How can the past explain its present re-emergence? Polio: A Cultural History #GreshamLecture Polio has a major role in the cultural history of the West. The early symptoms – which were often mild flu-like symptoms – would end in paralysis. Vaccinations against the disease proved controversial, given their trials on incarcerated prisoners and the use of “poster children”. Epidemics of the disease illustrate the uneven transmission of ideas about health and sickness. They show how the period's ger

Lunchtime lectures at Gresham College | Gresham College

Need a strategy to beat the system? The #Maths of Game Theory #GreshamLecture When we buy, sell, bargain, barter, bid at auctions, and compete for resources, we want to be sure that we are using the best strategies. Game theory can help us understand precisely these kinds of situations. That’s why in 1994, the Nobel Prize for Economics was won by a mathematician – John Nash. Using games like the Prisoner’s dilemma, this lecture explains the work of game theorists such as Nash, David Blackwell an

Our 2024-25 academic programme is now out! Over 100 free lectures across the arts & sciences; live online and in-person. Check them out: https://gres.hm/whats-on Includes exciting series' on #business, modern #paganism, #immunity, #netzero, #astronomy, #architecture, #inequality, the history of #lawmaking and beginnings of #computing. Plus inaugural series' by our new Professors: renowned human rights lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, who will be exploring The UK's Unwritten Constitution, and eminen

Can the tension between science, policy and diplomacy concerning the environment be resolved? A Just and Rights-Based Framework for Nature #GreshamLecture International negotiations concerning our environment such as on climate and biodiversity, often put the scientific case behind economic and political interests, with potentially disastrous consequences. What does that mean for human prosperity and even survival? Can the tension between science, policy and diplomacy be resolved? What would a n

What do we owe to those not yet born? #GreshamLecture Climate change and the over-exploitation of resources now may mean that unless the current generation modifies its behaviour, generations ahead may either not be born or will inherit a world with severe problems. A village or even a nation state can develop rules to prevent depletion of resources so that it does not cut down forests or over-fish the oceans. But how can that be done globally when the action of one country can have a harmful ef