Gresham College

Happy #WorldEnvironmentDay! 🌊✨ Did you know cloud formation can involve... plankton? Gresham Professor of the Environment Helen Czerski reveals how life is woven in with the rest of the planetary engine in her brilliant lecture, 'A Living Planet'. Watch: gres.hm/living-planet

"If you haven't heard of Gresham College, I'd say you're missing out!" 💡✨ Become a Friend with a regular donation of £10+ per month. You'll help us to keep providing world-class education, for free, to people across the globe. 🌍 Sign up today: gres.hm/friend #FreeLearning #EducationForAll

Happy #AfricaDay! 🌍✨ Enjoy this clip from a fascinating lecture, 'The Politics of Fabric and Fashion in Africa 1960-Today', by Dr Christine Checinska, which reveals the origins of African wax prints. Watch full lecture: gres.hm/africa-fashion #Africa #AfricanUnion #FashionDesign #FashionHistory

We're saying a heartfelt goodbye to Professor Robin May who delivered his last lecture yesterday as Professor of Physic. 🎤📚 Thank you Professor May, and we hope to see you again soon! Watch his lectures: gres.hm/robin-may Institute of Microbiology and Infection Microbiology Society

"Being able to see the most prestigious lecturers and Professors in their chosen fields is such a privilege..." 💡✨ Become a Friend with a regular donation of £10+ per month. You'll help us keep providing world-class education, for free, to people across the globe. 🌍 Find out more: gres.hm/friend

Ever wondered what's the maths behind your bathroom tiles? 𖣯✨ Professor of Geometry Alain Goriely explores how tiling patterns emerge in nature and the underlying mathematical principles that govern their formation... Watch full lecture: gres.hm/shape-tiles Oxford Mathematics #MathsInNature

Don't miss the new episode of the Gresham College Podcast, feat. Prof of Physic Robin May! 🎙️ We explore his lecture series, 'Why Do We Have Emotions?' Emotions govern our lives – but why do they exist in the first place? Watch: gres.hm/physic-podcast Institute of Microbiology and Infection

Do we notice the ground we stand on? 🌱 Prof of the Environment Helen Czerski considers land, building up a picture of what it is doing on both short and very long timescales. How should we think about the ground and its future? Watch lecture: gres.hm/ground UCL #Environment #Climate #GrandCanyon

Don't miss the new episode of the Gresham College Podcast, feat. Prof of Physic Robin May! 🎙️ We explore his lecture series, 'Why Do We Have Emotions?' Emotions govern our lives – but why do they exist in the first place? Watch: gres.hm/physic-podcast Institute of Microbiology and Infection

Happy birthday Florence Nightingale! 🩺 🔢 Nightingale was a pioneer of medical statistics, whose innovative work led to her becoming the first woman elected to the Royal Statistical Society. Watch lecture: https://gres.hm/nightingale #InternationalNursesDay #NursesDay

New episode of the Gresham College Podcast, featuring Prof of Physic Robin May! 🎙️ We explore his lecture series this year, 'Why Do We Have Emotions?' Emotions govern our lives – but why do they exist in the first place? Watch: gres.hm/physic-podcast Institute of Microbiology and Infection

Why do we love? 💕 Prof Robin May* explores the biological basis of love, asking: is love for a partner and love for a child the same thing? Can biology explain love at first sight? Could a 'love potion' ever exist? Watch: gres.hm/why-love *also of Institute of Microbiology and Infection

"The quality of presentation and complex ideas really appealed to me..." 💡✨ Become a Friend with a regular donation of £10+ per month – you'll help us to keep providing world-class education, for free, to people across the globe. 🌍 Find out more: gres.hm/friend

Happy #StarWarsDay! 🪐💫 Enjoy this clip from 'Music of the Spheres', where Professor of Music Milton Mermikides reveals what makes John Williams' Imperial March such an iconic piece of film music. Watch the full lecture: gres.hm/music-spheres #StarWars #MayThe4thBeWithYou #Musicology #MusicTheory

A World Without Work Catch up 👉 https://gres.hm/world-without-work Professor Daniel Susskind* asks, what is the future of human work when tech leaders hope to build #AI that can outperform us at every economically useful task, within a decade.🤖? *also of ‪King's College London‬

Have our lectures sparked your curiosity? 🎓✨ On 6-7 July, we’re inviting Gresham College audience members to record a short testimonial video about what Gresham College lectures mean to them! 📚🎙️ 📩 Interested? Get in touch: support@gresham.ac.uk

Catch up: The Dictionary City: Londoners and the Oxford English Dictionary 📖 👉 https://gres.hm/dictionary-city Prof Sarah Ogilvie (@ox.ac.uk) uncovers the surprising stories behind the contributors and compilation of one of the world’s most famous books! #Literature #London #Etymology

📢 Rescheduled: The Sky at Night, Tonight: A New View of the Changing Sky ⭐ This lecture by Prof Chris Lintott has been moved to mid-September due to delays receiving data from the Vera Rubin Observatory which is a key element of the talk. https://gres.hm/sky-night

Catch up: 🎶 Music of the Mind 👉 https://gres.hm/music-mind Where does music live in the brain? Illusion, evolutionary byproduct, or key to human thought? Prof Milton Mermikides explores music’s deep ties to language, memory & emotion... ‪@uniofsurrey.bsky.social ‬

Happy Birthday William Shakespeare! 🎭 Ever wondered how the Bard made an entire army appear on stage with just seven actors? 🤯 Watch the full lecture by Rob Eastaway on the surprising ways mathematical ideas connect with #Shakespeare: https://gres.hm/bshm-25

Ten years ago the world agreed on net zero - or did we? In 2023, Prof Myles Allen raised some important questions about how the #ParisAgreement is often understood, it may be more complex than it first appears... 👉 https://gres.hm/world-zero Department of Physics at the University of Oxford

Today is the #InternationalDayForMonumentsAndSites 🏛️ We’re celebrating with Mike Pitts' fantastic lecture: #Stonehenge: A History Discover how new archaeology is reshaping the story of Stonehenge - and reimagining Britain’s past 👉 https://gres.hm/stonehenge-history #Archaeology #EduSky

Catch up: The Shape of Gravity: Why On Earth Are Planets Spherical? Newton figured out Earth is slightly squashed - long before we had satellites. Professor @alaingoriely.bsky.social* delves into how gravity shapes worlds: https://gres.hm/shape-gravity *also of Oxford Mathematics #maths‬

🏛️ When did Athenian democracy really end? https://gres.hm/death-athenian-democracy Prof Melissa Lane* explores how Athens was governed under Macedonian rule, and how this era compared to democracy at its height *also of Princeton University Department of Politics

What are the current challenges and opportunities in Syria? Clive Stafford Smith explores how advocates can support Syria’s rebuilding process after years of civil war, and what role the international community can play moving forward. Watch now: https://gres.hm/guantanamo-syria

"Gresham College opened my mind to different areas I never knew about before..." 💡✨ Become a Friend with a regular donation of £10+ per month – you'll help us to keep providing world-class education, for free, to people across the globe. 🌍 Join here: gres.hm/friend

On #WorldHealthDay, we revisit this compelling lecture by Professor Ian Mudway, 'The Price of Pixels: Unmasking the Environmental Impact of Our Digital Lives'. He reveals how our digital world's convenience masks a heavy environmental cost... 💻🌍 Watch now 👉 gres.hm/price-pixels

Did you know coastal homeowners lost insurance when UK energy bills spiked after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? 🏠 Former Prof of Business Raghavendra Rau* reveals the impact of climate change on the insurance market... Watch 👉 gres.hm/climate-insurance * also of Cambridge Judge Business School

How can the visual arts be used to promote peace? 🕊️ Professor Jolyon Mitchell* investigates how the visual arts can not only incite violence, but also transform it, contributing to healing trauma and imagine more hopeful futures... Watch now 👉 gres.hm/peacebuilding-arts * of Durham University

The line between love and hate might be thinner than you think... Why did hatred evolve? Is it love’s evil twin - and can we ever 'treat' it? Prof Robin May* explores the #biology of humanity’s most destructive emotion Watch 👉 https://gres.hm/why-hate *Institute of Microbiology and Infection

What does it mean to witness war through a lens? In this lecture, Lee Miller’s son Antony Penrose reflects on her journey - from Vogue model to #WWII photojournalist documenting the #Holocaust. Watch 👉 gres.hm/lee-miller All images ©Lee Miller Archives

Born Supremacy – AI as a Pale Shadow of Real Humanity https://gres.hm/ai-humanity Prof of #IT Matt Jones* explores what we lose when #AI replaces human agency and creativity — and how human diversity could shape better AI futures for all. *also of @swanseauni.bsky.social

Do satirists have a moral compass? Watch more: https://gres.hm/ethics-satire #Satire once aimed to reform through ridicule - but today it’s under fire. Where’s the line between #FreeSpeech & hate speech? Prof Judith Hawley* explores satire’s past & present

Well educated ... but unemployed? 👉 https://gres.hm/out-reach Prof Professor Daniel Susskind* explores frictional tech unemployment: work exists, but people can’t access it—skills gaps, location, and identity mismatches. *also of ‪King's College London‬

Could you be the next Gresham Professor of Divinity? Applications now open! We're looking for a candidate hailing from any discipline within the field of theology and religious studies. Apply 👉 gres.hm/divinity Here's a few words from our current Professor of Divinity, Ronald Hutton...

New episode of the Gresham College Podcast features an interview with Antony Penrose! 🎙️ Following on from his lecture, ‘Lee Miller’s Indelible Images’, we caught up with him to learn more about his mother Lee Miller’s work as a photographer during WWII... Watch 👉 gres.hm/lee-podcast

Ever heard of Tuvan throat singing? 🎶 In 'Music of Earth and Space', Prof of Music Milton Mermikides * explores the deep connection between music and the cosmos, where all existence vibrates in frequencies... 🌍🌌 Watch now 👉 gres.hm/music-earth-space *also of ‪University of Surrey‬

This weekend, we're celebrating #InternationalWomensDay! ✨ #Economic history is often told as a story about men. Dr Victoria Bateman uncovers the forgotten stories of female producers, bankers & economic revolutionaries who helped shape the fortunes of nations Watch 👉 https://gres.hm/economy

What links the Vietnam War to the war in Afghanistan? 🪖🇦🇫 In 'Pictures from Afghanistan: Are we making the same mistakes?', Prof of Law Clive Stafford Smith explores the legal lessons he's learned from visiting Afghanistan... Watch here 👉 gres.hm/pictures-afghanistan #HumanRights #Law

🪐🌍 Are planets like Earth rare, or have we just not found them yet? As we approach the discovery of our 10,000th exoplanet, Prof Chris Lintott * explores whether Earth is truly unusual... 👉 gres.hm/alien-earths * also of Department of Physics at the University of Oxford

In his lecture on the Gothic Novel and the supernatural in fiction, Prof John Mullan delves into the famous Wuthering Heights scene where Cathy is at the window... 👻🪟 Watch full lecture 👉 gres.hm/supernatural-fiction *also of UCL #wutheringheights2026 #gothicliterature

Will You Be AI’s Pet? 🐾 👉 https://ow.ly/vcs950Y9Thy Gresham Professor of IT Matt Jones* explores whether #AI is “domesticating” humans - considering the benefits and hidden costs of our evolving relationship with technology *also of @swanseauni.bsky.social