Gresham College Lectures

An extensive overview of the current global effort for space exploration and the challenges mankind faces http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/our-future-off-earth

The Space Age is half a century old. Its early successes were driven by a fierce superpower rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States, which tended to obscure the fact that exploration and risk-tasking is built into human DNA. Decades after we last set foot on the moon, space activity is finally taking off. A vibrant private sector, led by SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, plans to launch supplies cheaply into earth orbit, and giving people the chance of a sub-orbital joyride. Fighting gravity will always be difficult but new materials are being developed and engineers are rethinking rockets and developing new propulsion technologies.

Permanent bases on the Moon and Mars are now within reach, and a new Space Race is brewing. We can now envisage our future off-Earth.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/our-future-off-earth

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 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

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Who makes great buildings patrons, architects and builders? Are successful places, like London, made by careful planning or by serendipity? The career of Wren, often thought as the greatest English architect, tells us a lot about what leads to architectural success and tells us a lot about London.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/sir-christopher-wren-buildings-place-and-genius

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 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

An overview of the major contributions of two of the founders of computer science - John von Neumann and Alan Turing http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/turing-and-von-neumann

Alan Turing (1912-1954) and John von Neumann (1903-1957) had an enormous range of interests not only in pure mathematics but also in practical applications. They made major contributions during the Second World War; Turing on cryptography and von Neumann on weapons development. The Turing machine formalised the idea of an algorithm and the Turing test is important in artificial intelligence while von Neumann founded the subject of game theory. Both are considered founders of computer science.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/turing-and-von-neumann

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 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

The Britain’s love affair with the the European Monetary System (ERM), precursor to the euro, and its political ramification http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/leaving-the-erm-1992

In October 1990, in the last days of her premiership, Margaret Thatcher announced, against her better judgement, that Britain would join the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System (ERM), precursor to the euro. In September 1992, during John Major’s premiership, Britain found herself unable to sustain membership and left the ERM. This had fundamental consequences for the Conservative Party, destroying its reputation for sound economic management, and legitimising euroscepticism, so making it less likely that Britain would join the euro.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/leaving-the-erm-1992

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 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Who makes great buildings patrons, architects and builders? Are successful places, like London, made by careful planning or by serendipity? The career of Wren, often thought as the greatest English architect, tells us a lot about what leads to architectural success and tells us a lot about London.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/sir-christopher-wren-buildings-place-and-genius

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 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

This lecture seeks to analyse the tensions between the Queen's changing roles as head of state, head of the nation and Head of the Commonwealth http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-queen-at-90

The sixty four years of the Queen's reign - the longest in British history - have seen radical changes in British politics and society. But in 2016 as in 1952, the Queen remains both head of state and also head of the nation - or rather head of the multi-national polity that the United Kingdom has now become. The Queen is also Head of the Commonwealth, an organisation which has been transformed during her reign. In 1952, it contained just eight member states. Today, it contains 54 members, nearly one-third of the countries of the world, of which 16 have the Queen as head of state.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-queen-at-90#5gtBQO8F9YjsDdCK.99

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 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

In depth analysis of Christian Protestantism and how that shapes the contemporary world http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/what-would-jesus-do-christian-culture-wars-in-the-modern-west

Christian Culture Wars in the Modern West Europe and North America are now marginal in global Protestant Christianity, but they remain the vital test-bed of how this religion and post-industrial society can, or cannot, adapt to each other. This lecture will explain how, following the moral trauma of the Second World War, Christianity has produced both a bold, sometimes self-defeating liberalism, and also a newly assured but politically compromised conservatism; and explore the deep continuities connecting the two, and how they continue to shape the contemporary world.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/what-would-jesus-do-christian-culture-wars-in-the-modern-west

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 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

The Britain's love affair with the the European Monetary System (ERM), precursor to the euro, and its political ramification http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/leaving-the-erm-1992

In October 1990, in the last days of her premiership, Margaret Thatcher announced, against her better judgement, that Britain would join the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System (ERM), precursor to the euro. In September 1992, during John Major's premiership, Britain found herself unable to sustain membership and left the ERM. This had fundamental consequences for the Conservative Party, destroying its reputation for sound economic management, and legitimising euroscepticism, so making it less likely that Britain would join the euro.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/leaving-the-erm-1992

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 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

An overview of the major contributions of two of the founders of computer science - John von Neumann and Alan Turing http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/turing-and-von-neumann
Alan Turing (1912-1954) and John von Neumann (1903-1957) had an enormous range of interests not only in pure mathematics but also in practical applications. They made major contributions during the Second World War; Turing on cryptography and von Neumann on weapons development. The Turing machine formalised the idea of an algorithm and the Turing test is important in artificial intelligence while von Neumann founded the subject of game theory. Both are considered founders of computer science.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/turing-and-von-neumann

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 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.
Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

This lecture seeks to analyse the tensions between the Queen's changing roles as head of state, head of the nation and Head of the Commonwealth http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-queen-at-90

The sixty four years of the Queen's reign - the longest in British history - have seen radical changes in British politics and society. But in 2016 as in 1952, the Queen remains both head of state and also head of the nation - or rather head of the multi-national polity that the United Kingdom has now become. The Queen is also Head of the Commonwealth, an organisation which has been transformed during her reign. In 1952, it contained just eight member states. Today, it contains 54 members, nearly one-third of the countries of the world, of which 16 have the Queen as head of state.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-queen-at-90#5gtBQO8F9YjsDdCK.99

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 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show