Gresham College provides outstanding educational talks and videos for the public free of charge. There are over 2,500 videos available on our website. Your support will help us to encourage people's love of learning for many years to come.
Frost's line, 'I found a dimpled spider... holding up a moth like a white piece of rigid satin cloth' exploits simile... But how can a moth be like cloth? -This is one of a number of examples that will be explored with a view to refining our understanding of smilie.
We all rely on materials: natural ones like wood and stone - or manufactured ones such as steel, glass and concrete. The mathematics needed to design and study such materials is rich and challenging.
In the line, 'The Western wave was aflame', the 'Western wave' refers to the sea. But is it this simple? What do forms of substitution, synecdoche for example, lend to this magnificent and shadowy poem?
We all eat and have an interest in food! The many existing, and potential, applications of mathematics in agricultural-science and food technology will be described, explaining many of the fundamental processes that see us fed and watered.
'When well-appareled April on the heel / Of limping winter treads'. A calendar month cannot dress, nor can a season walk. This lecture will explore the magic of personification in Shakespeare's poetry.
Where should you stand in order to photograph the restored four chimneys of Battersea power station equally spaced along the skyline? - The answer will take us to the heart of the mathematical field of projective geometry.
This lecture will explain why Scott’s romanticised representations of Scotland were such a hit, and how his enduring legacy has helped or hindered Scotland as it seeks to define its place in Britain today.
Characters such as Shrek are actually a collection of triangles and other mathematical objects, demonstrating the role of mathematics in the creation of movies.
Dickens' use of exaggeration is key to his style. But its use has myriad effects from making a character's disposition unmissable, to adding whimsy and humour.
Information plays a huge role in the modern world, with vast amounts of data literally at our finger tips. The Internet is leading to an ever-increasing amount of data, leading to the ‘challenge of Big Data’.
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