Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/Et8_myknHq8

Most of us rarely think about plant immunity. But, like us, plants can distinguish between different pathogens, trigger a ‘bespoke’ immune response and retain a memory of past infections to boost future immunity. However, plant immune systems also exhibit enviable features like the ability to inherit immunological memory from a parent, or to warn distant individuals of an impending pathogen attack. This lecture investigates how they do all of this and more without a single white blood cell.

This lecture was recorded by Robin May on 29th January 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.

Robin is Gresham Professor of Physic.

He is also Chief Scientific Adviser at the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Professor of Infectious Disease at the University of Birmingham.

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

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://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today

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Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/IAilwM_WdbI

Until the nineteenth century, the favourite ancient pagan gods in Western culture were those related to human qualities and activities. During that century, especially in Britain, attention switched to a horned divinity associated with the countryside and wild nature, usually personified as the Greek Pan. This lecture explores how and why this happened, and the impact on British culture, when the full subversive potential of this deity as a force for personal liberation became realised. It also shows how the image subsequently evolved from a classical god into an archetype.

This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on 19th February 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.

Ronald is the Gresham Professor of Divinity.

He is also Professor of History at the University of Bristol and a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries and the Learned Society of Wales.

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

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://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today

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Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/gQdabAQT3Jw

Sophocles’ Antigone refers to “unwritten laws,” as does Thucydides’ Pericles. From the late fifth century BCE, the idea that laws are more effective when learned by memory and observation than when put into writing, forms a distinctive current in political reflections. Plutarch would even claim that the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus had prohibited the writing down of his laws. This lecture will present Greek authors’ reflections on the interplay between writing and orality remain relevant to debates about ethical formation today.

This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 20th February 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.

Melissa Lane is Gresham Professor of Rhetoric.

Melissa is also the Class of 1943 Professor of Politics, Princeton University and is also Associated Faculty in the Department of Classics and Department of Philosophy. Previously she was Senior University Lecturer at Cambridge University in the Faculty of History and Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.

Having previously held visiting appointments at Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford, she will be Isaiah Berlin Visiting Professor in the History of Ideas in the Faculties of Philosophy and History at Oxford University, and a Visiting Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in Michaelmas Term 2024.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/unwritten-laws-legacies-antigone-and-lycurgus

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://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today

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