated, and then examine how the music and lyrics...

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/VeJxEXZfT2Y This lecture analyses the ‘psychedelic era’ of the Beatles, from Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band to Let it Be, a period of staggering musical invention and experimentalism. We explore the mechanics behind the magic, untangling the layers of harmony, melody, lyrics, structure and technology, and how these all combine in ways both acc...

Shakespeare lived in a period of exciting mathematical innovations, from arithmetic to astronomy, and from probability to music. Remarkably, many of those innovations are mentioned, or at least hinted at, in his plays. Rob Eastaway will explore the surprising ways in which mathematical ideas connect with Shakespeare and reveals that the playwright could be as creative with numbers as he was with w...

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/pP3FzqYcMOA We communicate when we have information to share. The development of signals from signs visible over short distances to wireless transfer of billions of data-heavy messages worldwide is full of surprising characters, none more so than the Hollywood starlet who made Wi-Fi and GPS possible and received public recognition only in the final...

Watch the Q&A session here:  https://youtu.be/6hEOINeTYTU As the leaders of the oil and gas industry flew into Houston for CERAWeek, 2024, oil was over $80 per barrel and demand higher than ever. There was little discussion of “transitioning away from fossil fuels” as agreed at COP28 in Dubai. In the run-up to COP29, this lecture will set out the critical need to change the narrative, so those...

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 completel...

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 – p...

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 w...

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 tha...

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, t...

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...

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 ineq...

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...

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 lit...

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 involvemen...

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, drawin...

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, enh...

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...

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...

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 offer...

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...

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 cons...