What Is the Role of Nuclear Power in a Net Zero System?

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 The UK’s nuclear power reactors have provided a significant proportion of the UK’s low carbon electricity over their lifetimes. Most will retire in this decade. Advances in technology mean that modern systems can compete with other forms of low carbon energy. The lecture discussed the progress made in development of Small […]

The Carbon Cycle Behind Net Zero

What happens to carbon dioxide after we emit it? Half is absorbed within a year or two by plants and the oceans, the rest, in effect, stays in the atmosphere. So, does that mean we have to halve emissions to stop concentrations rising? Unfortunately, no. Despite the vast reserves of carbon dissolved in the oceans, […]

The Mathematical Life of Sir Christopher Wren

Christopher Wren, who died 300 years ago this year, is famed as the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral. But he was also Gresham Professor of Astronomy, and one of the founders of a society “for the promotion of Physico-Mathematicall Experimental Learning” which became the Royal Society. This lecture explored some of Wren’s mathematical work on […]

Christopher Wren’s Cosmos

Sir Christopher Wren was one of the most remarkable Gresham Professors of Astronomy. Though best known today as the architectural mastermind behind the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire, Wren’s appointment to the Gresham chair in 1657 stemmed from his enthusiasm for turning his gaze well above London’s skyline and focussing his attention on […]

The Ocean Physics Behind Net Zero

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 Why is the deep ocean cold? And why does this matter for global warming? Doing the maths with pipes and plumbing, not computers, we explore how processes that keep the deep oceans at frigid Arctic temperatures also determine how fast the world is warming in response to rising greenhouse gas concentrations […]

Microbial Megastructures

Invisible microbes have created some of the largest structures on the planet. Mycorrhizal fungi form extraordinary subterranean networks that associate symbiotically with plant roots. Most land plants, including many human crops, need mycorrhizae for optimal growth, but recent research has shown they also play important roles in forest-wide communication and may even turn some trees […]

The Maths of Game Theory

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 […]

The End of Our Sun

Our nearest star, that is the engine sustaining life on Earth, will one day run out of fuel. When this happens, the Sun will start expanding dramatically, forming a red giant and engulfing much of the solar system including the inner planets, vaporizing oceans; formerly icy planets will become habitable. Part of: Cosmic Conclusions This […]

The Surprising Uses of Conic Sections

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/sites/default/files/transcript/2022-04-25-1300_HART-T.pdf https://youtu.be/qFSN6XePEyw Conic sections – the curves made by slicing through cones at various angles – were studied by the ancient Greeks, but because of their useful properties, have many real-world uses. Planets have elliptical orbits, projectiles move in parabolas, and cooling towers have hyperbolic cross-sections. But did you know that one of the most […]

The geological record of climate change

Professor Christopher Jackson The Earth is warming, and dangerously so. But is this unusual? Have there been times in the past when the Earth has been very hot or perhaps, very cold? And if so, what caused this, and what did these changes in climate mean for life on Earth? In this talk Professor Christopher […]