Gresham College Lectures

In the early modern period, it was common practice to praise the mathematical sciences, a typical example being Martinus Hortensius’ Inauguration Speech on the Dignity and the Usefulness of the Mathematical Sciences (Amsterdam 1634). 

This lecture explains how "mathematical sciences" were understood in the 17th century, before exploring the arguments which were used to advocate for the use of the mathematical sciences, using visual materials such as title engravings of 17th century publications. Can previous answers to the question “What do you need a mathematician for?” help us understand our need for mathematicians today?

This lecture was recorded by Volker Remmert on the 7th of October 2026

Volker Remmert has been trained as mathematician and historian. He teaches history of science and technology at the University of Wuppertal, Germany. 
His research interests are in the history of early modern science, with a focus on the mathematical sciences (Picturing the Scientific Revolution: Title Engravings in Early Mo­dern Scientific Publications, Philadelphia 2011), and in the history of mathematics in Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries (with Ute Schneider: Eine Disziplin und ihre Ver­le­ger – Disziplinenkultur und Publika­tionswesen der Mathematik in Deutschland, 1871-1949, Bielefeld 2010). 
He has recently co-edited volumes on the history early modern science (with Julia Ellinghaus: Manipulating the Sun: Picturing Astronomical Miracles from the Bible in the Early Modern Era, Leiden 2024, with Jeanne Peiffer: A Cultural History of Mathematics in the Early Modern Age, vol. 3 of the  Bloomsbury Cultural History of Mathematics, London 2024) and, together with Maria Remenyi, on the early workshops at the Mathematical Research Institute Oberwolfach (https://doi.org/10.14760/978-3-00-082798-3). 

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/what-mathematician

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today
 
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This lecture was recorded by Professor Sir Jim Mallinson on 5th of October 2026 at Barnard’s Inn Hall, London.
Jim Mallinson is the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow at Balliol College. His research focuses on the history and current traditional practice of yoga and his primary methods are philology, ethnography and art history. 
Prof. Mallinson led the Haṭha Yoga Project (2015–2021), a six-person research project on the history of physical yoga funded by the European Research Council. The project’s core outputs are ten critical editions of Sanskrit texts on physical yoga and four monographs on its history and current practice. Together with Professor Jürgen Hanneder (University of Marburg), Prof. Mallinson led the Light on Hatha Yoga Project (2021–2024) which will result in a critical edition of the Haṭhapradīpikā. 
Prof. Mallinson’s publications include the following: The Khecarīvidyā of Ādinātha, a Critical Edition and Annotated Translation of an Early Text on Haṭhayoga (Routledge, 2007), a revision of his doctoral thesis, which was supervised by Professor Alexis Sanderson at the University of Oxford, where Prof. Mallinson also read Sanskrit as an undergraduate; Roots of Yoga (Penguin Classics, 2017, co-authored with Mark Singleton), The Amṛtasiddhi and Amṛtasiddhimūla: The Earliest Texts of the Haṭhayoga Tradition (École française d’Extreme- orient, Pondicherry, 2021) and The Dattātreyayogaśāstra (École française d’Extreme-orient, Pondicherry, 2024). 
Prof. Mallinson has spent many years living in India with traditional ascetics and practitioners of yoga, and at the 2013 Kumbh Mela was awarded the title of Mahant by the Rāmānandī Saṃpradāya. 
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/yoga-purpose
Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. 
To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today

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The unipolar world of American military dominance, which characterised the relatively stable 35-year post-Cold War period, is now well and truly over. This lecture reveals how nation states face a series of geostrategic shifts and challenges, combined with rapid technological change.

The world has now entered a highly disruptive and volatile period which will be defined by complexity, competition and conflict. How nations credibly deter will not be straightforward, but failure to do so could prove to be catastrophic.

This lecture was recorded by Martin Connell on the 27th of October 2026

Sir Martin Connell joined the Royal Navy straight from school and went on to command at every rank from lieutenant through to vice admiral. Initially flying helicopters, he went on to be a captain of warships ranging from patrol vessels and frigates through to aircraft carriers, commanding military operations all around the world. Later in his career he worked in various shore-based roles including as a diplomat in Washington D.C. and numerous senior command and staff roles in the Ministry of Defence in London which included a period in 2025 as the Interim First Sea Lord and Chief of the Royal Navy. 

He has advised the highest levels of UK and allied governments and industry leadership on all aspects of deterrence, national security, major procurement programmes and the defence nuclear enterprise. Martin is now a strategic advisor specialising in defence and international security.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/rethinking-deterrence

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today
 
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The Irish language has been associated with politicisation and conflict, particularly in the context of contemporary Northern Ireland identity politics. However, debates around the language extend much further back in time and some key elements of the discourse may be traced to the sixteenth century in particular.

This lecture looks at the portrayal of the Irish language by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and the motivations for some negative stereotypes which were to prove resilient and enduring in later centuries.

This lecture was recorded by Mícheál Ó Mainnín on the 1st of October 2026

Professor Mícheál Ó Mainnín works within the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen's University Belfast.

His principal research interests lie in the areas of linguistics (particularly onomastics and historical linguistics); Irish and Scottish Gaelic literary texts; language politics; Irish and Scottish identity and relations in the medieval and modern periods.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/shakespeare-irish

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today
 
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This episode of the Gresham College Podcast features a conversation between two Gresham Professors: Melissa Lane, Gresham Professor of Rhetoric and Ronald Hutton, Gresham Professor of Divinity.
 
Together they explore the gods of ancient Greece: where deities come from, why the same god could have several different parents, stories and personalities, and why the Greeks never expected their gods to be good. Ronald explains why Greeks addressed their deities as "sir and madam" rather than "Lord God", how blood sacrifice worked more like a community barbecue, and how ordinary people struck deals with the gods for help with toothache, childbirth or a safe voyage. 
 
Melissa traces how philosophers from Xenophanes to Plato began to question the poets' badly behaved gods, and how religion collided with Athenian democracy, from the law courts to the trial of Socrates. The conversation then turns to the mystery religions, from the Eleusinian Mysteries to the women-only rites of Dionysus, the role of blindfolds and ordeal in initiation, and the gold leaves buried with initiates as calling cards for the underworld. It closes with the Greek view of the afterlife, and the story of the goddess Athena, evicted from the Parthenon, knocking at the philosopher Proclus's door. 
 
Further Viewing: 
Watch Ronald Hutton's Gresham College lecture, Mithras: Master of Mystery: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/god-mithras 
 
Watch Melissa Lane's Gresham College lecture, Cicero In and On Political Crises: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/cicero 
 
Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. 
 
To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/ 
Website: https://gresham.ac.uk 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/greshamcollege 
Facebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollege 
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Support the show