The Sir Robert Rede's Lecturer is an annual appointment to give a public lecture, the Sir Robert Rede's Lecture (usually Rede Lecture) at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. It is named for Sir Robert Rede, who was

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, which was the second-highest common law court in the English legal system until 1875, when it, along with the othe ...

in the sixteenth century.

Initial series

The initial series of lectures ranges from around 1668 to around 1856. In principle, there were three lectureships each year, on Logic, Philosophy and Rhetoric. These differed from the later individual lectures, in that they were appointments to a lectureship for a period of time, rather than an appointment for a one-off annual lecture. There was also a Mathematics lectureship which dated from an earlier time, while another term used was "Barnaby Lecturer", as the lecturers were elected on

St Barnabas Day Barnabas (; arc, ܒܪܢܒܐ; grc, Βαρνάβας), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Name ...

. A selection of the lecturers, who tended to have studied at Cambridge and be appointed after becoming Fellows of a College, is given below, with a full listing given in the sources.

Mathematics Lecturers

*1550 James Pilkington *1593 William Alabaster *1641 Ralph Cudworth *1643

Nathaniel Culverwell Nathaniel Culverwell (alternative spellings ''Nathanael'' or ''Culverwel''; 1619–1651) was an English author and theologian, born in Middlesex. He was baptized on 14 January 1619 at the church of St. Margaret Moses where his father was rector. H ...

Barnaby Lecturers

*1776 Thomas Starkie the Elder (Mathematics) *1738 Charles Moss (Mathematics) *1746

John Berridge John Berridge (1 March 1716 − 22 January 1793) was an Anglican evangelical revivalist and hymnist. J. C. Ryle wrote that as one of "the English evangelists of the eighteenth century" Berridge was "a mighty instrument for good." Early life John ...

(Mathematics) *1755

John Michell John Michell (; 25 December 1724 – 21 April 1793) was an English natural philosopher and clergyman who provided pioneering insights into a wide range of scientific fields including astronomy, geology, optics, and gravitation. Considered "o ...

(Mathematics) *1758 Thomas Postlethwaite (Mathematics) *1763 John Jebb (Mathematics) *1765 Richard Watson (Mathematics) *1770

William Paley William Paley (July 174325 May 1805) was an English clergyman, Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian. He is best known for his natural theology exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work ''Natur ...

(Mathematics) *1783 William Farish (Mathematics) *1789 Francis John Hyde Wollaston (Mathematics) *1807

Robert Woodhouse Robert Woodhouse (28 April 177323 December 1827) was a British mathematician and astronomer. Biography Early life and education Robert Woodhouse was born on 28 April 1773 in Norwich, Norfolk, the son of Robert Woodhouse, linen draper, and Ju ...

(Mathematics) *1831

John Stevens Henslow John Stevens Henslow (6 February 1796 – 16 May 1861) was a British priest, botanist and geologist. He is best remembered as friend and mentor to his pupil Charles Darwin. Early life Henslow was born at Rochester, Kent, the son of a solic ...

(Mathematics) *1842

David Thomas Ansted David Thomas Ansted FRS (5 February 181413 May 1880) was an English professor of geology and author of numerous books on geology. His role as a teacher at Addiscombe Military Seminary, where future East India Company army officers were traine ...

(Mathematics) *1846

George Gabriel Stokes Sir George Gabriel Stokes, 1st Baronet, (; 13 August 1819 – 1 February 1903) was an Irish English physicist and mathematician. Born in County Sligo, Ireland, Stokes spent all of his career at the University of Cambridge, where he was the Luc ...

(Mathematics) *1851 Henry Richards Luard (Mathematics) *1855 Richard Shilleto (Mathematics)

Rede Lecturers

*1706 John Addenbrooke (Logic) *1717 John Addenbrooke (Logic) *1723 John Jortin (Rhetoric) *1730 Edmund Law (Rhetoric) *1740 Thomas Pyle (Rhetoric) *1763 Richard Watson (Philosophy) *1764 John Jebb (Rhetoric) *1781 George Pretyman (Philosophy) *1783 Isaac Milner (Philosophy) *1785 William Farish (Logic) *1785 Joseph Dacre Carlyle (Rhetoric) *1794 Bewick Bridge (Logic) *1796 Bewick Bridge (Logic) *1798 George Butler (Logic) *1803 Bewick Bridge (Rhetoric) *1805

Ralph Tatham Ralph Tatham (bap. 1778–1857) was an English academic and churchman. Life He graduated at the University of Cambridge in 1803. He became Master of St John's College, Cambridge, Public Orator (1809–1839), and Vice-Chancellor(1839&ndash ...

(Philosophy) *1806 George Cecil Renouard (Philosophy) *1809

Henry Bickersteth Henry Bickersteth, 1st Baron Langdale, PC (18 June 1783 – 18 April 1851), a member of the prominent Bickersteth family, was an English physician, law reformer, and Master of the Rolls. Early life and education Langdale was born on 18 June 1 ...

(Logic) *1812 John Kaye (Logic) *1819

George Peacock George Peacock FRS (9 April 1791 – 8 November 1858) was an English mathematician and Anglican cleric. He founded what has been called the British algebra of logic. Early life Peacock was born on 9 April 1791 at Thornton Hall, Denton, nea ...

(Philosophy) *1822

Connop Thirlwall Connop Thirlwall (11 January 1797 – 27 July 1875) was an English bishop (in Wales) and historian. Early life Thirlwall was born at Stepney, London, to Thomas and Susannah Thirlwall. His father was an Anglican priest who claimed descent from ...

(Logic) *1825

(Philosophy) *1828

Joshua King Joshua King (16 January 1798 – 1 September 1857) was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge from 1839 to 1849. He was also the President of Queens' College, Cambridge, from 1832 until his death and Vice-Chancello ...

(Rhetoric) *1837 Edward Harold Browne (Philosophy) *1838 Samuel Earnshaw (Philosophy) *1843

John William Colenso John William Colenso (24 January 1814 – 20 June 1883) was a Cornish cleric and mathematician, defender of the Zulu and biblical scholar, who served as the first Bishop of Natal. He was a scholar of the Zulu language. In his role as an Angl ...

(Philosophy) *1844

Joseph Woolley The Reverend Joseph Woolley MA LLD FRAS (1817-1889) was a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a founding member of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. Early life and education Woolley was born in Petersfield, Hampshire on 27 J ...

(Rhetoric) *1846 Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro (Philosophy) *1850 Charles Anthony Swainson (Logic) *1851

John James Stewart Perowne John James Stewart Perowne (3 March 1823 – 6 November 1904) was an English Anglican bishop. Born in Burdwan, Bengal, Perowne was a member of a notable clerical family, whose origins were Huguenot. Life He was educated at Norwich School, ...

(Philosophy) *1853

John Couch Adams John Couch Adams (; 5 June 1819 – 21 January 1892) was a British mathematician and astronomer. He was born in Laneast, near Launceston, Cornwall, and died in Cambridge. His most famous achievement was predicting the existence and position o ...

(Philosophy) *1853

(Rhetoric)

New series

From 1858, the lecture was re-established as a one-off annual lecture, delivered by a person appointed by the Vice-Chancellor of the university. The names of the appointees and the titles of their lectures are given below.

1858-1899

*1859

Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils. Ow ...

''On the classifaction and geographical distribution of the Mammalia'' *1860 John Phillips ''Life on the earth, its origin and succession'' *1861 Robert Willis ''The social and architectural history of Trinity College'' *1862

Edward Sabine Sir Edward Sabine ( ; 14 October 1788 – 26 June 1883) was an Irish astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist, explorer, soldier and the 30th president of the Royal Society. He led the effort to establish a system of magnetic observatories in ...

''The cosmical features of terrestrial magnetism'' *1863

''The correlation of the natural history sciences'' *1864

George Biddell Airy Sir George Biddell Airy (; 27 July 18012 January 1892) was an English mathematician and astronomer, and the seventh Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievements include work on planetary orbits, measuring the mean density of the ...

''The late observations of total eclipses of the sun, and the inferences from them'' *1865

John Tyndall John Tyndall Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was a prominent 19th-century Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of ...

''On Radiation'' *1866 William Thomson ''The dissipation of energy'' *1867

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and po ...

''The relation of national ethics to national art'' *1868 Friedrich Max Müller ''On the stratification of language'' *1869

William Huggins Sir William Huggins (7 February 1824 – 12 May 1910) was an English astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astronomical spectroscopy together with his wife, Margaret. Biography William Huggins was born at Cornhill, Middlesex, in ...

''On the results of spectrum analysis of the heavenly bodies'' *1870 William Allen Miller ''On some chemical processes of forming organic compounds, with illustrations from the coal tar colours'' *1871 Joseph Norman Lockyer ''Recent solar discoveries'' *1872

Edward Augustus Freeman Edward Augustus Freeman (2 August 182316 March 1892) was an English historian, architectural artist, and Liberal politician during the late-19th-century heyday of Prime Minister William Gladstone, as well as a one-time candidate for Parliament. ...

''The Unity of History'' *1873

Peter Guthrie Tait Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE (28 April 1831 – 4 July 1901) was a Scottish mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook ''Treatise on Natural Philosophy'', which he co-wrote wi ...

''Thermo-electricity'' *1874 Samuel White Baker ''Slavery'' *1875 Henry James Sumner Maine ''The effects of observation of India upon modern European thought'' *1876

Samuel Birch Samuel Birch (3 November 1813 – 27 December 1885) was a British Egyptologist and antiquary. Biography Birch was the son of a rector at St Mary Woolnoth, London. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School. From an early age, his manifest t ...

''The monumental history of ancient Egypt'' *1877 Charles Wyville Thomson ''On some of the results of the expedition of H.M.S. Challenger'' *1878

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and ligh ...

''On the telephone'' *1879 William Henry Dallinger 'The origin of life, illustrated by the life histories of the least and lowest organisms in nature' *1880 George Murray Humphry 'Man, prehistoric, present, future' *1881

William Muir Sir William Muir (27 April 1819 – 11 July 1905) was a Scottish Orientalist, and colonial administrator, Principal of the University of Edinburgh and Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Provinces of British India. Life He was born at Gl ...

''The early Caliphate'' *1882

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, li ...

''Literature and Science'' *1883

Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

The origin of the existing forms of animal life: construction or evolution?'' *1884

Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton, FRS FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto- ...

''The Measurement of Human Faculty'' *1885

George John Romanes George John Romanes FRS (20 May 1848 – 23 May 1894) was a Canadian-Scots evolutionary biologist and physiologist who laid the foundation of what he called comparative psychology, postulating a similarity of cognitive processes and mechanis ...

''Mind and motion'' *1886

John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, 4th Baronet, (30 April 183428 May 1913), known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was an English banker, Liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist and polymath. Lubbock worked in his fa ...

''On the forms of seedlings and the causes to which they are due'' *1887

John Robert Seeley Sir John Robert Seeley, KCMG (10 September 1834 – 13 January 1895) was an English Liberal historian and political essayist. A founder of British imperial history, he was a prominent advocate for the British Empire, promoting a concept of G ...

''Greater Britain in the Georgian and in the Victorian era'' *1888 Frederick Augustus Abel ''Applications of science to the protection of human life'' *1889

''On some effects of the action of light on ponderable matter'' *1890

Richard Claverhouse Jebb Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb (27 August 1841 – 9 December 1905) was a British classical scholar. Life Jebb was born in Dundee, Scotland. His father Robert was a well-known Irish barrister; his mother was Emily Harriet Horsley, daughter o ...

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

'' *1891 Alfred Comyn Lyall ''Natural religion in India'' *1892 Thomas George Bonney ''The microscope's contributions to the earth's physical history'' *1893 Michael Foster ''Weariness'' *1894 John Willis Clark '' Libraries in the Medieval and Renaissance Periods'' *1895 Mandell Creighton '' The Early Renaissance in England'' *1896 J. J. Thomson ''Röntgen rays'' *1897

Arthur William Rücker Sir Arthur William Rucker (or Rücker) (23 October 1848, Clapham Park, London, England – 1 November 1915, Yattendon, Berkshire) was a British physicist. Education and career Rucker gained his BA at Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1871, and wa ...

''Recent researches on terrestrial magnetism'' *1898

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ...

''The theatre in its relation to the state'' *1899 Marie Alfred Cornu ''La théorie des ondes lumineuses: son influence sur la physique moderne''

1900-1949

*1900

Frederic Harrison Frederic Harrison (18 October 1831 – 14 January 1923) was a British jurist and historian. Biography Born at 17 Euston Square, London, he was the son of Frederick Harrison (1799–1881), a stockbroker and his wife Jane, daughter of Alexa ...

''Byzantine history in the early middle age'' *1901 Frederic William Maitland '' English Law and the Renaissance'' *1902

Osborne Reynolds Osborne Reynolds (23 August 1842 – 21 February 1912) was an Irish-born innovator in the understanding of fluid dynamics. Separately, his studies of heat transfer between solids and fluids brought improvements in boiler and condenser design. ...

''On an inversion of ideas as to the structure of the Universe'' *1903 George Walter Prothero ''Napoleon III and the Second Empire'' *1904

James Alfred Ewing Sir James Alfred Ewing MInstitCE (27 March 1855 − 7 January 1935) was a Scottish physicist and engineer, best known for his work on the magnetic properties of metals and, in particular, for his discovery of, and coinage of the word, ''hy ...

''The structure of metals'' *1905 Francis Edward Younghusband ''Our true relationship with India'' *1906

William Mitchell Ramsay Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, FBA (15 March 185120 April 1939) was a Scottish archaeologist and New Testament scholar. By his death in 1939 he had become the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor and a leading scholar in t ...

''The wars between Moslem and Christian for the possession of Asia Minor'' *1907 Aston Webb ''The art of architecture, and the training required to practise it'' *1908 Ernest Mason Satow ''An Austrian diplomatist in the fifties'' *1909

Archibald Geikie Sir Archibald Geikie (28 December 183510 November 1924) was a Scottish geologist and writer. Early life Geikie was born in Edinburgh in 1835, the eldest son of Isabella Thom and her husband James Stuart Geikie, a musician and music critic. Th ...

''Charles Darwin as Geologist'' *1910 Charles Harding Firth ''The parallel between the English and American Civil Wars'' *1911

Charles Algernon Parsons Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, (13 June 1854 – 11 February 1931) was an Anglo-Irish engineer, best known for his invention of the compound steam turbine, and as the eponym of C. A. Parsons and Company. He worked as an engineer on d ...

'' The Steam Turbine'' *1912 George Gilbert Aimé Murray ''The chorus in Greek tragedy'' *1913 George Nathaniel Curzon ''Modern Parliamentary Eloquence'' *1914 Norman Moore ''St Bartholomew's Hospital in peace and war'' *1915

Frederic George Kenyon Sir Frederic George Kenyon (15 January 1863 – 23 August 1952) was a British palaeographer and biblical and classical scholar. He held a series of posts at the British Museum from 1889 to 1931. He was also the president of the British Academy ...

''Ideals and characteristics of English culture'' *1916

George Forrest Browne George Forrest Browne (4 December 1833 – 1 June 1930) was an English bishop, the first Anglican Bishop of Stepney from 1895 until 1897 when he was appointed Bishop of Bristol. Early life Browne was born in York 1833 and educated at St Peter ...

''The ancient cross-shafts of

Bewcastle Bewcastle is a large civil parish in the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England. It is in the historic county of Cumberland. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 411, reducing to 391 at the 2011 Census. The parish ...

and

Ruthwell Ruthwell is a village and parish on the Solway Firth between Dumfries and Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, gave Ruthwell to his nephew, Sir William Murray, confirmed to Sir John Murray, of Cockpool, i ...

'' *1917 Richard Tetley Glazebrook ''Science and industry'' *1918 Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven ''The Royal Navy, 1815–1915'' *1919

Lord Moulton John Fletcher Moulton, Baron Moulton, (18 November 1844 – 9 March 1921) was an English mathematician, barrister, judge and Liberal politician. He was a Cambridge Apostle. Early life Moulton was born in Madeley, Shropshire, England, ...

, '' Science and War'' *1920

James Scorgie Meston, 1st Baron Meston James Scorgie Meston, 1st Baron Meston (12 June 1865 – 7 October 1943), was a prominent British civil servant, financial expert and businessman. He served as Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh from 1912 to 1918. Mest ...

''India at the crossways'' *1921

William Napier Shaw Sir William Napier Shaw (4 March 1854 – 23 March 1945) was a British meteorologist. He introduced the tephigram, a diagram for evaluating convective instability in the atmosphere. He also served as president of the International Meteorological ...

''The air and its ways'' *1922

William Ralph Inge William Ralph Inge () (6 June 1860 – 26 February 1954) was an English author, Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and dean of St Paul's Cathedral, which provided the appellation by which he was widely known, Dean Inge. He ...

'' The Victorian Age'' *1923 Hendrick Antoon Lorentz ''Clerk Maxwell's electromagnetic theory'' *1924

Herbert Hensley Henson Herbert Hensley Henson (8 November 1863 – 27 September 1947) was an Anglican priest, bishop, scholar and controversialist. He was Bishop of Hereford from 1918 to 1920 and Bishop of Durham from 1920 to 1939. The son of a zealous member ...

''Byron'' *1925

Hugh Walpole Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, CBE (13 March 18841 June 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among those who encouraged him were the authors Hen ...

''Some notes on the evolution of the English novel'' *1926

Arthur Mayger Hind Arthur Mayger Hind (1880–1957) was a British art historian and curator, who usually published as Arthur M. Hind or A. M. Hind. He specialized in old master prints, and was Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Mus ...

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque Painting, Baroque era. He spent most ...

and modern art'' *1927 Josiah Stamp ''On stimulus in the economic life'' *1928 Michael Ernest Sadler ''Thomas Day: an English disciple of Rousseau'' *1929

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career, ...

''The Causal and the Casual in History'' *1930

James Hopwood Jeans Sir James Hopwood Jeans (11 September 187716 September 1946) was an English physicist, astronomer and mathematician. Early life Born in Ormskirk, Lancashire, the son of William Tulloch Jeans, a parliamentary correspondent and author. Jea ...

''The mysterious universe'', resulting in the book ''

The Mysterious Universe ''The Mysterious Universe'' is a popular science book by the British astrophysicist Sir James Jeans, first published in 1930 by the Cambridge University Press. In the United States, it was published by Macmillan. The book is an expanded version ...

'' *1931

George Stuart Gordon George Stuart Gordon (1881–12 March 1942) was a British literary scholar. Gordon was educated at the University of Glasgow and Oriel College, Oxford, where he received a First Class in Classical Moderations in 1904, '' Literae Humaniores'' in ...

Robert Bridges Robert Seymour Bridges (23 October 1844 – 21 April 1930) was an English poet who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is ...

''Published as book in 1946 *1932

Edgar Allison Peers Edgar Allison Peers (7 May 1891 – 21 December 1952), also known by his pseudonym Bruce Truscot, was an English Hispanist and education management scholar.W. C. Atkinson, 'Peers, Edgar Allison (1891–1952)’, rev. John D. Haigh, ''Oxford Dic ...

''St. John of the Cross'' *1933

Charles Scott Sherrington Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (27 November 1857 – 4 March 1952) was an eminent English neurophysiologist. His experimental research established many aspects of contemporary neuroscience, including the concept of the spinal reflex as a system ...

''Brain and its mechanism'' *1934 Hugh Pattison Macmillan ''Two ways of thinking'' *1935 Alfred Daniel Hall ''The pace of progress'' *1936 Cedric Webster Hardwicke ''The drama to-morrow'' *1937

Harold George Nicolson Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, diplomat, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, and gardener. His wife was the writer Vita Sackville-West. Early li ...

''The Meaning Of Prestige'' *1938 Patrick Playfair Laidlaw ''Virus diseases and viruses'' *1939 Edward Mellanby ''Some social and economic implications of the recent advances in medical science'' *1940 Augustus Moore Daniel ''Some approaches to judgment in painting'' *1941 E. M. Forster ''Virginia Woolf'' *1942 Archibald MacLeish ''American opinion of the war'' *1943

Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, Parody, parodist and Caricature, caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic ...

''Lytton Strachey's writings'' *1944 Richard Winn Livingstone ''Plato and modern education'' *1945 Norman Birkett ''National Parks and the countryside'' *1946 Edward Victor Appleton ''Terrestrial magnetism and the ionosphere'' *1947 Hubert Douglas Henderson ''The uses and abuses of economic planning'' *1948

Walter Hamilton Moberly Sir Walter Hamilton Moberly (20 October 1881 – 31 January 1974) was a British academic. Life The son of the Rev. Robert Campbell Moberly and the grandson of George Moberly, he was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford. Moberl ...

''Universities and the state'' *1949 Ernest William Barnes ''Religion and turmoil''

1950-1999

*1950 Edward Bridges ''Portrait of a Profession'' *1951

Cecil Maurice Bowra Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra, (; 8 April 1898 – 4 July 1971) was an English classical scholar, literary critic and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the Univ ...

''Inspiration and poetry'' *1952

Walter Russell Brain Walter Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain (23 October 1895 – 29 December 1966) was a British neurologist. He was principal author of the standard work of neurology, ''Brain's Diseases of the Nervous System'', and longtime editor of the homonym ...

''The Contribution of Medicine to our Idea of the Mind'' *1953

Arthur Duncan Gardner He was born on 28 March 1884 and educated at Rugby School, before entering University College, University of Oxford to study Law. Upon completing his degree, he rejected the family law practice to study Medicine. After qualifying in 1911 and obta ...

''The proper study of mankind'' *1954

Charles Alfred Coulson Charles Alfred Coulson (13 December 1910 – 7 January 1974) was a British applied mathematician and theoretical chemist. Coulson's major scientific work was as a pioneer of the application of the quantum theory of valency to problems of mol ...

''Science and religion: a changing relationship'' *1955

Lord David Cecil Lord Edward Christian David Gascoyne-Cecil, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (9 April 1902 – 1 January 1986) was a British biographer, historian, and scholar. He held the style of "Lord" by courtesy title, courtesy, as a younger son of a ...

''Walter Pater - the Scholar Artist'' *1956

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architectu ...

''The English Town in the Last Hundred Years'' *1957 Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer ''Matthew Prior'' *1958

Charles Galton Darwin Sir Charles Galton Darwin (19 December 1887 – 31 December 1962) was an English physicist who served as director of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) during the Second World War. He was a son of the mathematician George Howard Darwin ...

''The problems of world population'' *1959 C. P. Snow ''

The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution "The Two Cultures" is the first part of an influential 1959 Rede Lecture by British scientist and novelist C. P. Snow which were published in book form as ''The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution'' the same year. Its thesis was that sci ...

'' *1960 Edgar Wind ''Classicism'' *1961 Lord Radcliffe ''Censors'' *1962 Robert Hall ''Planning'' *1963

Douglas William Logan Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

The Years of Challenge *1964 Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson ''The oldest Irish tradition - a window on the early Iron Age'' *1965 Gavin de Beer ''Genetics and prehistory'' *1966 Harold McCarter Taylor ''Why should we study the Anglo-Saxons?'' *1967

Kenneth Wheare Sir Kenneth Clinton Wheare, CMG (26 March 1907 – 7 September 1979) was an Australian academic, who spent most of his career at Oxford University in England. He was an expert on the constitutions of the British Commonwealth. He advised constitut ...

''The university in the news'' *1968

Patrick Arthur Devlin, Lord Devlin Patrick Arthur Devlin, Baron Devlin, PC, FBA (25 November 1905 – 9 August 1992) was a British judge and legal philosopher. The second-youngest English High Court judge in the 20th century, he served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from ...

''The House of Lords and the Naval Prize Bill 1911'' *1969 Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett ''The gap widens'' *1970

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...

''The artist grows old'' *1971

Herbert Butterfield Sir Herbert Butterfield (7 October 1900 – 20 July 1979) was an English historian and philosopher of history, who was Regius Professor of Modern History and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is remembered chiefly for a sho ...

''The discontinuities between the generations in History: their effect on the transmission of political experience'' *1972 None *1973 Kingsley Dunham ''Non-renewable resources - a dilemma'' *1974

Walter Laing Macdonald Perry Walter Laing MacDonald Perry, Baron Perry of Walton, OBE, FRS, FRCP, FRSE (16 June 1921 – 17 July 2003) was a distinguished Scottish academic. He was the first Vice Chancellor of the Open University. Life Perry was born in Dundee, son o ...

''Higher education for adults: where more means better'' *1975

Alfred Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke (born Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States.Rupert Cross ''The golden thread of English Criminal Law: the burden of proof'' *1977 Richard Southern ''The historical experience'' *1978 Margaret Gowing ''Reflections on Atomic Energy History'' *1979 The Duke of Edinburgh ''Philosophy, politics and administration'' *1980

Shirley Williams Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, (' Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in the Labour cabinet from ...

''Technology, employment, and change'' *1981 Frederick Sydney Dainton ''British universities: purposes, problems, and pressures'' *1982

Fred Hoyle Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper. He also held controversial stances on other sc ...

Facts and Dogmas in Cosmology and Elsewhere *1983

David Towry Piper Sir David Towry Piper CBE FSA FRSL (21 July 1918 – 29 December 1990) was a British museum curator and author. He was director of the National Portrait Gallery 1964–1967, and of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1967–1973; and Fellow of ...

''The increase of learning and other great objects'' *1984

Sir Clive Sinclair Sir Clive Marles Sinclair (30 July 1940 – 16 September 2021) was an English entrepreneur and inventor, best known for being a pioneer in the computing industry, and also as the founder of several companies that developed consumer electronic ...

''A time for change'' *1985 Brian Urquhart ''The United Nations and international law'' *1986

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

''Islands'' *1987

Sir John Thompson Sir John Sparrow David Thompson (November 10, 1845 – December 12, 1894) was a Canadian lawyer, judge and politician who served as the fourth prime minister of Canada from 1892 until his death. He had previously been fifth premier of Nova Sco ...

''A reconsideration of the ideas underlying the international system'' *1988

Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), ...

''Lord Jenkins of Hillhead; 'An Oxford view of Cambridge' '' *1989

Peter Alexander Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

''Communication'' *1990 The Princess Royal ''Punishment'' *1991 Peter Swinnerton-Dyer ''Policy on Higher Education and Research'' *1993

L. M. Singhvi Laxmi Mall Singhvi (9 November 1931 – 6 October 2007) was an Indian jurist, parliamentarian, scholar, writer and diplomat. He was, after V. K. Krishna Menon, the second-longest-serving High Commissioner for India in the United Kingdom (1991– ...

A Tale of Three Cities *1994

Geoffrey Howe Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015) was a British Conservative politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1990. Howe was Margaret Thatcher ...

''Nationalism and the Nation State'' *1996

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her elect ...

*1997

Leon Brittan Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, (25 September 193921 January 2015) was a British Conservative politician and barrister who served as a European Commissioner from 1989 to 1999. As a member of Parliament from 1974 to 1988, he serv ...

''Globalisation vs. Sovereignty? The European Response'' *1998 Rosalyn Higgins ''International Law in a Changing Legal System''

2000 onwards

*2009

Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic polic ...

''See China in the Light of Her Development'' *2010

Onora O'Neill Onora Sylvia O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve (born 23 August 1941) is a British philosopher and a crossbench member of the House of Lords. Early life and education Onora Sylvia O'Neill was born on 23 August 1941 in Aughafatten. The dau ...

''The Two Cultures Fifty Years On'' *2011 Harold Varmus ''The Purpose and Conduct of Science'' *2012

Lord Turner of Ecchinswell Jonathan Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell (born 5 October 1955) is a British businessman and academic and was Chairman of the Financial Services Authority until its abolition in March 2013. He is a former Chairman of the Pensions Commiss ...

''The Purpose of the University: Knowledge and Human Wellbeing in the Modern Economy'' *2015

Drew Gilpin Faust Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust (born September 18, 1947) is an American historian and was the 28th president of Harvard University, the first woman to serve in that role. She was Harvard's first president since 1672 without an undergraduate or gradu ...

''Two Wars and the Long Twentieth Century: the United States, 1861–65; Britain 1914–18'' *2017

Sue Desmond-Hellmann Sue Desmond-Hellmann is an American oncologist and biotechnology leader who served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2014–2020. She was previously Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisc ...

''Facts or Fear? The Case for Facts'' *2019

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best kn ...

''Reasons for Hope''

Notes

External links

Listing
{{Authority control Lecture series at the University of Cambridge