The 'curious and ingenious' men who met at Gresham College and founded the Royal Society were fascinated by the Sun and Planets; the 'fixed stars' were a distant mystery to them. Over succeeding centuries, cosmic horizons have expanded - largely thanks to ever more powerful instruments. So has our understanding - though each advance brings into focus a new set of mysteries.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/a-cosmic-perspective-four-centuries-of-expanding-horizons

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.

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