The Royal Society of London is claimed to be the oldest learned society still in existence and was founded in 1660. The Royal Irish Academy, founded in 1782, is also closely affiliated with it. The Royal Society of Edinburgh (founded 1783) is a separate Scottish body.

The premises of the Royal Society in London.

Although a voluntary body, it serves as the national academy of the sciences in the United Kingdom. It is a member organisation of the Science Council.

It's possible that the Royal Society was one of the first documented aspirations toward Open Content; they imagined a network across the globe as a public enterprise, an "Empire of Learning". They also were one of the first documented cases of attempting to deal with having content available to address language and languages within the Sciences, and strove to remove language barriers. Dedicated to the free flow of information, the Royal Society despised secrecy and encouraged communication.

Famous members

Several famous scientists were either the founding members or involved during its history. The early group included Robert Boyle, John Evelyn, Robert Hooke, William Petty, John Wallis, John Wilkins, Thomas Willis and Sir Christopher Wren. Isaac Newton demonstrated his theory of optics to them, and later became president of the society. The motto "Nullius in Verba" means literally "On the words of no one" signifying 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.

Thomas Bayes first presented his theorem at the society.

A selected list of presidents

Mace of the Royal Society, granted by Charles II

• Sir Christopher Wren (1680-1682)
• Samuel Pepys (1684-1686)
• Charles Montagu (1695-1698)
• Lord Somers (1698-1703)
• Sir Isaac Newton (1703-1727)
• Joseph Banks (1778-1820)
• Sir Humphry Davy (1820-1827)
• The Duke of Sussex (1830-1838)
• Lord Rosse (1848-1854)
• Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1873-1878)
• Thomas Henry Huxley (1883-1885)
• George Gabriel Stokes (1885-1890)
• Lord Kelvin (1890-1895)
• Joseph Lister (1895-1900)
• Sir William Huggins (1900-1905)
• Lord Rayleigh (1905-1908)
• Sir Joseph John Thomson (1915-1920)
• Lord Rutherford of Nelson (1925-1930)
• Sir William Henry Bragg (1935-1940)
• Lord May of Oxford (since 2000)

See also: The complete list of Presidents of the Royal Society

Selected bibliography

• Sylva by John Evelyn
• Micrographia by Robert Hooke.
• Philosophical Transactions oldest scientific journal continually published

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

Timeline (incomplete)

• 1640s informal meetings
• 1660 foundation on November 28
• 1661 name first appears in print, and library presented with its first book
• 1662 Royal Charter gives permission to publish
• 1663 second Royal Charter
• 1665 first issue of Philosophical Transactions
• 1666 Fire of London causes move to Arundel House
• 1710 acquires its own home in Crane Court

See also

• List of Royal Societies
• Presidents of the Royal Society
• History of science
• List of British professional bodies
• Learned societies
• Fellows of the Royal Society

Medals

• Copley Medal
• Rumford Medal
• Royal Medal
• Davy Medal
• Darwin Medal
• Buchanan Medal
• Hughes Medal

References

• Gleick, James, Isaac Newton, Vintage Books, ISBN 1-4000-3295-4
• Spratt,Thomas, History of Royal Society, Kessinger Publishing; (February 1, 2003), ISBN 0766128679

External links

• Official site (http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/)
• Royal Society of Edinburgh web site (http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/)
• Royal Irish Academy web site (http://www.ria.ie/)

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