Royal Society
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For other uses, see Royal Society (disambiguation).
The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and claims to be the oldest such society still in existence. Although a voluntary body, it serves as the academy of sciences of the United Kingdom (in which role it receives £40 million annually from the UK Government).[citation needed] The Royal Society is a member organization of the Science Council. The Royal Society of Edinburgh (founded 1783) is a separate Scottish body. The Royal Irish Academy (founded 1785) is a separate Irish body.
HistoryThe Royal Society was founded in 1660, only a few months after the Restoration of King Charles II, by members of one or two either secretive or informal societies already in existence. The Royal Society enjoyed the confidence and official support of the restored monarchy. The "New" or "Experimental" form of philosophy was generally ill-regarded by the Aristotelian (and religious) academies, but had been promoted by Sir Francis Bacon in his book The New Atlantis. Robert Boyle refers to the "Invisible College" as early as 1646. A founding meeting was held at the premises of Gresham College in Bishopsgate on 28 November 1660, immediately after a lecture by Sir Christopher Wren, who was at that time Gresham Professor of Astronomy. At a second meeting a week later, Sir Robert Moray, an influential Freemason who had helped organise the public emergence of the group, reported that the King approved of the meetings. The Royal Society continued to meet at the premises of Gresham College and at Arundel House, the London home of the Dukes of Norfolk, until it moved to its own premises in Crane Court in 1710. [1] A formal Royal Charter of incorporation passed the Great Seal on 15 July 1662, creating "The Royal Society of London", with Lord Brouncker as the first President, and Robert Hooke was appointed as Curator of Experiments in November 1662. A second Royal Charter was sealed on 23 April 1663, naming the King as Founder and changing the name to "The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge". The motto of the Royal Society, "Nullius in Verba" (Latin: "On the words of no one"), signifies the Society's commitment to establishing the truth of scientific matters through experiment rather than through citation of authority. Although this seems obvious today, the philosophical basis of the Royal Society differed from previous philosophies such as Scholasticism, which established scientific truth based on deductive logic, concordance with divine providence and the citation of such ancient authorities as Aristotle. Historical philosophy and significanceThe Royal Society imagined a network across the globe as a public enterprise, an "Empire of Learning", and strove to remove language barriers within the sciences. The Royal Society was dedicated to the free flow of information and encouraged communication. Boyle, in particular, began the practice of reporting his experiments in great detail so that others could replicate them, unlike previous alchemists. Sir Isaac Newton was a practising alchemist and his assistant, J. T. Desaguliers, a demonstrator for the Royal Society, was a prominent Freemason and Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England. During the eighteenth century, masonic lodges in France became conduits for circulating scientific texts which could not be made available publicly (see John Toland). While the proceedings of the Royal Society reported for instance Chinese alchemists' immortality potions as fact, the Royal Society did actually put the superstitions then current to rigorous testing, for instance placing a spider on a table and sprinkling a circle of salt around it; on the theory that it could not walk across the salt. The spider promptly left the circle, thus disproving that myth. ReformImage:Giro the dog's grave.jpg
The grave of Giro, pet dog of Leopold von Hoesch, stands beside the entrance to the Royal Society headquarters
In 1821 Humphry Davy became president and marked a shift in membership towards practising scientists, rather than gentlemen and amateurs. The Industrial Revolution and the needs of business had alerted society to the demand for a professional body for leading scientists. However, the Society's royal charter guaranteed the Fellows an unfettered right to elect to Fellowship whoever they chose and regulation of the number of new members and their scientific qualifications became a pressing concern. In 1823, a committee was established to review the statutes of the Society but it was only in 1827 that the question of membership was considered. James South succeeded in establishing a committee to "consider the best means of limiting the members admitted to the Royal Society, as well as to make such Suggestions on that subject as may seem to them conducive to the Welfare of the Society." However, the committee, chaired by William Hyde Wollaston and comprising South, Davies Gilbert, John Herschel, Thomas Young, Charles Babbage, Francis Beaufort and Henry Kater, had little impact when it reported.[1] A new crisis was precipitated when Davy resigned as president in July 1827. Gilbert canvassed Sir Robert Peel as a new president. Peel had been an important political intermediary in establishing the Royal Medals, but many were appalled at the prospect of a political, rather than scientific, president. In the face of a deadlock, Davies took the presidency for the remainder of the year but was then succeeded by two non-scientists; first the Duke of Sussex, and then the Marquess of Northampton.[1] In 1846, the Society established a Charters Committee "with a view to obtaining a supplementary Charter from the Crown", and a particular remit to consider the membership issue. When he was elected to the Council that year, William Robert Grove was co-opted to the committee, his experience in both science and law making him particularly qualified. The committee recommended:[1]
However, the Society sought the opinion of the Attorney General and Solicitor General who held that it would not be lawful to limit the membership under the current charter. It was Grove who resolved the deadlock by proposing that a limited intake of fifteen be proposed by the council to the Fellows for election, effectively limiting the new membership. Grove facilitated the adoption of the new rules against opposition from the amateurs and from some professionals who regretted any weakening of links with the political establishment. During the 1870s, membership of the Society fell to about 500.[1] Current activities and significance
PublicationsThe Royal Society publishes seven, high quality peer-reviewed journals covering: biological and physical sciences; history and philosophy of science; and cross-disciplinary research at the interface between the physical and life sciences. The list includes the world's longest running scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
GovernanceThe Society is governed by its Council of Trustees, which is chaired by its President. The members of Council and the President are elected from its Fellowship. FellowshipAs with many learned societies, the Society's governance structure is based on its Fellowship. Fellows must be citizens or ordinarily resident of the Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland, otherwise they may be elected as a Foreign Member. Up to 44 new Fellows are elected each year by ballot of the existing Fellows of the Society based on a shortlist drawn up by Council and its 10 Sectional Committees. The Society's statutes state that candidates for election must have made "a substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science". There are two additional categories: Royal Fellow, for a member of the Royal family to be admitted, and Honorary Fellow, for someone who has "rendered signal service to the cause of science, or whose election would significantly benefit the Society by their great experience in other walks of life". A maximum of forty-four Fellows, six Foreign Members and one Honorary Fellow may be elected each year. [6] Foreign Member of the Royal Society is an honorary position within the Royal Society. It is a position at the same rank as a Fellow of the Royal Society to which scientists from outside the Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland may be elected. Fellows are entitled to use the post-nominal letters FRS. Foreign Members may use the post-nominal letters ForMemRS. Prior to the creation of the position of Honorary Fellow in 2000, people distinguished in other walks of life would sometimes be elected as Fellows; examples of this are the British Prime Ministers Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, and Margaret Thatcher. Council and OfficersThe Fellowship elects twenty-one members of Council, the governing body and trustees of the society. The chair of the council is the President of the Royal Society, currently Lord Rees of Ludlow. There are four other titled posts, variously referred to as Vice-Presidents, Secretaries and Officers: the Treasurer, the Foreign Secretary, the Physical Secretary and the Biological Secretary. The current holders of these posts are respectively Sir Peter Williams , Professor Lorna Casselton, Professor Martin J. Taylor, and Sir David Read. [7] [8] A selected list of Presidents
Permanent StaffThe 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:
AwardsThe Society awards 10 medals, 7 prizes (which it terms awards) and 9 prize lectureships variously annually, biennially or triennially, according to the terms of reference for each award. The Society also runs The Aventis Prizes for Science Books. Medals and Prize lectures are awarded to scientists in honour of the excellence of their science. Only Fellows can make nominations, which are assessed by committees of Fellows which recommends to the Society's Council who should receive them. Nominees do not have to be Fellows. Recipients of Medals and Prize Lectures receive a struck medal, a scroll, and an honorarium from the Society's private funds. Prize lecturers are required to give a public lecture. [9]. The Prizes often have the word Award in their title, and are open to nomination from all. They have a variety of assessment criteria and selection process. Some, such as the Michael Faraday Prize, require the recipient to give a public lecture, whereas others, such as the Kohn Award, provide funds for the recipient to undertake a project. A full list of recipients is on the Awards section of the Society's website. Awards
Medals
Prize lectures
Selected bibliography
Timeline
See also
In fictionThe early Royal Society is satirised in Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels when the eponymous protagonist visits the flying island of Laputa. The early days of the Royal Society also form the backdrop for the events of Neal Stephenson's Baroque cycle of novels—Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World. The founding members of the Royal Society (such as Robert Boyle) are used as secondary characters in the historical mystery novel An Instance of the Fingerpost, published in 1997 by English writer and art historian Iain Pears. Purposes of the organisation and membership are discussed in parts of the novel, and a days proceedings forms an integral part of the story. Both Stephen Maturin and Jack Aubrey (main characters in Patrick O'Brian's series of popular novels) are members of the Royal Society. ReferencesBibliography
External links
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