Gresham Professor of Physic


The Professor of Physic at Gresham College, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public, typically on medicine, health and related sciences. The college was founded for this purpose in 1597, when it created seven professorships; this was later increased to ten. Physic is one of the original professorships as set out by the will of Sir Thomas Gresham in 1575. The Professor of Physic is appointed in partnership with the Worshipful Company of Mercers.
Past Professors of Physic have included leading figures in medicine, public health, surgery and clinical science. Additionally, other eminent medical scientists and physicians were Gresham Professors of other disciplines, like Sir William Petty, one of the founders of demography, who served as Professor of Music from 1651.

List of Gresham Professors of Physic

NameStarted
1Matthew GwinneMarch 1596 / 7
2Peter MounsellSept 1607
3Thomas Winston25 Oct 1615
4Paul de Laune13 June 1643
5Thomas Winston20 August 1652
6Jonathan Goddard FRS7 Nov 1655
7John Mapletoft FRS27 March 1675
8Henry Paman FRS21 June 1679
9Edward Stillingfleet FRS21 June 1689
10John Woodward FRS13 Jan 1692-1703
11Henry Pemberton FRS24 May 1728
12Thomas Healde FRS27 March 1771
13Christopher Stanger25 March 1789
14Henry Herbert Southey FRS24 Oct 1834
15Henry Powell27 July 1865
16Edmund Symes-Thompson5 July 1867
17Fleming Mant Sandwith14 March 1907
18Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones24 May 1918
19Sir George Newman26 July 1929
20James Alison Glover12 Oct 1934
21Vincent Sutherland Hodson13 April 1937
1939–45 Lectures in abeyance1939–45 Lectures in abeyance1939–45 Lectures in abeyance
22Hamilton Hartridge FRS6 June 1946
23John Leonard d’Silva1955
24Arthur John Buller1962
25Invited lectures: H Harris and D V Davies1964-65
26J P Quilliam1965
27H C Stewart1968
28David Slome1970-84?
29John Daniel Griffiths1986
30Sir Kenneth L Stuart1988
31Francis Cox1 Sept 1992
32Susan Greenfield,
Baroness Greenfield
1 Sept 1995
33Hilary Rose and Steven Rose1 Sept 1999
34Keith Kendrick1 Sept 2002
35Christopher Dye FRS1 Sept 2006
36William Ayliffe1 Sept 2009
37Martin Elliott1 Sept 2014
38Sir Chris Whitty2018
39Robin May2022