Gresham College Lectures

Pattern and structure are essential to music, from the permutations in a Bach fugue, to the structure of a round.

This lecture will explore the mathematics of musical symmetries, such as the "translational symmetry" of the transposition of keys, and the "rotational symmetry" of the duet "Der Spiegel", attributed to Mozart.

It will go on to explore the last century's experimentation with the use of mathematical forms to produce intriguing effects, including in the works of Arnold Schoenberg and Per Nørgård.

A lecture by Sarah Hart 13 October

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/maths-music

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 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
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This lecture will focus on human rights and the wrongs of unexpected and/or sudden deaths in which the state is implicated.

It will cover the importance of a proper death investigation, the impact on the family and state, how Magna Carta influences death investigations 800 years on, and current trends and statistics in state deaths.

How does the state show it cares when deaths occur? Does the state learn lessons? How can the bereaved move on?

A lecture by Leslie Thomas QC 1 October

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/state-killing

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 2,000 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

2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre and the Dayton Accords resolution of the first two (Croatia and Bosnia) of the three Balkan wars of the 1990s.

In examining the legacy of this conflict, Professor Nice will consider documents newly-released by the UK and US governments.

Did the UK and US know what was coming and fail to act? Was the massacre the result of cold blooded politics that was never acknowledged?

A lecture by Geoffrey Nice QC 29 September

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/srebrenica

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 2,000 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

Eve was the original Evil Woman. She was tempted by Satan, introducing sin into the world. In turn, she seduced Adam, bringing the wrath of the Creator upon humanity for all eternity.

From the 2nd century, Eve has been blamed for evil. The innocence of the Virgin Mary simply magnifies Eve's weakness and this continues to resonate in western texts. The fig-leaf covering Eve's genitals is a reminder of the carnality of evil as well as its feminine origins.

A lecture by Joanna Bourke 8 October

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/evil-eve

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 2,000 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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This illustrated lecture will cover Newton’s life and his mathematical and scientific labours in the context of 17th-century England, and feature his childhood in Lincolnshire, his university career in Cambridge and his later life in London as Master of the Royal Mint and President of the Royal Society.

This lecture marks the launch of a Pitkin Guide on Isaac Newton.

A lecture by Robin Wilson and Raymond Flood 28 September

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/isaac-newtons-world

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 2,000 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 which years does February have five Sundays? How many right-angled triangles with whole-number sides have a side of length 29? How many shuffles are needed to restore the order of the cards in a pack with two Jokers? Are any of the numbers 11, 111, 1111, 11111, . . . perfect squares? Can one construct a regular polygon with 100 sides if measuring is forbidden? How do prime numbers help to keep our credit cards secure?

These are all questions in number theory, the branch of mathematics that’s primarily concerned with our counting numbers, 1, 2, 3, etc. Of particular importance are the prime numbers, the ‘building blocks’ of our number system.

The subject is an old one, dating back to the ancient Greeks, and for many years has been studied for its intrinsic beauty and elegance, not least because several of its challenges are so easy to state that everyone can understand them, and yet no-one has ever been able to resolve them.

This lecture situates the above problems and puzzles in their historical context, drawing on the work of many of the greatest mathematicians of the past, such as Euclid, Fermat, Euler and Gauss. Indeed, as Gauss, sometimes described as the ‘Prince of Mathematics’, has claimed: Mathematics is the Queen of the Sciences, and Number Theory is the Queen of Mathematics.

A lecture by Robin Wilson 28 September

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/number-theory

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 2,000 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

Clinical practice is often seen as the acquisition and application of scientific knowledge to diagnose and treat diseases. Yet every patient is different.

This lecture draws on a ten-year collaboration with a Savile Row tailor to explore 'bespoke' as a metaphor for clinical practice. Using this approach, the knowledge and skill of a practitioner must intersect with the needs of the patient to create a unique solution for each problem.

With Joshua Byrne (bespoke tailor)

A lecture by Roger Kneebone 7 October

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/medicine-tailor

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 2,000 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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At longer wavelengths than the normal optical wavelengths to which human eyes are normally sensitive, is the radio part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Radio astronomy can tell us about the distribution of magnetic fields in the Universe, and reveal striking structures which have no comparable counterpart at visible wavelengths.

A lecture by Katherine Blundell OBE 7 October

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/watching-radio

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 2,000 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

England’s Catholic Reformation is the reformation that sixteenth-century England nearly had: a reformed and renewed English Catholic Church, its new schools and revived parishes matched with a firm smack of discipline.

It almost happened; its leading prophets – Cardinals Thomas Wolsey and Reginald Pole – both came close to being elected pope.

Instead, as these possibilities evaporated, they left behind them a toxic residue which has poisoned England’s relations with its neighbours down to the present.

A lecture by Alec Ryrie 23 September

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/catholic-reformation

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 2,000 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

On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels, his biographer Tristram Hunt looks at how both Engels and Karl Marx were deeply affected by their time in London in the second half of the 19th century.

London, then the heart of the British Empire, transformed the thinking of these two revolutionary philosophers on finance, on working people's lives, on cities, and on women voting.

Hunt will look at the remarkable personal and family lives of the 'The Old Londoners' as they became known, in their North London homes at Primrose Hill and Chalk Farm.

A lecture by Dr Tristram Hunt 6 October

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/engels-marx

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 2,000 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