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AI Will Be Your Overlord: Faster, Brighter, Better Than You?
07 Oct 2025
00:49:47
“Scary”, “Worried”, “Dangerous” were some of the most frequent words to describe AI in a recent UK Government public survey. Do you fear, as many do, that AI will lead to us becoming second-class entities? In this first lecture, we will explore this ascendency, considering how notions of intelligence, sentience, perception, consciousness and reasoning are being framed and challenged in an AI-centred world; and surface the social, economic and ethical implications of these developments.
This lecture was recorded by Professor Dominic Broomfield-McHugh on 23rd September 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.
Matt Jones is a computer scientist at Swansea University - and a Fellow of the British Computer Society - who works alongside colleagues from many other disciplines and directly with everyday folk across the world to explore the future of digital technologies. Over the last 30-plus years, this human-centred approach has led to novel approaches for, amongst other things, mobile phone-based information searching and browsing, pedestrian navigation, voice assistants and deformable displays.
Gresham 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/
Written in the era of the founding of Gresham College, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream portrays the hypnotic dreaminess of a fairy world in which the real and the fantastic are blurred. This lecture explores how the innate musicality of Shakespeare’s original has provoked adaptations across the centuries, including Ashton and Balanchine’s ballets based on Mendelssohn’s incidental music for the play, Britten’s opera, Purcell’s masque The Fairy Queen, Henze’s Eighth Symphony and Elvis Costello’s Il Sogno. What is it about Shakespeare’s fairies that have inspired such diverse musical responses?
This lecture was recorded by Professor Dominic Broomfield-McHugh on 22nd September 2025 at Conway Hall, London.
Dominic Broomfield-McHugh is Gresham Visiting Professor of Film and Theatre Music. He is also Professor of Music at the University of Sheffield and is a graduate of King's College London. His scholarship focuses on the American musical on stage and screen, and he has published eight books including Loverly: The Life and Times of 'My Fair Lady' (OUP, 2012), The Letters of Cole Porter (Yale, 2019) and The Oxford Handbook of the Hollywood Musical (2022). He is Associate Producer of the PBS documentary Meredith Willson: America's Music Man and has appeared on all the main BBC television and radio stations as well as NPR in America. He has given talks and lectures at the Sydney Opera House, New York City Center, the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Sadler's Wells, and Lincoln Center, among many others.
Gresham 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/
Outsmart the System: How Psychology Hacks Your Money Decisions - Raghavendra Rau
08 Aug 2025
01:03:03
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, London
Raghu is the Mercers School Memorial Professor of Business
He 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-decisions
Gresham 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
Human Rights Law: Bringing Power to the Powerless - Clive Stafford Smith
01 Oct 2024
00:36:31
This first lecture looks at the power that is given to advocates in a country that has a constitutional structure like the US. I have brought The American Constitution powers an American lawyer in ways unavailable to the British. I will illustrate this difference from my own experience of bringing 88 cases against the President of the US. I have thus far lost just one.
This lecture was recorded by Clive Stafford Smith on 19th September 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.
Clive is the Gresham Professor of Law
He is the founder and director of the Justice League a non-profit human rights training centre focused on fostering the next generation of advocates. He also teaches part time at Bristol Law School and Goldsmiths as well as running a summer programme for 35 students in Dorset, his home. He has received all kinds of awards in recognition of his work, including an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for “services to humanity” in 2000. He has been a member of the Louisiana State Bar since 1984.
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/human-rights-law-0
Gresham 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/
What is modern Paganism, and how does it relate to witchcraft, Druidry and other phenomena? This lecture is designed to answer that question, and in doing so to provide an overview of the different traditions that make up Paganism today. It will show what they have in common, and what makes each one unique. It will suggest the ways in which Paganism differs from other religious traditions and what it has especially to offer the modern world. It will also address the question of its relationship with ancient paganism.
This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on 18th September 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
Ronald is the Gresham Professor of Divinity.
He is also Professor of History at the University of Bristol and a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries and the Learned Society of Wales.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/modern-paganism
Gresham 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/
Does having a big brain make your smarter? - Alain Goriely
20 Sep 2024
00:55:07
Watch the Q&A session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFCDvsq6N5g
For centuries scientists have tried to identify what is special about the human brain. How do we approach this problem from a mathematical standpoint? The first hypothesis is that bigger is better, in some sense.
In this introductory lecture, scaling laws and simple ideas from statistics will be used to study this problem, both in humans and animals, as well as uncover some basic principles that govern brain size and test hypotheses connecting intelligence to size in humans and animals..
This lecture was recorded by Alain Goriely on 17th September 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
Alain is Gresham Professor of Geometry.
He is currently the Director of the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2022.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/big-brain
Gresham 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/
The first lecture in the series considers the most famous telescope of all, the Hubble space telescope. A project more than forty years in the making, Hubble overcame an initial disaster with a misshapen mirror to drive a revolution in every part of astronomy, providing iconic views of everything from a comet crashing into Jupiter to a surprisingly vibrant, distant Universe. This lecture focuses in particular on what Hubble has revealed about the life - and death - of stars.
This lecture was recorded by Chris Lintott on 11th September 2024 at Conway Hall, London
Chris is Gresham Professor of Astronomy.
He is also a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and a Research Fellow at New College.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/mirror-sky
Gresham 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/
The Stories We Make Up & The Stories That Make Us - Bernardine Evaristo OBE
06 Sep 2024
00:35:29
Many decades ago, as a young graduate from drama school, I was presented with a stark choice – either to shape my story myself, through writing, or to feel aggrieved at the detrimental narratives circulating about people like me in Britain at that time. I chose the latter, and in this talk I will talk about how story-making is a conscious act of speaking ourselves into being - drawing on literature, theatre and the visual arts.
This lecture was recorded by Bernardine Evaristo on 25th June 2024 at LSO, St Luke's Church London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/thomas-gresham-24
Gresham 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/
Does the UK Constitution need reform? - Charles Falconer PC, KC
21 Aug 2024
00:36:55
The Gray's Inn Reading 2024
Does the UK’s constitution provide too much freedom for those that wish to abuse it?
Specific examples of this might include Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s lawbreaking during COVID, the selection of Liz Truss as Prime Minister, the ability of the Government to force controversial policies (such as the Rwanda Bill) and the sacking of the Cabinet Secretaries and Permanent Secretaries.
Or does the UK constitution, perhaps in contrast to that of the United States and many other nation states, provide relative freedom to remove unsuitable political and civil service leaders without relative domestic political trauma?
This lecture was recorded by Charles Falconer PC, KC on 17th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/grays-inn-24
Gresham 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/
Plato's Cave: Thinking about Climate Change - Melissa Lane
09 Aug 2024
00:39:34
In The Republic, Plato explores the predicament of the Cave: a passive citizen body, a conniving and self-interested set of sophistic opinion-formers and demagogic political leaders, a systematically misleading and damaging order of political structures and common beliefs and appetites.
Does this have lessons for tackling climate change? In clinging to our current way of life and its fossil-fuel infrastructure, are we trapping ourselves in a modern version of Plato’s Cave—and if so, how might we escape?
This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 13th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/platos-cave
Gresham 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/
The Bloomsbury Group: A Queer History - Nino Strachey
02 Aug 2024
00:41:56
This lecture will explore the world of the second Bloomsbury generation, delving into the intricacies of being young and queer in the 1920s, and how their open way of living and loving is still relevant to our present day. Lesser known than their predecessors, they continued the celebration of freedom of expression and creativity.
The lecture will introduce artists and intellectuals such as Eddy Sackville-West, Stephen Tomlin and Julia Strachey, who led an unapologetic life by pushing gender boundaries and social conventions, as well as exploring gender fluidity and pansexuality.
This lecture was recorded by Nino Strachey on 11th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/queer-bloomsbury
Gresham 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/
Are Financial Markets Efficient? - Raghavendra Rau
26 Jul 2024
00:53:24
One of the crucial ideas in finance is that markets are efficient – that they fully reflect all available information. If so, what about market bubbles?
Over the last year, people have been willing to pay exorbitant amounts for extremely odd assets such as Non-Fungible Tokens, meme stocks etc. Why do they do this?
This lecture will explore some investors’ systematic behavioural biases, and how these can be used to predict returns.
This lecture was recorded by Raghavendra Rau on 10th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/market-efficiency
Gresham 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/
Witch-Hunting in European and World History - Ronald Hutton
22 Jul 2024
00:48:48
This lecture confronts the worldwide phenomenon of the persecution of suspected witches, now a serious, contemporary problem condemned by the UN in 2021.
It will show what has been unusual about Europe in this global pattern, and why the notorious early modern witch hunts there commenced and ended.
This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on 5th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/witches-europe
Gresham 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/
Democracy and International Criminal Justice in the Fragile World of the Rule of Law - Howard Morrison
05 Aug 2025
00:46:53
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.
Gresham 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
The idea of proof is fundamental to mathematics. We could argue that science consists of testable theories, and therefore that it is about what can be disproved, not what can be proved. In law, the test is “beyond reasonable doubt”.
Famous conjectures in mathematics have been tested by computers for trillions of numbers – but we still call them conjectures.
In this lecture we’ll talk about what mathematicians mean by proof, and I’ll show you some of my favourites.
This lecture was recorded by Sarah Hart on 4th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/mathematician-proof
Gresham 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/
Experts in politics: Lessons from Socrates and Aristotle - Melissa Lane
09 Jul 2024
00:57:20
Socrates sought to test the expertise of everyone around him: the bombastic know-it-alls, the bashful youths, the confident generals, those (including the enslaved) with unsuspected mathematical competence, the workaday artisans. Aristotle later explored the ways in which expert claims can be made credible to popular judgement.
This lecture considers the role of experts in contributing to public debate in a democracy, bringing Aristotle's work on rhetoric to bear on norms for expert communication and public debate.
This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 30th May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/experts-politics
Gresham 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/
First light: Revealing the Early Universe - Chris Lintott
02 Jul 2024
00:59:40
The final lecture in the series returns to the theme of how insight is derived from observations, considering the cosmic microwave background.
This oldest light in the Universe, emitted just 400,000 years after the Big Bang, contains the seeds of the structures we see around us, and tells us about conditions at the Universe's beginning.
It will also consider how measurements of the Universe's expansion, made using the CMB, are leading to unexpected results, creating tension in modern cosmology.
This lecture was recorded by Chris Lintott on 29th May 2024 at Conway Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/first-light
Gresham 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/
This lecture traces the history of race and disability law in the English education system. It examines the impact of discriminatory policies on Black children, children of colour, and disabled children, and how narratives around race and disability have changed.
The lecture questions why inequality persists and explores possible solutions.
This lecture was recorded by Leslie Thomas KC on 23rd May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/education-law
Gresham 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/
Logarithms: Mobile Phones, Modelling & Statistics?
20 Jun 2024
00:52:24
Logarithms were perhaps once thought of as just an old-fashioned way to do sums on slide rules. But they underpin much of modern life, from modelling the COVID pandemic to Claude Shannon’s mathematical theory of information (which makes mobile phones a reality) and making sense of Cristiano Ronaldo’s crazy Instagram follower numbers.
This lecture will explore the basics and history of logarithms, and then show how they are a natural way to represent many models and datasets.
This lecture was recorded by Oliver Johnson on 22nd May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/logarithms
Gresham 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/
A Just and Inclusive Net Zero: Who should get there first? - Myles Allen
17 Jun 2024
00:59:16
Eventually, net zero needs to include everyone: for emissions to continue in half the world while the other half mops them up is both unsustainable and unfair. But this does not mean every country should reach net zero at the same time.
Historical emitters like the UK should aim for net zero before the world as a whole, but a “staggered net zero” also carries risks for developing countries, lest they are left stranded in the race to a sustainable future.
This lecture was recorded by Myles Allen on 21st May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/inclusive-net-zero
Gresham 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/
Asymmetric Information in Finance Explained - Raghavendra Rau
14 Jun 2024
01:01:22
In every financial transaction, one side has more information than the other. For example, when someone buys a used car, the seller will know better than the buyer whether the car is a plum or a lemon. Does more information leave you better off?
One of the fascinating ideas behind the concept of asymmetric information is that more information can lead to you being actually worse off.
This lecture was recorded by Raghavendra Rau on 20th May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/asymmetric-information
Gresham 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/
This lecture explores the very limits of music: investigating historical efforts to catalogue musical materials including the melacarta of Carnatic music, the wazn of Arabic maqam, Slonimsky’s Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, Schillinger’s Encyclopedia of Rhythms, Forte numbers, and contemporary attempts to ‘pre-copyright’ every possible melody yet to be written.
It also tackles the bigger questions: how much music might exist, whether it ever will be exhausted, and if there are any boundaries of our musical perception and imagination.
This lecture was recorded by Milton Mermikides on 16th May 2024 at LSO St Luke's Church, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/music-infinite
Gresham 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/
Starring in My Fair Lady (1956), The Sound of Music (1965) and Cinderella (1957) gave Dame Julie Andrews unparalleled profile.
These were among the most successful Broadway, Hollywood and TV musicals of their time. Yet following this golden decade, she made few films and appeared in no Broadway shows during her forties and fifties, typically an artist’s most productive period.
How did she then become one of the most revered female stars of the late twentieth century?
This lecture was recorded by Dominic Broomfield-McHugh on 2nd May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/andrews
Gresham 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/
Health after Extreme Cold, Heat, Storms and Floods - Professor Sir Chris Whitty
03 Jun 2024
00:54:31
Weather and climate-related events can cause significant mortality and disability.
Sudden cold, heat, storms and floods all present risks to health, especially to the most vulnerable. Even in countries with temperate climates like the UK, weather-related deaths can be in the thousands, for example cold snaps causing cardiovascular deaths. In countries with more extreme weather this can be much greater. Some can cause major social disruption.
This lecture considers how weather events cause harm to health, and our countermeasures.
This lecture was recorded by Professor Sir Chris Whitty on 14th May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/storms-floods
Gresham 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/
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, London
Chris 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.
Gresham 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/
How to Prove 1=0, And Other Maths Illusions - Sarah Hart
30 May 2024
01:03:37
In this lecture I will show you some mathematical illusions: “proofs” that 1=0, that fractions don’t exist, and more. There are curious and important implications behind what’s going on.
These “proofs” reveal some very common logical slips that can go unnoticed when we are trying to prove more plausible statements. And the stakes are high. As I’ll show you, once you have “proved” one false claim, you can prove absolutely any statement at all.
This lecture was recorded by Sarah Hart on 14th May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/maths-illusions
Gresham 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/
Evolution has led from amoebae to blue whales and from algae to giant redwoods.
So what might it do in the future? What species might evolve in the next ten million years? How will evolutionary processes change as a result of human innovation and what are the risks of us getting it disastrously wrong? What might evolution look like if we ever set up home on another planet, or if inhabitants of other planets arrive here?
This lecture was recorded by Robin May on 8th May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/evolution-future
Gresham 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/
Come take a ride in the Tech Time Machine and explore how IT may change our lives in the next fifty years. By employing techniques used by science fiction writers, we can imagine how Artificial Intelligence, extended reality, mobile connectivity, quantum computing, and others will develop.
How will they converge, enable and accelerate each other? We can anticipate the opportunities and challenges technology may bring. Why should we fear disruption? Should we instead embrace it?
This lecture was recorded by Dr Victoria Baines on 7th May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/future-tech
Gresham 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/
Musical Consonance and Dissonance: The Good, Bad and Beautifully Ugly - Milton Mermikides
24 May 2024
00:57:05
What makes a piece of music challenging, bland, intriguing, beautiful or ugly?
This lecture explores the concept of ‘musical flavour’ formed by intervallic, rhythmic and timbral components and how they contribute to a sense of consonance and dissonance.
In particular we look at the interval vector, a system by which harmonic objects are analysed as a series of ‘handshakes’ between pitches, providing a measure of harmonic ‘bite’. The ‘Hendrix chord’ is used as a case study of such harmonic flavour.
This lecture was recorded by Milton Mermikides on 25th April 2024 at LSO St Luke's Church, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/music-consonance
Gresham 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/
Is it Aliens? The Most Unusual Star In The Galaxy - Chris Lintott
22 May 2024
01:05:22
Boyajian's star, a faint and unprepossessing presence in the constellation of Cygnus, attracted astronomers' attention when it began to flicker alarmingly.
We will discuss explanations for its behaviour, from disintegrating comets to alien megastructures, and consider how modern astronomy hunts for the truly unusual objects in the Universe.
For this task, the involvement of large numbers of volunteers - citizen scientists - is essential, for example via the Zooniverse platform, which invites you to participate in classifying galaxies and discovering planets.
This lecture was recorded by Chris Lintott on 29th April 2024 at Conway Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/alien-star
Gresham 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/
This lecture makes a survey of learned ceremonial magic in Europe throughout history and demonstrates that both of the customary claims made for it by practitioners since the Middle Ages are actually correct: that there is a continuous tradition of it and that it is ultimately derived from ancient Egypt.
In doing so, it also shows what is distinctive about Western magic.
This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on 24th April 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/western-magic
Gresham 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/
Queer urban life has changed dramatically in England over the last seventy years. Shifts in the economy, culture, attitudes, and technology have all played their part in this. London has often been used as the barometer for these shifts, suggesting they were experienced in similar ways across the nation.
In an exploration of the queer contours of Leeds, Manchester, Brighton and Plymouth, this lecture takes issue with this assumption and shows how and why LGBTQ scenes, communities and identities could feel very different from place to place.
This lecture was recorded by Matt Cook on 23rd April 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/locating-queer-history
Gresham 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/
Refugees: English Law's Protection or Persecution? - Leslie Thomas KC
15 May 2024
01:09:39
How are refugees protected in English law?
This lecture traces the history of refugee protection, the limits of the Refugee Convention, and changes to the law in recent decades that have made refugees’ lives increasingly difficult. The Government’s latest tranche of policies: the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and the Rwanda offshoring scheme, are particularly brutal.
Is it time to reverse anti-refugee policies and create safe and legal routes for refugees to reach the UK, without a number cap?
This lecture was recorded by Leslie Thomas KC on 18th April 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/refugees-law
Gresham 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/
The Geopolitical Risks of Climate Change - Myles Allen
13 May 2024
01:03:54
Climate Change is predicted to spark increasing threats to food security and demands for climate reparations, fuelling geopolitical instability.
Probably the greatest risk of all, is tension over solar geo-engineering: the idea of reflecting away sunlight deliberately to modify global climate.
Recognizing solar geo-engineering as an inherently destabilising technology, because any such programme would inevitably be considered liable for bad weather everywhere, and ruling it out, would be very helpful.
This lecture was recorded by Myles Allen on 16th April 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/climate-geopolitics
Gresham 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/
Sustainable Energy in Refugee Camps - Dr Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen
09 May 2024
00:56:32
Most of the world’s 102 million forcibly displaced people – refugees – lack access to reliable, affordable, sustainable energy. Attempts to provide such energy in refugee camps have been marred by governance challenges, and a lack of technical expertise within humanitarian organisations.
But new research discussed in this lecture on the lived experience of refugees is helping cast a light on ways to address it. However, developing inclusive approaches and supporting refugee-led action on energy is no easy task.
This lecture was recorded by Dr Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen on 10th April 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/refugee-energy
Gresham 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/
Sum Stories: Equations and their Origins - Robin Wilson
29 Jul 2025
00:54:42
How long is the coastline of Britain? What is a rhombicuboctahedron? Which US president proved Pythagoras’s theorem? These and many other intriguing questions will be addressed in this lecture on renowned mathematical equations and their history. The selected equations span various areas of mathematics and cover a timeline of 4000 years, from early geometry to fractal art.
This lecture was recorded by Robin Wilson on the 4th of June 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.
Professor Robin Wilson is Emeritus Gresham Professor of Geometry, Emeritus Professor of Pure Mathematics at the Open University, and a former Fellow of Keble College, Oxford University. He has also regularly taught as a guest Professor at The Colorado College, USA, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in mathematics in 2023.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/sum-stories
Gresham 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
What went wrong in Latin America? - Martin Daunton
07 May 2024
01:10:10
In the Great Depression, producers of food and raw materials complained that they received low prices and paid high prices for industrial imports. Latin America adopted ‘import substituting industrialisation’ to encourage production behind tariff barriers. This approach continued after the war as more countries gained independence.
Did this policy result in inefficient industries and state regulation without delivering improved welfare? By the 1980s, the policy was in retreat with a turn to market liberalisation and export-led growth.
This lecture was recorded by Martin Daunton on 9th April 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/import-substitution
Gresham 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/
Evidence that childhood lead exposure caused stunted intelligence and behavioural problems motivated efforts to ban lead in petrol, with the world finally eradicating leaded fuel in 2021.
This is a public health success story, but it took a long time to force industry to take action. The lead released from historic emissions persists within the environment and there is emerging evidence of continuing health effects.
The legacy of lead remains and will be explored in this lecture.
This lecture was recorded by Dr Ian Mudway on 25th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/lead-health
Gresham 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/
The Black Welsh singer started out recording cover versions of American songbook classics but rose to international fame after her performance of the title song of Goldfinger. Movie songs, successful albums and popular television specials followed, but so too did personal tragedy and a highly critical (and gendered) reputation of her professional behaviour in the media.
The word ‘diva’ has been applied both admiringly and misogynistically to her life and work, typifying her experience as a Black British woman.
This lecture was recorded by Dominic Broomfield-McHugh on 21st March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/bassey
Gresham 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/
Artificial Selection: How Humans have Shaped Evolution - Robin May
24 Apr 2024
00:59:49
We often think of evolution as ‘something that happened’ in the past. But of course, evolution is a constant, powerful process and one that is often unleashed by human behaviours.
Often this is deliberate, we’ll look at how artificial selection has shaped our crops, livestock and domestic pets, and we’ll find out how modern science is uncovering the genetic changes that lie beneath. But sometimes human behaviours unleash powerful and altogether less welcome evolutionary forces…join us as we uncover them together!
This lecture was recorded by Robin May on 20th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/human-led-evolution
Gresham 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/
Data Protection for Thrillseekers - Dr Victoria Baines
17 Apr 2024
00:57:16
We increasingly share with online services intimate details of our lives, such as mental health and reproductive data. Far from being a ‘tick box’ legal exercise, data protection is about fair and responsible use of our personal information.
It gives us rights which we are entitled to exercise against mega corporations, governments, and anyone who processes our data.
It’s time to get empowered. Because if we don’t use it, we might lose it.
This lecture was recorded by Dr Greg Constantine on 18th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/immigration-detention
Gresham 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/
The Human Cost of Immigration Detention - Dr Greg Constantine
16 Apr 2024
01:00:59
Governments increasingly use detention as a central component of immigration and asylum policy. The lecture addresses several important questions.
What does immigration detention look like? How is it a reflection of those societies that tolerate its use and the policies that support and endorse its expansion? What place does it have in the journeys of those migrating across borders today?
Using photography and testimony, this lecture visually translates several immigration detention systems and shares first-hand stories.
This lecture was recorded by Dr Greg Constantine on 18th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/immigration-detention
Gresham 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/
Democracy: Ancient Models, Modern Challenges - Melissa Lane
12 Apr 2024
00:58:17
Demokratia is the power (kratos) of the people (demos). But what kind of power, and who constitutes the people? Although ancient democracy is often stylized as “direct democracy” and so positioned as very different from modern “representative democracy,” in fact, issues of accountability are central to both.
Ancient Greek models of holding leaders to account are still relevant. Furthermore, the ancient Greek use of election for some offices and lottery selection for others also offers instructive possibilities for modern challenges.
This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 14th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/democracy-ancient
Gresham 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/
New Hope in Cancer: A Panel Discussion - Dr Richard Sidebottom, Sanjay Popat and James Larkin
10 Apr 2024
00:55:08
In partnership with Novartis
Treatments and research in cancer are moving very fast, giving new hope to many.
This event will bring together speakers in the series to delve further into new treatments and research in cancer, including immunotherapy, genomics and AI imaging.
This lecture was recorded by Parker Moss, Dr Richard Sidebottom, Sanjay Popat and James Larkin on 12th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/cancer-hope
Gresham 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/
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a combination of hyperactivity, impulsiveness and inattention which significantly impacts those living with the condition. The medical approach to the ADHD pattern of behaviour has been very successful in childhood but the results have been somewhat less impressive in adulthood. This has led to a reappraisal of both causes and treatment in both age groups.
Should the conventional, neurotypical world accommodate people with ADHD as different, rather than disabled?
This lecture was recorded by Peter Hill on 11th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/adhd
Gresham 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/
Ancient Greek Ideas of Equality under the Law - Melissa Lane
04 Apr 2024
01:00:52
The Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen has posed the question, ‘equality of what?’ The value of equality depends on what standard is chosen. As ancient Greek thinkers recognized, equality can be deployed to exclude as well as to liberate, and its relationship to law and freedom needs to be interrogated.
If equal social freedom is a product of isonomia—the equal application of laws to all—those laws need to be free of systematic bias and command public respect.
This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 7th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/greek-equality
Gresham 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/
The Deceived Brain: Coding and Illusion - Alain Goriely
25 Jul 2025
00:51:29
We perceive the world through the processing of information given by our senses. Sometimes, this processing is faulty leading to illusions: shapes or sounds that we perceive differently from their physical reality. These illusions have delighted children and scientists alike for centuries. This lecture reveals how simple geometric illusions can be modelled mathematically, based on our understanding on how visual signals are coded and decoded by the brain, leading to a better understanding of how we process information.
This lecture was recorded by Alain Goriely on the 17th of June 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.
Alain is Gresham Professor of Geometry.
He is currently the Director of the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2022.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/deceived-brain
Gresham 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
Ritual Nudity in History and Religion - Ronald Hutton
03 Apr 2024
00:57:58
This lecture looks at the role played by nudity in European religion and magic from ancient times to the present, with some reference to a global context.
It reveals the unexpected pattern and explains why it has been marginal to religion, except in initiation ceremonies, but very important in magical practices.
This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on 6th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/ritual-nudity
Gresham 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/
Climate Tipping Points in Oceans, Ice, Forests - Myles Allen
27 Mar 2024
00:59:43
The impacts of climate change that probably worry people the most are irreversible changes that affect the entire world, such as a collapse of the west Antarctic ice sheet, shutdown of the global thermohaline circulation, loss of the Amazon biome, or a melting of Arctic permafrost.
Sudden, unpredictable and irreversible changes can happen in response to a gradual warming. What is known about these risks at 1.5°C, 2°C and higher levels of warming?
This lecture was recorded by Myles Allen on 5th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/tipping-points
Gresham 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/
We regularly hear of amazing coincidences – people winning the lottery twice, or getting a phone call from a long-lost friend just when you were thinking about them. Is this telepathy? Is there a greater power at work when someone survives seven lightning strikes?
There can be terrible consequences from the misunderstanding of coincidence.
This lecture was recorded by Sarah Hart on 5th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/maths-coincidence
Gresham 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/