The Royal Society

"Royal Society" redirects here. For other uses, seeRoyal Society (disambiguation).

The premises of The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London (first four properties only)

The Royal Societyis asocietyforscienceand scientists.It was founded in 1660 byCharles II.It is the oldest society of its kind still in existence.

History

ARoyal Charter,on 15 July 1662, created "The Royal Society of London".

Lord Brounckerwas the firstPresident,andRobert Hookewas Curator ofExperiments.The reigning monarch has always been the patron of the Royal Society since its foundation.

Themottoof the Royal Society isNullius in Verba(Latin:nothing in words).This shows the Society's commitment to establishing scientific truth through experiment rather than by quoting authority.

Although this seems obvious today, the philosophical basis of the Royal Society differed from previous philosophies such asscholasticism,which established scientific truth based on deductive logic, concordance with divine providence and the citation of such ancient authorities asAristotle.

Fellows

The members of the society are calledFellows of the Royal Society,and put the lettersFRSafter their names.There are usually about 1600 of them. They are elected by existing Fellows. All other posts, such as the Secretary and President, are also by election.

A selected list of presidents

Maceof the Royal Society, granted by Charles II.

• Sir Christopher Wren(1680–1682)
• Samuel Pepys(1684–1686)
• Charles Montagu(1695–1698)
• The Lord Somers(1698–1703)
• Sir Isaac Newton(1703–1727)
• Joseph Banks(1778–1820)
• Sir Humphry Davy(1820–1827)
• Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex(1830–1838)
• William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse(1848–1854)
• Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker(1873–1878)
• Thomas Henry Huxley(1883–1885)
• George Gabriel Stokes(1885–1890)
• William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin(1890–1895)
• Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister(1895–1900)
• Sir William Huggins(1900–1905)
• John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh(1905–1908)
• Sir Joseph John Thomson(1915–1920)
• Sir Ernest Rutherford(1925–1930)
• Sir William Henry Bragg(1935–1940)
• Sir Henry Hallett Dale(1940–1945)
• Howard Florey, Baron Florey(1960)
• Sir Andrew Huxley(1980–1985)
• Sir Aaron Klug(1995–2000)
• Robert May, Baron May of Oxford(2000–2005)
• Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow(2005–2010)
• Sir Paul Nurse(2010–2015)

Data from Royal Society website.

Permanent staff

The Society's 15 Sections are administered by the permanent staff, led by the Executive Secretary, Stephen Cox CVO. The Executive Secretary is supported by the Senior Managers of the Society, including:

• Mr Ian Cooper, Director of Finance and Operations
• Dr Peter Collins, Director of Science Policy
• Dr Peter Cotgreave, Director of Communications

Society honours

The Society bestows ten medals, seven awards (prizes) and nine prize lectureships variously annually, biennially or triennially, according to the terms of reference for each award. The Society also runsThe Aventis Prizes for Science Books.

Awards

• Armourers & Brasiers’ Prize
• Kohn Award
• Michael Faraday Prize
• Mullard Award
• Royal Society Pfizer Award
• Rosalind Franklin Award
• Microsoft European Science Award(started in 2006)

Medals

• Buchanan Medal(for achievements in medicine)
• Copley Medal(for work in any field of science)
• Darwin Medal(for work in the broad area of biology in which Charles Darwin worked)
• Davy Medal(for work in any branch of chemistry)
• Gabor Medal(for work in biology, especially in genetic engineering and molecular biology)
• Hughes Medal(for work in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism)
• Leverhulme Medal(for work in pure or applied chemistry or engineering)
• Royal Medal(for the two most important contributions to the advancement of Natural Knowledge)
• Rumford Medal(for work in the fields of heat or light)
• Sylvester Medal(for the encouragement of mathematical research)

Prize lectures

• Bakerian lecture
• Francis Crick Lecture
• Croonian Lecture
• Ferrier Lecture
• Leeuwenhoek Lecture
• Clifford Paterson lecture
• Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar lecture
• Details of Royal Society prize lecturesArchived2009-02-20 at theWayback Machine

The coat-of-arms of the Royal Society as a stained-glass window. The motto is 'Nullius in verba'.

Timeline

• 1640s — informal meetings
• 28 November 1660 — Royal Society founded atGresham College
• 1661 — name first appears in print, and library presented with its first book
• 1662 — firstRoyal Chartergives permission to publish
• 1663 — second Royal Charter
• 1665 — first issue ofPhilosophical Transactions
• 1666 —Fire of Londoncauses move toArundel Houseuntil 1673, then returns to Gresham College
• 1669 — third Royal Charter; original proposal would have madeChelsea Collegethe permanent home of the Society, but the site becameChelsea Hospitalinstead
• 1710 — gets its own home in Crane Court
• 1780 — moves to premises at Somerset House provided by the Crown
• 1847 — changed election criteria so that Fellows would be elected solely on the merit of their scientific work
• 1850 —ParliamentaryGrant-in-aidcommences, of £1,000, to assist scientists in their research and to buy equipment.
• 1857 — moved toBurlington HouseinPiccadilly
• 1967 — moved to present location onCarlton House Terrace

Bibliography

• Purver, Margery & Bowen E.J. (1960).The Beginning of the Royal Society.Oxford: Clarendon Press.OCLC9381245.
• Gleick, James (2004).Isaac Newton.New York: Vintage Books.ISBN1400032954.OCLC55696750.
• Hartley, Harold, ed. (1960).The Royal Society: Its Origins and Founders.London: Royal Society.OCLC813245.
• Rousseau, George (1981).The Letters and Private Papers of Sir John Hill, 17141775.New York: AMS Press.ISBN0404614728.OCLC8111658.
• Sprat, Thomas & Cowley, Abraham (2003) [1667].The history of the RoyalSociety of London for the improving of natural knowledge.Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing.ISBN0766128679.OCLC63174140.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Lomas, Robert (2002).Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science.Gloucester, Mass.: Fair Winds Press.ISBN1592330118.OCLC52158257.
• "Homes of the Royal Society".The Royal Society. Archived fromthe originalon 2007-11-11.Retrieved2008-07-29.

Related pages

• List of Royal Societies

Other websites

• The Royal Society website—RS list of FellowsArchived2008-06-09 at theWayback Machine— Citations arranged by year of election
• The Royal Society Publishing websiteArchived2008-07-15 at theWayback Machine
  • Digital Journal ArchiveArchived2008-11-21 at theWayback Machine
• The Royal Society of LondonArchived2009-04-14 at theWayback Machine(a brief history)
• Scholarly Societies Project: Royal Society of LondonArchived2006-07-03 at theWayback Machine
• Three lectures presented at the Royal Society by Harry Kroto (Faraday Lecture), Paul Hoffman (Paul Erdos), Paul Davies (Blackholes, Worm Holes and Time Travel).Freeview video from the Vega Science Trust
• A visualisation of the Royal Society's publications from 1665 to 2005
• "NULLIUS IN VERBA"Archived2009-01-12 at theWayback MachineLord Rees Replies