Gresham College Lectures

Matt Higgins, E. P. Abraham Professor of Structural Biology at Oxford, explores HIV’s journey from a devastating 1980s diagnosis to a manageable condition. He traces the discovery of the virus, the rise of antiretroviral therapy, and modern prevention methods. He also examines HIV’s hidden reservoirs, why vaccines remain elusive, experimental cures, and the inequalities keeping AIDS a global crisis.

Alain Goriely, Oxford mathematician and Fellow of the Royal Society, investigates the physics behind whip cracks and chain fountains. Explore how loops accelerate to supersonic speeds, how tapered whips concentrate energy, and why falling chains can leap upward. The lecture also connects these strange motions to dinosaurs, sperm, microorganisms, octopuses, and space tethers.

Chris Lintott, Oxford astrophysicist, Zooniverse founder, and BBC’s The Sky at Night presenter, explores the Vera Rubin Observatory’s revolutionary view of the changing universe. Discover how its giant camera will reveal asteroids, supernovae, dark matter, galactic fossils, and fleeting cosmic events, while transforming how astronomers survey the sky.

Kate Kennedy, biographer, cellist, broadcaster, and Oxford music scholar, follows her cello across Europe in search of vanished voices. She explores Lise Christiani’s Siberian Stradivarius, a cello rebuilt after shipwreck, music in Auschwitz, and a bee-filled instrument making its own strange music. A moving journey through silence, survival, grief, and the stories instruments carry.

Jane Shaw, Provost of Gresham College and an Oxford historian of religion, explores empathy through art, literature, theatre, and political listening. She considers its role in democratic life, how beauty and attention can interrupt self-absorption, and why museums and stories help us encounter unfamiliar worlds. The lecture also examines empathy’s risks, digital distraction, and the possibility of grace.

Jim Al-Khalili, quantum physicist, author and broadcaster, explores time’s deepest mysteries. Is it fundamental, emergent or an illusion? He examines ancient philosophies, relativity’s block universe, the missing universal present, quantum gravity’s timeless equations, entropy’s arrow and possible cosmic futures, from heat death to cyclic universes.

Milton Mermikides, composer, guitarist and music professor who blends art and science. He explores parallels between sleep and music, myths and lullabies that link them, how composers evoke dreamlike textures, whether music can enter sleep, and techniques for sonifying sleep data like EEG and polysomnography. Short musical examples and a listening exercise punctuate the talk.

This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on the 17th of June 2026 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonProfessor Hutton is Professor of History at the University of Bristol. He took degrees at Cambridge and then Oxford Universities, and was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He is now a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries and the Learned Society of Wales, and has won awards for teaching and research.He has lectured all over the world, authored twenty books and ninety-six essays, appeared in or presented scores of television and radio programmes, and sits on the editorial boards of six journals concerned with the history of religion and magic.The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/goddess-morriganGresham 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

Sir Andrew McFarlane, former President of the Family Division and long-serving family law judge, reflects on reforming family justice. He calls for fairer financial rights for cohabitants and binding prenuptial rules. He explores modernising adoption to preserve lifelong links, addresses surrogacy legal limbo and cross-border concerns, and outlines digital and early-resolution routes to keep cases out of court.

Daniel Susskind, writer and economist who studies AI and the future of work, outlines limits of education in an age of rapid tech change. He questions future‑proofing skills and highlights uncertainty about AI. He discusses what to teach (basics and AI literacy), how to teach (personalized AI tutoring and simulation), when to teach (lifelong retraining), and why broader policy responses are also needed.