The joy of insight is infectious, and we like to blur the line between communication and celebration. Our different types of events include seminars, symposia, Late Night at London Institute, Science and Society, the Grand Tour of Science and Business: Is It Rocket Science?i
24 Feb 2023
A revolution in geometry
At the Royal Institution's Friday Evening Discourse, Prof. Yang-Hui He recounts the creation of modern physics at the hands of geometry.
08 Feb 2023
The imagination machine
Our Trustee Martin Reeves explores imagination at its core, rethinking previous romantic notions, asking if we can harness it systematically.
31 Jan 2023
Design meets mathematics
Designers and theorists talk about the intersection of design and mathematics in visualisation, architecture, digital design and industry.
15 Dec 2022
Cohomology and sequences
The London Institute hosts guest speaker Dr Frank Neumann and the London Algebra Colloquium for their final seminar of 2022.
06 Dec 2022
Spheres of influence
The Ukrainian mathematician Prof. Maryna Viazovska, who won this year’s Fields Medal, joins us for a virtual interview and discussion.
05 Dec 2022 – 07 Dec 2022
Strong turbulence
Over the course of four lectures, Prof. Alexander Migdal will present 35 years of research concerning his new approach to strong turbulence.
01 Dec 2022
Evolution and Occam’s Razor
The algorithmic nature of evolution implies an exponential bias towards simpler phenotypes, explaining an observed preference for symmetry.
21 Nov 2022
Black hole microstate counting
Prof. Sameer Murthy talks about the thermodynamic entropy of a black hole and how to formulate it within a statistical physics foundation.
01 Nov 2022
Skyrme theory at 60
Prof. Nicholas Manton will talk about the 60-year history of Skyrme theory, as he launches his new book on the subject.
01 Nov 2022
Sine-Gordon/Thirring duality
Prof. Alessandro Torrielli talks about integrable quantum field theories and the duality between the 2D Sine-Gordon and 2D Thirring models.
28 Oct 2022
AI mathematics
The London Institute hosts a day symposium on using AI to speed up mathematical discovery, followed by a panel discussion, drinks and dinner.
21 Oct 2022
Boundaries in gravity
The London Institution hosts a one-day workshop exploring the role of timelike boundaries in the context of gravity, followed by drinks.
06 Sep 2022
Cheers, Brits and Yanks
The London Institute welcomes MIT alumni to the Royal Institution to mark Prof. Peter Fisher’s departure as Head of Physics at MIT.
07 Jul 2022
Accelerating innovation
The London Institute and the Ditchley Foundation host an afternoon discussion and drinks on the science of innovation and how to speed it up.
28 Mar 2022
Quantifying AI
Peter Cochrane talks about how quantifying machine intelligence, distinct from biological intelligence, can quell the debate on AI’s future.
10 Mar 2022
Uncovering the OS of life
Breakthroughs in cell programming are kicking off a biological analogue of the silicon revolution, allowing us to predictably engineer life.
10 Mar 2022 – 11 Mar 2022
Cell programming maths
The London Institute and bit.bio host a two-day international meeting to unravel the theory of cell programming at the Royal Institution.
21 Feb 2022
LonTI lecture series
During spring, the London Institute hosts weekly lectures in theoretical physics for young researchers who are interested in new fields.
13 Dec 2021
The science of storytelling
Prof. Alison Woollard explores the science of storytelling and storytelling in science—a neglected virtue in modern scientific research.
01 Dec 2021
The Theory of Everything
Professor Yang-Hui He tells the captivating story of the holy grail of science: the mathematical quest for a unifying theory of everything.
26 Oct 2021
Talking to Penrose
Sir Roger Penrose talks about physics, philosophy and art in a conversation with Thomas Fink and Yang-Hui He in the Faraday lecture theatre.
27 Sep 2021
Mathematics & machines
Conrad Wolfram describes how two brothers harnessed machines to do mathematics, changing the way we think about computational thinking.
22 Sep 2021
Cheers to Brits and Yanks
Princeton and Caltech alumni celebrate Faraday’s birthday at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences, inside the Royal Institution.
21 Sep 2021
In search of serendipity
The London Institute is hosting a lunch at the Royal Institution to promote serendipity between leaders in business, finance and physics.
01 Aug 2021 – 13 Aug 2021
Mathematical Dialogues
Yang-Hui He co-organises the Nankai Symposium on dialogues between mathematics and physics, with the plenary talk by Sir Roger Penrose.
20 Jun 2021
Greek week
What is the limit to human achievement? To find out, we sent a team to a Greek island for a week to immerse themselves in a single problem.
26 Mar 2021
23 mathematical challenges
A one-day symposium of physicists and mathematicians to write down a list of the 23 most important mathematical challenges of our time.
18 Dec 2020
Superstrings, Calabi-Yau manifolds and machine learning
In this in-real-life only event, Yang Hui talks about how string phenomenology has led from differential geometry to computational geometry and now to machine learning.
11 Dec 2020
Yuletide Winterfest
The London Institute marks the year’s successes at its Yuletide Winterfest, from 4pm on Friday 11 December—if it can get the spirits out.
16 Sep 2020
Mathematics of biological computation and logic
We’re bringing mathematicians and biologists together to discuss novel techniques for modelling cell biology on Wednesday, 16th September.
07 Aug 2020
Reprogramming the cell
Physicists and biologists discuss theoretical models of cell programming and reprogramming, shaped by experimental innovations at Bit Bio.
25 Mar 2020
Modelling in biology
Scientists discuss the potential of mathematical modelling in biology across problems in cell programming, immunology and gene regulation.
30 Jan 2020
Modelling collective human behaviour
Mathematicians and social scientists discuss quantitative models of group dynamics and emergent behaviour on 30 Jan from 6:30. All welcome.
29 Oct 2019
Science of Business IV
A dinner and discussion about collective imagination, strategies for acting on multiple timescales and how to respond to distant threats.
02 Sep 2019
Making sure Skynet behaves itself
Marc Warner talks about how we should manage the safety of embedded artificial intelligence both individually and on a collective scale.
28 May 2019
Science of Business III
A dinner and discussion about speeding up innovation, forecasting technological change and the collective action problem in climate change.
11 Dec 2018
Christmas party goes crackers
The Institute’s Christmas Party continued into the small hours as members served their local delicacies and held a Meccano competition.
29 Oct 2018
Science of Business II
A dinner and discussion about commitment and flexibility, acting on multiple timescales and learning and forgetting in the age of AI.
04 Jul 2018
Independence Day BBQ
Thomas Fink barbeques a Texan lunch in the popular seminar room fireplace as the London Institute celebrates American Independence Day.
22 May 2018
Science of Business I
A dinner and discussion about applying principles from evolution and ecology to seemingly intractable problems in business and politics.
25 Jan 2018
The future of blockchain
Scientists and businessmen discuss the use of blockchain technologies across cryptocurrencies, commerce and the analysis of private data.
25 Jan 2018
Ransomware and blockchain
Leaders in intelligence, defence, business and academia discuss the technology behind ransomware and the cryptocurrencies that fund it.
05 Dec 2017
Neuroscience and artificial intelligence
Physicists and neuroscientists and discuss how artificial neural networks can shed light on the working of their biological counterparts.
07 Mar 2016
Pure mathematics meets mathematical physics
Charles Epstein talks about the longstanding fractious but fruitful relationship between pure mathematics and mathematical physics.
28 Oct 2015
Ponytail physics
Robin Ball talks about a theoretical model of fibers in which their elasticity and curliness produce the characteristic shape of a ponytail.
27 May 2015
Evolution of technology
Doyne Farmer talks about what technology is and how it evolves and our improving ability to forecast technological change into the future.
22 Apr 2015
Multifractal finance
Tiziana Di Matteo talks about the interdependence of multifractal financial time series and a new way to understand and forecast them.
23 Mar 2015
The science of information
Mark Girolami talks about how information, inference and data analysis drives the digital revolution in part 7 of our Grand Tour of Science.
16 Mar 2015
High energy physics
Neil Lambert talks about subatomic particles and the elusive search for a theory of everything in part 6 of our Grand Tour of Science.
09 Mar 2015
DNA and the human genome
Brian Sutton talks about the path to understanding life, molecular biology and synthetic biology in part 5 of our Grand Tour of Science.
02 Mar 2015
Quantum theory
Chris Pickard talks about how Nature’s mysterious non-determinism is captured by quantum mechanics in part 4 of our Grand Tour of Science.
11 Feb 2015
Dynamics of correlated novelties
Vittorio Loreto talks about the dynamics of correlated novelties in the evolution of biological systems, human society and technology.
09 Feb 2015
Relativity and the universe
Andrew Green talks about the theory of relativity, cosmology and the structure of the universe in part 3 of our Grand Tour of Science.
02 Feb 2015
Revolutions in mathematics
Thomas Fink talks about radical new mathematical developments that set the stage for modern physics in part 2 of our Grand Tour of Science.
26 Jan 2015
Classical quantitative science
Robert Farr talks about the emergence of science from astronomy and the rise of classical physics in part 1 of our Grand Tour of Science.
28 Aug 2014
Unraveling the chain fountain
John Biggins talks about how he solved the mystery of the chain fountain, in which a chain spontaneously leaps up as it flows out of a jar.
10 Dec 2013
Calculation and creativity
Thomas Fink talks about physicists’ inner drive to systematize the world around them and the role of imagination in building theories.
28 Sep 2013
From stars and exoplanets to materials that matter
Chris Pickard talks about materials under conditions so extreme they cannot be studied in the laboratory in our Science and Society series.
12 Sep 2012
The Minority Game
Anthonius Coolen talks about a game of motorways, bars and financial markets solved by the statistical mechanics of disordered systems.
12 Jun 2012
Fractal structures and architecture
Rob Farr talks about the physics of architecture and how self-similar mechanical structures can make seemingly impossible designs a reality.
11 Apr 2012
Cyberspace network security
A two-day workshop funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research on computational topology, game semantics and network security.
26 Jan 2011
Ecology, physics and finance
A lunchtime symposium of physicists and financiers on banking ecosystems, financial risk and the building blocks of economic complexity.