Gresham College
For The Love Of Learning. Free Public Lectures, Since 1597
Website
Website
YouTube
YouTube
TikTok
TikTok
Facebook
Facebook
Bluesky
Bluesky
What's On at Gresham College
What's On at Gresham College
Sign up for our Newsletter
Sign up for our Newsletter
Sign up to
Make a Donation
Make a Donation
Gresham College offers an outstanding education to the public free of charge. Your support will help us to encourage people's love of learning for many years to come.
Recent:
Browse all Victoria Baines lectures
Browse all Victoria Baines lectures
Lectures by Professor Robin May
Lectures by Professor Robin May
The Shape of Tiles: Regular and Irregular, Hard and Soft
The Shape of Tiles: Regular and Irregular, Hard and Soft
Tiling involves filling a plane or space with repeated elements, known as tiles. This simple concept is deeply embedded in the natural world and human design, appearing in structures as varied as the hexagonal wax cells of a beehive and decorative wallpapers. While regular hard tiles—geometric shapes with straight edges that fit together without gaps or overlaps—are common in human-made designs, nature often favours soft or irregular patterns, shaped by physical forces.
The Mathematical Life of Florence Nightingale
The Mathematical Life of Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale is the founder of modern nursing and a pioneer of data science and medical statistics. Her innovative use of statistical diagrams helped people see just how many deaths were being caused by poor hygiene in military hospitals. This lecture will look at the importance and legacy of Nightingale’s work, which led to her becoming, in 1858, the first woman elected to the Royal Statistical Society.
Science behind Love and Grief - Podcast with Robin May
Science behind Love and Grief - Podcast with Robin May
00:00 | Introduction: The Science of Grief and Love00:53 | Meet Professor Robin May01:12 | What Is Grief? Defining the Emotion02:05 | Why Grief Is Different ...
Why Do We Love?
Why Do We Love?
Untold millions of words have been written about love. It is a unifying theme of music, stories and poetry across all human cultures, and yet we still know very little about its biological basis. Is love for a partner and love for a child the same thing, or two fundamentally different emotions? Can biology explain love at first sight, or falling out of love? And might we ever be able to create a Shakespearean ‘love potion’ that really works?
Taming AI
Taming AI
In this lecture, we look at proposals to limit AI powers and impacts, so bad outcomes are outweighed by social benefits from the technology. I’ll explain design processes (such as Human-Centred AI and Responsible AI) and technological approaches for AI system qualities like trustworthiness, explainability and “human in the loop”. We will explore how we, as individuals, can use AI based systems in discerning ways; and look at what governments can do to help their citizens thrive in an AI-future..
Remixing the Music of the Spheres
Remixing the Music of the Spheres
Professors Lintott and Mermikides present and discuss historical and contemporary musical representations of astronomical data including Pythagoras’s parallelism of tuning purity and celestial movement, Plato’s cosmic harmony in Timaeus, Kepler’s representations of orbital eccentricity as musical scales, Herschel’s blending of music and cosmology, and the tendency of stable planetary systems to ‘find’ harmonic ratios.
A World Without Work
A World Without Work
In the future, we may face ‘structural’ technological unemployment in the labour market – where there is no longer enough work to occupy the human workforce. This lecture explains how such a phenomenon is possible at all, particularly given that repeated bouts of automation anxiety in the past have turned out to be wrong. Understanding this challenge is critical given recent claims by the leaders of the large technology companies – that they hope to build an AI that can outperform human beings at every economically useful task, within a decade.
The Dictionary City: Londoners and the Oxford English Dictionary
The Dictionary City: Londoners and the Oxford English Dictionary
The creation of the Oxford English Dictionary was one of the world's first crowd-sourced projects in the nineteenth century. People from all around the world sent in their local words, but no city played a more important role than London. In this lecture, Professor Sarah Ogilvie, author of The Dictionary People: the unsung heroes of the Oxford English Dictionary, tells the fascinating stories of some of the hundreds of
Music of the Mind
Music of the Mind
Where does music live in the mind? Is it an evolutionary byproduct, a trick of perception—or something deeper? From Pinker’s auditory cheesecake to sonic illusions like the McGurk effect and Deutsch’s phantom melodies, music plays with our senses in ways we barely comprehend. Yet its ties to language, memory, and emotion suggest it is fundamental to human thought. Can we see its traces in the brain? This lecture explores whether music is a fleeting illusion—or the key to understanding the mind itself.
Work, Out of Reach
Work, Out of Reach
Right now, the technological challenge we are most likely to face in the labour market is ‘frictional’ technological unemployment – where there is plenty of work available, but not enough people are able to do it. This lecture explores the phenomenon and its main causes – that people might lack the right skills for the work, not live in the place where the work is created, or have an identity that is at odds with the nature of the work.
Much Ado About Numbers: Shakespeare’s Mathematical Life and Times
Much Ado About Numbers: Shakespeare’s Mathematical Life and Times
Shakespeare lived in a period of exciting mathematical innovations – from arithmetic to astronomy, probability to music. Remarkably, many of those innovations are mentioned, or at least hinted at, in his plays. Rob Eastaway explores 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 words. Along the way, we discover surprising new mathematical insights into the Elizabethan world.
The Later Years: Organisation, Independence and Peace of Mind
The Later Years: Organisation, Independence and Peace of Mind
How should we get organised for our later years? With just a little preparation while we are fit and healthy, we can express our wishes for more difficult times. There are simple and positive options to be followed. Not just a will and lasting power of attorney, but simple steps to being independent longer, staying at home longer and enjoying life longer. A little thought now, and hopefully with discussion with family members, will provide reassurance and peace of mind for all.
Life, Death and Judgement in the Art and Times of Hieronymus Bosch (d. 1516)
Life, Death and Judgement in the Art and Times of Hieronymus Bosch (d. 1516)
Donald Trump and the Death Penalty
Donald Trump and the Death Penalty
Music of Animals
Music of Animals
Do animals make music? Are the languages of whales and birds truly songs? To answer this, we must first understand what we mean by music as human animals—and how it might emerge across the animal kingdom. From Messiaen’s transcriptions of bird calls to the rhythmic gaits of horses echoing in the blues, we’ll hear how animal behaviours form an unwitting orchestra and explore whether music is uniquely human or a shared language with our animal cousins.
View on mobile
More from Linktree
Products
Link in bio + tools
Manage your social media
Grow and engage your audience
Monetize your following
Measure your success
Templates
Marketplace
Learn
Resources
How to use Linktree
Pricing
Link in bio + tools
Link in bio
Customize your Linktree
Link shortener
Create trackable, shareable short links
QR code generator
Turn links into scannable QR codes
Canva Background Editor
Import your custom designs from Canva into your profile
Linktree for every social platform
Grow and engage your audience everywhere
Instagram
TikTok
LinkedIn
X
Manage your social media
Schedule and auto-post
Hands-free, hassle-free social media planning
Instagram auto reply
Automated replies and DMs triggered by comments
AI content & caption generator
Instant AI-powered post ideas and captions
Hashtag generator
Trending hashtag suggestions for better reach
Social integration for every social platform
Plan, auto post, and share across all platforms
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Threads
Youtube
Grow and engage your audience
Collect leads with contact forms
Turn visitors into subscribers
Manage and activate your audience
Organize, tag, and track contacts
Send contacts to email tools
Sync with Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Kit & more
Monetize your following
Earn with a Linktree Shop
Sell products and earn commission
Sell an online course
Create and sell your expertise easily
Host digital products
Sell digital products and build your email list
Earn by hosting sponsored links
Share brand offers and earn for every sign-up or sale
Get rewarded for growing your Linktree
Earn points, level up and unlock cash bonuses
Booked and paid, easily
Offer sessions and earn from your expertise
Measure your success
Social + link analytics
Track clicks, engagement and audience insights
Resources
Read our blog
All the latest tips, tricks and growth strategies
Success Stories
Real people, real results on Linktree
How to use Linktree
Linktree Help Centre
Get answers, guides and support
×
Advertisement