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Gresham College
@greshamcollege.bsky.social
Free public lectures across the Arts & Sciences | Since 1597
http://gresham.ac.uk
🏛️ Tickets open! The Death of Athenian Democracy?

🔗 https://gres.hm/death-athenian-democracy

When did Athenian democracy really end - 338 or 322 BCE? Prof Melissa Lane* explores this and how Athens governed under subsequent Macedonian rule...

* also Princeton University Department of Politics
February 12, 2026 at 12:50 PM
🎟️ In-person tickets now open: Bridget: Goddess and Saint

🔗 https://gres.hm/goddess-bridget

Gresham Professor of Divinity, Ronald Hutton* explores the tangled history of Bridget, asking whether goddess and saint were ever the same, and what evidence lies behind the myths

*also ofHistory at Bristol
February 10, 2026 at 12:10 PM
On this week 🎟️

📸 Lee Miller: Indelible Images
Tue 10 Feb, 6pm

🕊️ Peacebuilding through the Visual Arts
Wed 11 Feb, 6pm

Join us online: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on?see-all
February 9, 2026 at 10:35 AM
Will You Be AI’s Pet? 🐾

👉 https://ow.ly/vcs950Y9Thy

Gresham Professor of IT Matt Jones* explores whether #AI is “domesticating” humans - considering the benefits and hidden costs of our evolving relationship with technology

*also of @swanseauni.bsky.social
February 7, 2026 at 1:46 PM
Considering leaving a gift in your Will?

A legacy gift to Gresham College helps ensure free, world-class learning remains open to all – now and for generations to come... 🎓✨

Find out more: gres.hm/give-legacy

#LeaveALegacy #GreshamCollege #GiftInYourWill #SupportLearning #FreeEducation
February 6, 2026 at 10:00 AM
What makes an image impossible to forget?

Antony Penrose explores the photographs his mother Lee Miller took as a witness to WWII and the Holocaust, and why their stark power continues to confront us decades later.

Watch live 👉 gres.hm/lee-miller

#WorldWar2 #Photography #Photojournalism
February 5, 2026 at 10:01 AM
In-person tickets open: Why Do We Hate?

Why did hatred evolve? Is it love’s evil twin - and can we ever treat it? Prof. Robin May explores one of humanity’s most destructive emotions: https://gres.hm/why-hate

Institute of Microbiology and Infection
#evolution #biology
February 4, 2026 at 12:05 PM
🌍💨 What is the air we live in – and how are we changing it?

We talk about the climate crisis in terms of greenhouse gases. But what is the atmosphere, and how does it really work?

In 'An Ocean of Air', Prof Helen Czerski* reveals all about our atmosphere...

👉 gres.hm/ocean-air

* also of UCL
February 3, 2026 at 6:36 PM
In-person tickets open: The Shape of #Gravity: Why On Earth Are Planets Spherical?

Professor Alain Goriely* explores how gravity shapes planets, from Earth’s squashed form to the limits of spherical worlds https://gres.hm/shape-gravity

*also of Oxford Mathematics
#astronomy #maths
February 3, 2026 at 1:10 PM
Step into the shadows of the ancient world… 🏛️✨

In 'Mithras: Master of Mystery', Gresham Professor of Divinity Ronald Hutton explores the most famous mystery religion of the Roman Empire...

👉 gres.hm/mithras

University of Bristol #AncientHistory #AncientRome #GreshamCollege
January 30, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Catch up: Why Do We Grieve?

https://gres.hm/why-grieve

Prof Robin May* explores the biology of grief.. and whether we might find a 'cure' for this crip[pling emotion.

*also of the Institute of Microbiology and Infection
#evolution #biology
January 28, 2026 at 12:46 PM
We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Dr Allan Chapman. He served as Gresham College Visiting Professor of the History of Science (2004–2011).

Revisit his terrific lectures here: gres.hm/allan-chapman
January 27, 2026 at 2:39 PM
In-person tickets open: That’s Not Funny – The Ethics of Satire 🎭

👉 https://gres.hm/ethics-satire

Satire once aimed to reform through ridicule - but today it’s under fire. Where’s the line between #FreeSpeech and hate speech? Prof Judith Hawley explores satire’s past and present.
January 26, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Free in-person tickets: Music of Earth & #Space 🎶🌍🌌

From Pythagoras to Holst, throat singing to seismic & celestial data, #music has echoed the cosmos. Prof Milton Mermikides* explores how all existence vibrates as sound.

👉 https://gres.hm/music-earth-space

*also of ‪@uniofsurrey.bsky.social‬
January 25, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Happy #BurnsNight 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Enjoy Robert Burns’ The White Cockade (1790), performed by Timothy Reynolds (tenor) and Ulrich Wedemeier (guitar). 🎶

From Prof Christopher Jones’ lecture on the guitar: the first fully harmonic instrument accessible to the working-class.

👉 gres.hm/guitar-lowest

#Scotland
January 25, 2026 at 10:01 AM
In-person tickets open: Work, Out of Reach

👉 https://gres.hm/out-reach

Prof Professor Daniel Susskind explores frictional tech unemployment: work exists, but people can’t access it—skills gaps, location, and identity mismatches.

*also of ‪King's College London
January 24, 2026 at 12:30 PM
🎶✨ Can we see music — or hear colour? 🌈

In 'Music of Light and Colour', Prof of Music Milton Mermikides reveals how musicians and composers have long explored the deep links between sound and vision...

👉 gres.hm/music-light-colour

#Synesthesia #MusicTheory #MusicHistory #GreshamCollege
January 21, 2026 at 2:03 PM
In-person tickets open 🎟️ The Ground We Stand On

https://gres.hm/ground

Prof. Helen Czerski* explores land, rocks, and soil—what the ground beneath us is doing across short and deep timescales, and how we should think about its future.

* also of UCL
#environment #airpollution #climate
January 19, 2026 at 12:15 PM
This week at #GreshamCollege:

🎨 Constable’s Cornfield at 200 Years Old – Prof Malcolm Andrews 👉 Tue 20 Jan, 6pm
🖤 Why Do We Grieve? – Prof Robin May 👉 Wed 21 Jan 2026, 6pm
🌬️ An Ocean of Air – Prof Helen Czerski 👉 Thu 22 Jan 2026, 6pm

🎥 Watch live online! www.gresham.ac.uk
January 19, 2026 at 9:40 AM
Tickets open 🎟️ Climate Risk and Insurance

https://gres.hm/climate-insurance

Why did insurance vanish for coastal homes while energy bills surged? Prof Raghavendra Rau explains how climate extremes & geopolitics create correlated risks; and what fixes might work

Cambridge Judge Business School
January 18, 2026 at 12:20 PM
In-person tickets: The Price of Pixels: Unmasking the Environmental Impact of Our Digital Lives

https://gres.hm/price-pixels

From rare earth mining to data centres and e-waste, Prof Ian Mudway* explores the hidden environmental and health costs of convenience...

*also of School of Public Health
January 17, 2026 at 12:35 PM
Catch up: Economics and Artificial Intelligence

👉 https://gres.hm/economics-ai

Prof Daniel Susskind* traces the history of AI, work and #economics from a 1956 Dartmouth conference to today’s technological upheavals and #ChatGPT

*also of ‪King's College London
#EduSky‬
January 16, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Gresham College
Hidden behind shopfronts on Holborn is a rare survivor from medieval times, Barnard's Inn Hall. Anyone can visit this incredible building, and below its ancient rafters watch a free Gresham lecture about life, the universe and everything londonist.substack.com/p/inside-hol...
Inside Holborn's Tudor Hall
Into Barnard's Inn Hall, home of Gresham College.
londonist.substack.com
January 16, 2026 at 8:02 AM
How should we prepare for the later years of life?

Sir Peter Thornton KC* reveals how, by planning now, we can protect independence, ease future decisions, and gain peace of mind for ourselves and our loved ones...

👉 gres.hm/later-years

* also of King's College London Bedford Square Publishers
January 16, 2026 at 10:01 AM
Monsters, temptation, heaven and hell – what did they mean in the world of Hieronymus Bosch? 🎨

Dr Sophie Oosterwijk explores Bosch’s ‘surreal’ imagery of sin, death and the afterlife, revealing how his terrifying visions were rooted in late medieval religious belief...

👉 gres.hm/hieronymus-bosch
January 15, 2026 at 10:01 AM