The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge,[1] is a

learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of
roles: promoting science and its benefits, recognising excellence in science, supporting outstanding
science, providing scientific advice for policy, education and public engagement and fostering
international and global co-operation. Founded on 28 November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by
King Charles II as The Royal Society.

The society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the Society's President, according to a set of
statutes and standing orders. The members of Council and the President are elected from and by its
Fellows, the basic members of the society, who are themselves elected by existing Fellows. As of 2016,
there are about 1,600 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society),
with up to 52 new fellows appointed each year. There are also royal fellows, honorary fellows and
foreign members, the last of which are allowed to use the postnominal title ForMemRS (Foreign
Member of the Royal Society). The Royal Society President is Adrian Smith, who took up the post and
started his 5 year term on 30 November 2020,[2] replacing the previous president Venki Ramakrishnan.

Since 1967, the society has been based at 6–9 Carlton House Terrace, a Grade I listed building in central
London which was previously used by the Embassy of Germany, London.

Contents

1 History

1.1 Founding and early years

1.2 18th century

1.3 19th century

1.4 20th century

1.5 21st century

2 Coat of arms

3 Motto

4 Fellows of the Royal Society (FRS)

5 Structure and governance

5.1 Council

5.2 President
5.3 Permanent staff

6 Functions and activities

7 Carlton House Terrace

8 Kavli Royal Society International Centre

9 Publishing

10 Honours

11 See also

12 References

13 Bibliography

14 External links

History

Founding and early years

Further information: Gresham College and the formation of the Royal Society

The Invisible College has been described as a precursor group to the Royal Society of London, consisting
of a number of natural philosophers around Robert Boyle. The concept of "invisible college" is
mentioned in German Rosicrucian pamphlets in the early 17th century. Ben Jonson in England
referenced the idea, related in meaning to Francis Bacon's House of Solomon, in a masque The
Fortunate Isles and Their Union from 1624/5.[3] The term accrued currency in the exchanges of
correspondence within the Republic of Letters.[4]

In letters in 1646 and 1647, Boyle refers to "our invisible college" or "our philosophical college". The
society's common theme was to acquire knowledge through experimental investigation.[5] Three dated
letters are the basic documentary evidence: Boyle sent them to Isaac Marcombes (Boyle's former tutor
and a Huguenot, who was then in Geneva), Francis Tallents who at that point was a fellow of Magdalene
College, Cambridge,[6] and London-based Samuel Hartlib.[7]

John Evelyn, who helped to found the Royal Society.

The Royal Society started from groups of physicians and natural philosophers, meeting at a variety of
locations, including Gresham College in London. They were influenced by the "new science", as
promoted by Francis Bacon in his New Atlantis, from approximately 1645 onwards.[8] A group known as
"Philosophical Society of Oxford" was run under a set of rules still retained by the Bodleian Library.[9]
After the English Restoration, there were regular meetings at Gresham College.[10] It is widely held that
these groups were the inspiration for the foundation of the Royal Society.[9]
Another view of the founding, held at the time, was that it was due to the influence of French scientists
and the Montmor Academy in 1657, reports of which were sent back to England by English scientists
attending. This view was held by Jean-Baptiste du Hamel, Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Bernard le Bovier
de Fontenelle and Melchisédech Thévenot at the time and has some grounding in that Henry Oldenburg,
the society's first secretary, had attended the Montmor Academy meeting.[11] Robert Hooke, however,
disputed this, writing that:

[Cassini] makes, then, Mr Oldenburg to have been the instrument, who inspired the English with a desire
to imitate the French, in having Philosophical Clubs, or Meetings; and that this was the occasion of
founding the Royal Society, and making the French the first. I will not say, that Mr Oldenburg did rather
inspire the French to follow the English, or, at least, did help them, and hinder us. But 'tis well known
who were the principal men that began and promoted that design, both in this city and in Oxford; and
that a long while before Mr Oldenburg came into England. And not only these Philosophic Meetings
were before Mr Oldenburg came from Paris; but the Society itself was begun before he came hither; and
those who then knew Mr Oldenburg, understood well enough how little he himself knew of philosophic
matter.[12]

Mace granted by Charles II.

On 28 November 1660, the 1660 committee of 12 announced the formation of a "College for the
Promoting of Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning", which would meet weekly to discuss
science and run experiments. At the second meeting, Sir Robert Moray announced that the King
approved of the gatherings, and a royal charter was signed on 15 July 1662 which created the "Royal
Society of London", with Lord Brouncker serving as the first president. A second royal charter was signed
on 23 April 1663, with the king noted as the founder and with the name of "the Royal Society of London
for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge"; Robert Hooke was appointed as Curator of Experiments in
November. This initial royal favour has continued and, since then, every monarch has been the patron of
the society.[13]

The society's early meetings included experiments performed first by Hooke and then by Denis Papin,
who was appointed in 1684. These experiments varied in their subject area, and were both important in
some cases and trivial in others.[14] The society also published an English translation of Essays of
Natural Experiments Made in the Accademia del Cimento, under the Protection of the Most Serene
Prince Leopold of Tuscany in 1684, an Italian book documenting experiments at the Accademia del
Cimento.[15] Although meeting at Gresham College, the Society temporarily moved to Arundel House in
1666 after the Great Fire of London, which did not harm Gresham but did lead to its appropriation by
the Lord Mayor. The Society returned to Gresham in 1673.[16]
There had been an attempt in 1667 to establish a permanent "college" for the society. Michael Hunter
argues that this was influenced by "Solomon's House" in Bacon's New Atlantis and, to a lesser extent, by
J. V. Andreae's Christianopolis, dedicated research institutes, rather than the colleges at Oxford and
Cambridge, since the founders only intended for the society to act as a location for research and
discussion. The first proposal was given by John Evelyn to Robert Boyle in a letter dated 3 September
1659; he suggested a grander scheme, with apartments for members and a central research institute.
Similar schemes were expounded by Bengt Skytte and later Abraham Cowley, who wrote in his
Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy in 1661 of a "'Philosophical College", with
houses, a library and a chapel. The society's ideas were simpler and only included residences for a
handful of staff, but Hunter maintains an influence from Cowley and Skytte's ideas.[17] Henry Oldenburg
and Thomas Sprat put forward plans in 1667 and Oldenburg's co-secretary, John Wilkins, moved in a
council meeting on 30 September 1667 to appoint a committee "for raising contributions among the
members of the society, in order to build a college".[18] These plans were progressing by November
1667, but never came to anything, given the lack of contributions from members and the "unrealised—
perhaps unrealistic"—aspirations of the society.[19]

18th century

Sir Isaac Newton FRS, President of Royal Society, 1703–1727. Newton was one of the earliest Fellows of
the Royal Society, elected in 1672.

Lord Hardwicke, leader of the "Hardwicke Circle" that dominated society politics during the 1750s and
'60s

During the 18th century, the gusto that had characterised the early years of the society faded; with a
small number of scientific "greats" compared to other periods, little of note was done. In the second
half, it became customary for His Majesty's Government to refer highly important scientific questions to
the council of the society for advice, something that, despite the non-partisan nature of the society,
spilled into politics in 1777 over lightning conductors. The pointed lightning conductor had been
invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1749, while Benjamin Wilson invented blunted ones. During the
argument that occurred when deciding which to use, opponents of Franklin's invention accused
supporters of being American allies rather than being British, and the debate eventually led to the
resignation of the society's president, Sir John Pringle. During the same time period, it became
customary to appoint society fellows to serve on government committees where science was
concerned, something that still continues.[20]

The 18th century featured remedies to many of the society's early problems. The number of fellows had
increased from 110 to approximately 300 by 1739, the reputation of the society had increased under the
presidency of Sir Isaac Newton from 1703 until his death in 1727,[21] and editions of the Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society were appearing regularly.[22] During his time as president, Newton
arguably abused his authority; in a dispute between himself and Gottfried Leibniz over the invention of
infinitesimal calculus, he used his position to appoint an "impartial" committee to decide it, eventually
publishing a report written by himself in the committee's name.[21] In 1705, the society was informed
that it could no longer rent Gresham College and began a search for new premises. After unsuccessfully
applying to Queen Anne for new premises, and asking the trustees of Cotton House if they could meet
there, the council bought two houses in Crane Court, Fleet Street, on 26 October 1710.[23] This included
offices, accommodation and a collection of curiosities. Although the overall fellowship contained few
noted scientists, most of the council were highly regarded, and included at various times John Hadley,
William Jones and Hans Sloane.[24] Because of the laxness of fellows in paying their subscriptions, the
society ran into financial difficulty during this time; by 1740, the society had a deficit of £240. This
continued into 1741, at which point the treasurer began dealing harshly with fellows who had not paid.
[25] The business of the society at this time continued to include the demonstration of experiments and
the reading of formal and important scientific papers, along with the demonstration of new scientific
devices and queries about scientific matters from both Britain and Europe.[26]

Some modern research has asserted that the claims of the society's degradation during the 18th century
are false. Richard Sorrenson writes that "far from having 'fared ingloriously', the society experienced a
period of significant productivity and growth throughout the eighteenth century", pointing out that
many of the sources critical accounts are based on are in fact written by those with an agenda.[27]
While Charles Babbage wrote that the practice of pure mathematics in Britain was weak, laying the
blame at the doorstep of the society, the practice of mixed mathematics was strong and although there
were not many eminent members of the society, some did contribute vast amounts – James Bradley, for
example, established the nutation of the Earth's axis with 20 years of detailed, meticulous astronomy.
[28]

Politically within the society, the mid-18th century featured a "Whig supremacy" as the so-called
"Hardwicke Circle" of Whig-leaning scientists held the society's main Offices. Named after Lord
Hardwicke, the group's members included Daniel Wray and Thomas Birch and was most prominent in
the 1750s and '60s. The circle had Birch elected secretary and, following the resignation of Martin
Folkes, the circle helped oversee a smooth transition to the presidency of Earl Macclesfield, whom
Hardwicke helped elect.[29] Under Macclesfield, the circle reached its "zenith", with members such as
Lord Willoughby and Birch serving as vice-president and secretary respectively. The circle also influenced
goings-on in other learned societies, such as the Society of Antiquaries of London. After Macclesfield's
retirement, the circle had Lord Morton elected in 1764 and Sir John Pringle elected in 1772.[30] By this
point, the previous Whig "majority" had been reduced to a "faction", with Birch and Willoughby no
longer involved, and the circle declined in the same time frame as the political party did in British politics
under George III, falling apart in the 1780s.[31]

In 1780, the society moved again, this time to Somerset House. The property was offered to the society
by His Majesty's Government and, as soon as Sir Joseph Banks became president in November 1778, he
began planning the move. Somerset House, while larger than Crane Court, was not satisfying to the
fellows; the room to store the library was too small, the accommodation was insufficient and there was
not enough room to store the museum at all. As a result, the museum was handed to the British
Museum in 1781 and the library was extended to two rooms, one of which was used for council
meetings.[32]

19th century

Burlington House, where the Society was based between 1873 and 1967

The early 19th century has been seen as a time of decline for the society; of 662 fellows in 1830, only
104 had contributed to the Philosophical Transactions. The same year, Charles Babbage published
Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes, which was deeply critical of
the Society. The scientific Fellows of the Society were spurred into action by this, and eventually James
South established a Charters Committee "with a view to obtaining a supplementary Charter from the
Crown", aimed primarily at looking at ways to restrict membership. The Committee recommended that
the election of Fellows take place on one day every year, that the Fellows be selected on consideration
of their scientific achievements and that the number of fellows elected a year be limited to 15. This limit
was increased to 17 in 1930 and 20 in 1937;[20] it is currently[when?] 52.[33] This had a number of
effects on the Society: first, the Society's membership became almost entirely scientific, with few
political Fellows or patrons. Second, the number of Fellows was significantly reduced—between 1700
and 1850, the number of Fellows rose from approximately 100 to approximately 750. From then until
1941, the total number of Fellows was always between 400 and 500.[34]

The period did lead to some reform of internal Society statutes, such as in 1823 and 1831. The most
important change there was the requirement that the Treasurer publish an annual report, along with a
copy of the total income and expenditure of the Society. These were to be sent to Fellows at least 14
days before the general meeting, with the intent being to ensure the election of competent Officers by
making it readily apparent what existing Officers were doing. This was accompanied by a full list of
Fellows standing for Council positions, where previously the names had only been announced a couple
of days before. As with the other reforms, this helped ensure that Fellows had a chance to vet and
properly consider candidates.[35]

In 1850 the Society accepted the responsibility of administering a government grant-in-aid of scientific
research of £1,000 per year;[36] this was supplemented in the financial year 1876/1877 by a
Government Fund of £4,000 per year, with the Society acting as the administering body of these funds,
distributing grants to scientists.[37][38] The Government Fund came to an end after a period of five
years, after which the Government Grant was increased to £4,000 a year in total.[39] This grant has now
grown to over £47 million, some £37 million of which is to support around 370 fellowships and
professorships.[40][41]
By 1852, the congestion at Somerset House had increased thanks to the growing number of Fellows.
Therefore, the Library Committee asked the Council to petition Her Majesty's Government to find new
facilities, with the advice being to bring all the scientific societies, such as the Linnean and Geological
societies, under one roof. In August 1866, the government announced their intention to refurbish
Burlington House and move the Royal Academy and other societies there. The Academy moved in 1867,
while other societies joined when their facilities were built. The Royal Society moved there in 1873,
taking up residence in the East Wing.[42] The top floor was used as accommodation for the Assistant
Secretary, while the library was scattered over every room and the old caretaker's apartment was
converted into offices.

20th century

One flaw was that there was not enough space for the office staff, which was then approximately eighty.
When, for example, the Society organised the British contribution to the International Geophysical Year
in 1954, additional facilities had to be found for the staff outside Burlington House.[43]

On 22 March 1945, the first female Fellows were elected to the Royal Society. This followed a statutory
amendment in 1944 that read "Nothing herein contained shall render women ineligible as candidates",
and was contained in Chapter 1 of Statute 1. Because of the difficulty of co-ordinating all the Fellows
during the Second World War, a ballot on making the change was conducted via the post, with 336
Fellows supporting the change and 37 opposing.[44] Following approval by the Council, Marjory
Stephenson and Kathleen Lonsdale were elected as the first female Fellows.[44]

In 1947, Mary Cartwright became the first female mathematician elected to be a Fellow of the Royal
Society.[45][46][47] Cartwright was also the first woman to serve on the Council of the Royal Society.
[45]

21st century

To show support for vaccines against COVID-19, the Royal Society under the guidance of both Nobel
prize-winner Venki Ramakrishnan and Sir Adrian Frederick Melhuish Smith added its power to shape
public discourse and proposed "legislation and punishment of those who produced and disseminated
false information" about the experimental medical interventions. This was brought to popular notice in
January 2020 by a retired justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Lord Sumption, who in
his broadside wrote "Science advances by confronting contrary arguments, not by suppressing
them."[48] The proposal was authored by sociologist Melinda Mills and approved by her colleagues on
the "Science in Emergencies Tasking – COVID" in an October 2020 report entitled "COVID-19 vaccine
deployment: Behaviour, ethics, misinformation and policy strategies". The SET-C committee favoured
legislation from China, Singapore and South Korea, and found that "Singapore, for instance has the
Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), with four prominent (criminal) cases
within the first months of the COVID-19 outbreak. POFMA also lifted any exemptions for internet
intermediaries which legally required social media companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter and Baidu
to immediately correct cases of misinformation on their platforms."[49]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the Royal Society

The blazon for the shield in the coat of arms of the Royal Society is in a dexter corner of a shield argent
our three Lions of England, and for crest a helm adorned with a crown studded with florets, surmounted
by an eagle of proper colour holding in one foot a shield charged with our lions: supporters two white
hounds gorged with crowns, with the motto of nullius in verba. John Evelyn, interested in the early
structure of the society, had sketched out at least six possible designs, but in August 1662 Charles II told
the society that it was allowed to use the arms of England as part of its coat and the society "now
resolv'd that the armes of the Society should be, a field Argent, with a canton of the armes of England;
the supporters two talbots Argent; Crest, an eagle Or holding a shield with the like armes of England, viz.
3 lions. The words Nullius in verba". This was approved by Charles, who asked Garter King of Arms to
create a diploma for it, and when the second charter was signed on 22 April 1663 the arms were granted
to the president, council and fellows of the society along with their successors.[50]

The helmet of the arms was not specified in the charter, but the engraver sketched out a peer's helmet
(barred helmet) on the final design, which is used. This is contrary to the heraldic rules, as a society or
corporation normally has an esquire's helmet (closed helmet); it is thought that either the engraver was
ignorant of this rule, which was not strictly adhered to until around 1615, or that he used the peer's
helmet as a compliment to Lord Brouncker, a peer and the first President of the Royal Society.[51]

Motto

The society's motto, Nullius in verba, is Latin for "Take nobody's word for it". It was adopted to signify
the fellows'