Gresham College

05/10/2026

🚀✨Did you know there are more stars dying each year than those being born?

Prof Chris Lintott* delves into this and more in his lecture exploring how the Universe will end, and how this could reveal the secrets of the its beginnings. ✨

👉 gres.hm/how-ends

*also of University of Oxford Physics

05/10/2026

A delightful episode of this long-running podcast featuring Gresham Professor of Rhetoric Melissa Lane.!

Watch more of Melissa's lectures: https://gres.hm/melissa-lane-lectures

https://tinyurl.com/2jjap93j
The second installment of our 500th episode celebration is now up! We fill the huge gap I left by not covering the Greek historians Herotodus and Thucydides. Probably my worst ever omission. But it's been worth the 15 year wait, because I'm now joined by the fabulous Melissa Lane to discuss them!

04/10/2026

🚀✨ This , celebrate human curiosity about the cosmos – and the incredible stories the universe has to tell.

Ready to explore further? 🌌 Our collection of free astronomy lectures takes you from stars and planets to black holes, galaxies and the origins of the Universe. Discover fascinating ideas and expand your understanding of the cosmos...

👉 https://gres.hm/gresham-astronomy

02/10/2026

🎵 Can music bridge the gap between wakefulness and sleep?😴

🎧 Watch more: https://gres.hm/music-sleep

Studies show that we continue to respond to musical rhythm and harmony while asleep - as if a sonic gatekeeper is curating what makes it through to us. Our names and loud sounds can break through the gates, but strangely, so too can elements of music.

And the connection between music and dreams runs deep. ’s Let It Be and Tartini’s Devil’s Trill Sonata are said to have come to their composers in dreams, while Mozart and Richard Wagner reportedly experienced musical ideas in half-sleep states.

In this fascinating lecture, Professor Milton Mermikides* explores the strange, elusive magic shared by music and sleep - and how both can transport us beyond ordinary language and identity.


📍 Recorded at LSO St Luke's
*also of University of Surrey Department of Music and Media

27/09/2026

Cracking the Mathematics

Why does a whip make that astonishing crack? Professor Alain Goriely* reveals the surprising mathematics behind the extreme acceleration of whips and chains — and how infinity itself helps create the sound.

Watch more: https://gres.hm/cracking-whip

* also of | Oxford Mathematics

25/09/2026

What does an instrument mean to its player?

Dr Kate Kennedy uncovers the extraordinary stories of cellists, exploring what it means to be separated from your voice — and to find it again.

Watch more 👉https://gres.hm/cello-voice


English Faculty, University of Oxford

24/09/2026

Tickets now open!

Our Sovereign Soil: Urban Planning and Public Health

Book free: https://gres.hm/sovereign-soil

Visiting Professor Ian Mudway* looks at the conflict between large-scale urban development and people’s health. He questions the legal idea that contaminated or damaged land only needs to be cleaned up enough to be considered “suitable for use”, rather than being properly restored.

Are economic benefits and development being given more importance than protecting people’s physical health?



*also of Imperial College | Imperial Medicine

This lecture scrutinises the friction between aggressive urban planning and public health. It challenges the “Suitable for Use” legislative framework, revealing how simple remediation is often a mechanism for bypassing genuine restoration.

23/09/2026

"All Gresham lecturers share a love for their subject, which makes it accessible to almost anyone..." 💡✨

Listen to Bill's story about how Gresham College lectures have helped him on his lifelong learning journey... 📚

Become a Friend with a regular donation of £10+ per month – you'll help us to keep providing world-class education, for free, to people across the globe. 🌍

Find out more: gres.hm/friend

22/09/2026

Next Monday!

Where is Q***r Love in the Shoah History?
Mon, 28 Sep 2026

🎟️Free, 6pm • In person or live online: https://gres.hm/queer-shoah

Dr Anna Hájková explains why the history of same-sex desire in the Shoah, that is, queerness among Jews persecuted by the N***s for their race, has been excluded and marginalised, and how its return to our understanding of the Holocaust can offer an inclusive and feminist history of this genocide.

University of Warwick

21/09/2026

We were delighted to welcome over 500 visitors to Gresham College last week as part of the ! Thank you to all who dropped in to find out more about our medieval Hall - and our lovely volunteers who helped welcome guests!

Read more: https://gres.hm/open-house-26