Gresham College has been providing free public lectures since 1597 when Sir Thomas Gresham’s vision of a  college to bring the ‘new learning’ to Londoners was realised. Today we carry on Sir Thomas’s vision, bringing some of the world’s most brilliant minds to speak in fields ranging across the arts and sciences. Gresham College has many events coming up over the next few months. Check out the lectures below.

• What is the Role of Nuclear Power in a Net Zero System?  Lecture, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Wednesday, 19 Apr 2023 – 18:00

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.

Professor Myles Allen took his first degree in Physics and Philosophy, followed by a doctorate in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, both at the University of Oxford. He has worked at Oxford for most of his career, with early stints at MIT and the UN Environment Programme in Kenya, and is currently Director of the Oxford Net Zero initiative.

Professor Myles Allen’s Upcoming Events:

• The Trillionth Tonne of Carbon and Why It Matters For Climate Change  Lecture, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Tuesday, 18 Apr 2023 – 18:00

When we connect our model of the global carbon cycle to the model of atmosphere-ocean temperatures we find every tonne of CO2 we dump into the atmosphere ratchets up global temperatures, permanently, by around half a trillionth of a degree Celsius. So, to stop global warming, we need net zero carbon dioxide emissions. And to limit warming to 2°C, we need to limit the total amount we emit to around 3.7 trillion tonnes of CO2: one trillion tonnes of carbon.

• How the World Agreed on Net Zero Lecture, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Tuesday 23rd May 2023 – 18:00

The climate had a bad year in 2009. Talks collapsed. Emails were hacked. And several papers found even 50-80% reductions weren’t enough: we had to get to net zero. Yet six years later, negotiators from 190 countries acknowledged the need for net zero in the Paris Agreement, even resolving to try to limit warming to 1.5 °C, which means net zero global emissions around 2050. Can it be done? It certainly can. Will it be done? That’s up to all of us.