Gresham College Lectures

The reflection of my right hand in a mirror is a left hand that looks similar yet is very different from the right. Many natural structures such as proteins, climbing vines, and seashells exhibit the same property known as chirality. Some of these objects are clearly left-handed, some are right-handed, some are both. The ultimate origin of chirality is one of Nature's great mysteries. In this talk, I will discuss the general problem of determining the chirality of an object and how it impacts all branches of science.This lecture was recorded by Alain Goriely on 16th September  2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Professor Alain Goriely FRS is Gresham Professor of Geometry.He is also a mathematician known for dynamical systems, mathematical biology, and mechanics. He developed the mathematical theory of biological growth and is Director of the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. His work spans plant tendrils, seashells, umbilical cords, brain modelling, and applied mathematics outreach.The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/shape-handsGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukTwitter:  https://twitter.com/greshamcollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeSupport the show

Professor Helen Czerski, an oceanographer and Associate Professor at UCL, explores the intricate dynamics of Earth as a life support system. She discusses how energy flows from the Sun and the importance of recycling Earth's finite atoms. Her insights on breaking waves and bubbles reveal their crucial role in ocean processes. Czerski also emphasizes the significance of seeing humans as integrated components of Earth's systems while highlighting the two unbreakable rules of our planet: the necessity of energy flow and atom recycling.

Daniel Susskind, a research professor and economist at King’s College London, delves into 'automation anxiety'—the fear that technology will take away jobs. He traces this concern from the Luddites to modern-day protests against driverless cars. Susskind discusses how, despite past anxieties, history shows that new technologies often create different types of work. He highlights the decline in job quality and rising inequalities, emphasizing the need to rethink what work means in an AI-driven world.

ttps://x.com/GreshamCollege Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/tv554JY9TPUIn 1588, the young Galileo delivered some lectures that were impressive enough to secure him a mathematics professorship at the University of Pisa. His subject? The geometry of Dante’s Inferno. In this lecture we’ll look at some of Galileo’s deductions, and how the questions raised may have influenced his later mathematical research. Using this and other examples of creative work in mathematics that crosses our modern ideas of subject boundaries, I will argue that thinking across disciplines is not only intellectually exciting but academically vital.This Annual Provost's Lecture was recorded by Sarah Hart on June 18th 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Sarah Hart was the first woman Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, and Acting Provost between March and October 2025. She is also Professor Emerita of Mathematics at Birkbeck, University of London.Professor Hart studied at Oxford and Manchester, gaining her PhD in 2000. Postdoctoral research and teaching followed, including a prestigious Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Fellowship, before she was appointed to a lectureship at Birkbeck in 2004. She became Professor of Mathematics there in 2013, and served in various management roles including as Head of Mathematics and Statistics, Assistant Dean, and Programme Director for the MSc Mathematics.Her academic publications have been mainly in the area of pure mathematics known as group theory, which has many applications both inside and outside of mathematics, for example in coding theory and cryptography. She is actively involved in the British Society for the History of Mathematics, and has served a three-year term as President of the Society from 2021-2023.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/galileos-journey-underworld-case-interdisciplinary-thinkingGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

The lecture shares perspectives from global history, comparative politics, and international relations to revaluate whether the twentieth-century collapse of European colonialism was as definitive as often portrayed. It suggests that, while in some ways, ending European Empires remade our contemporary world, in others processes of decolonization are far from complete.This lecture was recorded by Martin Thomas on the 9th of April 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonMartin is Professor of Imperial History and Director of the Centre for Histories of Violence and Conflict at the University of Exeter.He was awarded a Philip Leverhulme prize for outstanding research in 2002 and has been both a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow and a fellow of the Independent Social Research Foundation. He has also held visiting fellowships at Sciences Po., Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies in Amsterdam.He is the author of twelve books on various aspects of decolonization, French foreign and colonial policy, colonial security services, violence and colonialism. His most recent book is The End of Empires and a World Remade: A Global History of Decolonization (Princeton University Press, 2024).The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/world-decolonizationGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

Decolonisation movements sought to win sovereignty and control over national resources, especially oil. This lecture explores oil’s influence on national independence struggles, from the 1955 Bandung Conference to the rise of OPEC and the nationalisation of crude reserves. It examines how these shifts reshaped global power, exposing both the successes and limits of decolonisation, and their contemporary relevance to understanding the roots of today’s climate crisis.This lecture was recorded by Adam Hanieh on the 15th of May 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonAdam Hanieh is Professor of Political Economy and Global Development at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter (UK). He is also a Research Fellow at the Transnational Institute and held a Political Economy Fellowship from the Independent Social Research Foundation in 2023, which traced the new geographical linkages between the oil-producing states of the Middle East and China/East Asia. Hanieh is the author of four books, including Money, Markets, and Monarchies (Cambridge University Press, 2018), which won the 2019 British International Studies Association International Political Economy Group Book Prize. His most recent book Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market came out with Verso Books in 2024.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/oil-decolonisationGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

Shanawdithit was a woman who bore witness to the death of her world in the early nineteenth century, creating the only first-hand account we have of the Beothuk people from the Island of Newfoundland.  This lecture seeks to narrate the history of her fascinating and important life, alongside the history of her island, which was England’s first transatlantic colony. It will illuminate the profound connections between the hyper-extraction of the island’s resources, the hyper-exploitation of its settlers, and the violent and totalizing dispossession of Shanawdithit’s people. This lecture was recorded by Julia Laite on the 30th of April 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonJulia Laite is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London. Her most recent book The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey (2021) won the Golden Dagger for Non-Fiction from the British Crime Writer’s Association. She has published widely on the history of sexual labour, migration, and crime history, and works as a historical consultant in British media. Her new book project, A Woman at the End of the World, will tell the life story of the Beothuk woman Shanawdithit, the dilletante ethnographer William Eppes Cormack, and her own Newfoundland ancestors.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/shanawdithitGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

Ever feel like the financial world works against you? This lecture discusses "behavioral finance" – how our brains get tricked by money matters. We will explore how to use these insights to your advantage, navigate conflicts of interest with financial "experts," and make smarter decisions for yourself and your investments. This lecture was recorded by Raghavendra Rau on the 16th of June 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonRaghu is the Mercers School Memorial Professor of BusinessHe is also the Sir Evelyn de Rothschild Professor of Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/outsmart-system-how-psychology-hacks-your-money-decisionsGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

The lecture will examine the pros and cons of democracy in today's world, focusing on the importance of domestic and international rule of law to maintain democratic ideals, which are fragile in times of conflict. There will be examples given, highlighting the current War in Ukraine and the political situation in the United States, the influence of other players and the legacy of the Cold War.Lastly, there will be an observation on the ways that the principal judicial organs operate, their challenges, and a prediction of their future. Sir Howard Morrison will provide some suggestions as to how things might be contained by means of persuasive soft power.This lecture was recorded by Howard Morrison on the 9th of June 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Sir Howard Morrison KC was called to the Bar by Grays Inn in 1977. He is now a Master of the Bench. He was commissioned as a TAVR infantry officer. He practised on the Midland and Oxford Circuit until 1986 when he went to Fiji as a Resident Magistrate , later promoted Chief Magistrate and Senior Magistrate of Tuvalu. Appointed OBE for services to the judiciary following military coups. He then served as Attorney General for Anguilla before returning to UK practice at 1 King's Bench Walk. He was appointed  Recorder sitting in crime, civil and family and defended at the United Nations Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague and the Rwanda Tribunal in Arusha in Tanzania before taking Silk in 2001 and was subsequently appointment to the Circuit Bench in 2004.In 2005 he was seconded to advise the judges of the Iraqi Higher Tribunal trying Saddam Hussein, spending a year in Baghdad after which he was appointed CBE. In 2009 he was appointed as the UK Judge for the Special Tribunal for the Lebanon and then as the UK Judge for the Yugoslavia Tribunal where he was a trial judge in the seminal case of Radovan Karadzic. In 2011 he was elected as the UK Judge at the International Criminal Court until 2021 where he served two terms as President of the Appeals Chamber being appointed KCMG in 2016. He is a Senior Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre of Cambridge University and a visiting professor at the universities of Leicester ( appointed Hon LLD), Warwick and Northumbria.  He has lectured in international criminal and humanitarian law at some 25 universities worldwide. He is currently an associate tenant at Doughty Strert chambers, the UK Independent Advisor to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, President of the Court of Appeal of the British Indian Ocean Territories and trains counter-terrorism judges and prosecutors in Iraq.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/grays-inn-25Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

Health over the last 150 years in the UK and internationally has been transformed and this rapid rate of change will continue. Improvements in public health and the shifting demographic structure are altering the trajectory and frequency of disease. Advances in science including new drug classes, diagnostics and AI are changing what is possible in diagnosis and treatment. This lecture will consider the possible, and likely, direction of health over the next decades.This Annual Sir Thomas Gresham Lecture was recorded by Sir Chris Whitty on 23rd June 2025  at Conway Hall, Holborn, LondonChris was Gresham Professor of Physic at Gresham College from 2018 to 2022, and Visiting Professor of Public Health 2015-2018 and again since 2022.He is the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England and the UK Government's Chief Medical Adviser.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website:https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/future-health-25Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukTwitter:  https://twitter.com/greshamcollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeSupport the show