Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England that does not accept students or award degrees. It was founded in 1597[a] under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, and hosts over 140 free public lectures every year. Since 2001, all lectures have been made available online. As of 2024[update] the Provost is Professor Martin Elliott.[3]
History
First four centuries
Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange, left his estate jointly to the City of London Corporation and the Mercers' Company, which today support the college through the Joint Grand Gresham Committee under the presidency of the Lord Mayor of London. Gresham's will provided for the setting up of the college – in Gresham's mansion in Bishopsgate, on the site now occupied by Tower 42, the former NatWest Tower – and endowed it with the rental income from shops sited around the Royal Exchange.
The early success of the college led to the incorporation of the Royal Society in 1660,[4] which pursued its activities at the college in Bishopsgate before moving to its own premises in Crane Court in 1710. Gresham College was mentioned "particularly and academically" alongside the Inns of Court and other colleges in London as part of a figurative University of London in Sir George Buck's tract, The Third Universitie of England: Or a Treatise of the Foundations of all the Colledges, Auncient Schooles of Priviledge, and of Houses of Learning, and Liberall Arts, within and about the Most Famous Cittie of London, published in 1615 as an appendix to John Stow's Annales. The 17th century saw various proposals for a third university in England, including one in London, taking in Gresham College.[5] The college remained in Gresham's mansion in Bishopsgate until 1768, and moved about London thereafter until the construction in 1842 of its own buildings in Gresham Street EC2. Gresham College did not become part of the University of London on the founding of the university in the 19th century, although a close association between the college and the university persisted for many years. In 1892 the foundation of a 'Gresham University' in London was proposed in Parliament, intended to be a "Teaching University worthy of this Metropolis."[6] This was opposed by the Victoria University on the grounds that its medical faculty would dominate medical teaching in the country to the detriment of Manchester.[7] The proposed university may just have borrowed the name from the college.
21st century
Since 1991, the college has operated at Barnard's Inn Hall, Holborn EC1. Since 2000, the college regularly invites visiting speakers to deliver lectures on topics outside its usual range, and it also hosts occasional seminars and conferences. The college provides over 140 lectures a year, all open to the public free of charge.
Since 2001, the college has been recording its lectures and releasing them online in what is now an archive[8][9] of over 2,000 lectures. Since 2007, lectures have also been available through YouTube, with 54 million views of 3,000 videos and 282,000 subscribers as of August 2024[update].[10][11]
Annual lectures series of particular note hosted by the college include: the Gresham Special Lecture, the Annual Lord Mayor's Event, and the Gray's Inn Reading.
These original endowed chairs reflect the curriculum of the medieval university (the trivium and quadrivium); but as a place for the public and frequent voicing of new ideas, the college played an important role in the Enlightenment and in the formation of the Royal Society. Early distinguished Gresham College professors included Christopher Wren, who lectured on astronomy in the 17th century, and Robert Hooke, who was Professor of Geometry from 1665 until 1704.[13]
The geometrician is to read as followeth, every Trinity term arithmetique, in Michaelmas and Hilary terms theoretical geometry, in Easter term practical geometry. The astronomy reader is to read in his solemn lectures, first the principles of the sphere, and the theory of the planets, and the use of the astrolabe and the staff, and other common instruments for the capacity of mariners.[14]
The professors received £50 a year, and the duties of their positions were specified tightly.
Today three further professorships have been added:
The professors generally hold their positions for three years,[18] extendable for a fourth year, and give six lectures a year. There are also regular visiting professors appointed to give series of lectures at the College, and a many single-lecture speakers.
Gresham Special Lecture series
Frontage of Barnard's Inn Buildings
The Gresham Special Lecture – now called The Sir Thomas Gresham Annual Lecture – originated in 1983 as a free public lecture delivered by a prominent speaker. It was devised as a focus-point among the many free public lectures offered every year.
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