Gresham College in central London, U.K., enrolls no students and grants no degrees – it provides lectures free to the public. Students who attend in person get outstanding lectures by prestigious professors. Students who can’t attend in person can watch or listen via Gresham College website! Former professors have included Sir Christopher Wren, the legendary Robert Hooke and more recently Ian Stewart (a mathematician and Science Fiction author). Among the many fascinating lectures archived on the website since 2002 is one by Professor Martin Campbell-Kelly on the subject of the origins of the World Wide Web. Prominent within the lecture is Campbell-Kelly’s thoughts on the role of H.G. Wells’ book The World Brain (1938). The lecture is available in the RealPlayer format and is entitled “From World Brain To World Wide Web.”
