Editing Public lecture (section)

{{short description|Spoken presentation aimed at the general public}}
{{globalize|date=February 2014}}
[[File:Faraday xmas detail.jpg|thumb|Michael Faraday, nineteenth century scientist and electrician, shown delivering the British Royal Institution's Christmas Lecture for Juveniles during the Institution's Christmas break in 1856.]]

A '''public lecture''' (also known as an '''open lecture''') is one means employed for educating the public.  [[Gresham College]], in London, has been providing free public lectures since its founding in 1597 through the will of [[Sir Thomas Gresham]].  The [[Royal Society]] held its first ever meeting at Gresham College in November 1660, after one of [[Christopher Wren]]'s lectures, and continued to meet there for the next fifty years.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.gresham.ac.uk/about-us/our-history | title=Our History &#124; Gresham College }}</ref>

The [[Royal Institution|Royal Institution of Great Britain]] has a long history of public [[lecture]]s and demonstrations given by prominent experts in the field. In the 19th century, the popularity of the public lectures given by [[Sir Humphry Davy]] at the Royal Institution was so great that the volume of carriage traffic in [[Albemarle Street]] caused it to become the first one-way street in [[London]]. The [[Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures]] for young people are nowadays also shown on [[television]].  [[Alexander von Humboldt]] delivered a series of public lectures at the [[University of Berlin]] in the winter of 1827–1828, that formed the basis for his later work ''Kosmos''.