The Royal Institution was founded as the result of a proposal by Sir
Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) for the "formation by Subscription, in the Metropolis of the
British Empire, of a Public Institution for diffusing the Knowledge and facilitating the general Introduction of useful Mechanical Inventions and Improvements, and for the teaching by courses of Philosophical Lectures and Experiments, the application of Science to the Common Purposes of Life". Rumford's proposal led to a 7 March 1799 meeting at the house of
Joseph Banks, then president of the
Royal Society, a similar but much older
learned society. A follow-up meeting on 9 March saw the first meeting of the managers of the Institution. In June of that year, the society elected
George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea as its first president, and in July it purchased the 21
Albemarle Street,
Mayfair building that has served as its home ever since. Renovations began immediately on the building to provide appropriate meeting, office, and laboratory space for the Institution's mission. The first Professor and Public Lecturer in Experimental Philosophy, Mechanics and Chemistry was
Dr Thomas Garnett, whom Rumford poached from the newly founded
Andersonian Institute in
Glasgow in October 1799. The steep-sided main lecture hall that has become the building's most publicly visible feature, as the home of its Christmas lectures, was completed in 1800, the same year that the institution received its
royal charter from
George III. The lecture hall was put to use immediately; the first lecture given in it was by Garnett in March 1800. the Institution has supported public engagement with science through a programme of lectures, many of which continue today. The most famous of these were both founded in 1825: the annual
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, and the Friday Evening Discourses. Despite Garnett's first lectures being a great success, his salary was frozen, he was not allowed to practise as a doctor, and
Humphry Davy was appointed as his assistant, so he resigned. In total fifteen scientists attached to the Royal Institution have won
Nobel Prizes. Ten
chemical elements including
sodium were discovered there; the
electric generator was devised at the Institution, and much of the early work on the
atomic structure of crystals was carried out within it. The Royal Institution was founded during the age of slavery, and one of its major supporters was
John Fuller, whose fortune derived from two Jamaican plantations. Fuller contributed more than £10,000 to the institution, including endowing two professorships; Michael Faraday was the first Fullerian Professor of Chemistry. In contemporary times, use of the Fullerian title has been discontinued, and the two chairs will no longer be filled.
Nobel laureates •
John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) (1842–1919): Physics 1904 with William Ramsay for the discovery of argon •
Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940): Physics 1906 for studies of electrical connection through gases •
Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937): Chemistry 1908 for work on the chemistry of radioactive substances and the disintegration of the elements •
William Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971): Physics 1915 joint with WH Bragg, for determining the molecular structure of crystals using x-rays •
William Henry Bragg (1862–1942): Physics 1915 joint with WL Bragg, for determining the molecular structure of crystals using x-rays •
Charles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952): Medicine 1932 shared with
Edgar Adrian, for his discovery of the function of neurons •
Henry Hallett Dale (1875–1968): Medicine 1936 joint with Otto Loewi, for their work on the chemical transmission of nerve impulses •
Peter Brian Medawar (1915–1987): Medicine 1960 for his work on making permanent skin grafts •
John Cowdery Kendrew (1917–1997): Chemistry 1962 with Perutz, for determining the structures of haemoglobin and myoglobin using X-ray crystallography and (new at the time) electronic computers •
Max Ferdinand Perutz (1914–2002): Chemistry 1962 with Kendrew, for determining the structures of haemoglobin and myoglobin using X-ray crystallography and (new at the time) electronic computers •
Andrew Fielding Huxley (1917–2012): Medicine 1963 for explaining how nerves use electricity to send signals around the body •
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910–1994): Chemistry 1964 for determining the structure of important biochemical substances including vitamin B12 and penicillin using X-ray techniques •
George Porter (1920–2002): Chemistry 1967 for work on chemical reactions triggered by light, and for photographing the behaviour of molecules during fast reactions •
Antony Hewish (1924–2021): Physics 1974 for his work on the discovery of pulsars •
Sir John Gurdon (1933–2025): in 2012, he and
Shinya Yamanaka were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be converted to stem cells
Chemical elements discovered or isolated •
Potassium – Isolated from caustic potash by
Humphry Davy in 1807 using electrolysis. •
Sodium – Humphry Davy first isolated sodium in 1807 from molten sodium hydroxide. •
Barium – Isolated by electrolysis of molten barium salts by Humphry Davy in 1808. •
Boron – Discovered by Humphry Davy who first used electrolysis to produce a brown precipitate from a solution of borates in 1808. He produced enough of the substance to identify it as an element but pure boron was not produced until 1909. •
Calcium – Isolated by Humphry Davy in 1808 from a mixture of lime and mercuric oxide using electrolysis. •
Chlorine – Elemental chlorine was discovered in 1774 but was thought to be a compound and was called "dephlogisticated muriatic acid air". Humphry Davy named it chlorine in 1810 after experimenting with it and declared it was an element. •
Magnesium – First produced and discovered in 1808 by Humphry Davy using electrolysis of a mixture of magnesia and mercury oxide. •
Strontium – Known in mineral form but isolated as an element in 1808 by Humphry Davy from a mixture of strontium chloride and mercuric acid. •
Iodine – Discovered by
Bernard Courtois in 1811, he lacked the resources to investigate the substance but gave samples to various researchers. It was named by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac who thought it either a compound of oxygen or an element. A few days later Humphry Davy stated it was a new element leading to argument between the two over who identified it first. •
Argon – Discovered in 1894 by
Lord Rayleigh and
William Ramsay.
Past presidents Since 1799, the Royal Institution has had fifteen presidents and one acting president. • 1799 –
George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea • 1813 –
George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer • 1825 –
Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester • 1827 –
Edward Adolphus Seymour, 11th Duke of Somerset • 1842 –
Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland • 1865 –
Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet • 1873 –
Algernon George Percy, 6th Duke of Northumberland • 1899 –
Henry George Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland • 1918 –
Alan Ian Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland • 1930 –
Lord Eustace Percy, raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Percy of Newcastle in 1953 • 1945 –
Robert John Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh • 1948 –
John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara • 1963 –
Alexander Fleck, 1st Baron Fleck • 1968 –
William Wellclose Davis (acting) • 1969 –
Harold Roxbee Cox, Baron Kings Norton • 1976 –
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent Past directors The leadership of the Royal Institution has had various titles: • Director of the Laboratory • Director of the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory • Director The position was abolished in 2010, with the firing of
Susan Greenfield. The position was restored in April 2017 with the appointment of
Sarah Harper, Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford. Harper resigned in September 2017. The present director is
Katherine Mathieson.
Andrade controversy In 1952,
Edward Andrade was forced to resign following a complicated controversy over the management of the Royal Institution and his powers as director, involving a power struggle with
Alexander Rankine who was secretary. Following various resignations and general meetings of members, Andrade was awarded £7,000 by arbitration: the arbitrators blamed the problems on "a lack of clear definition of roles ... an outdated constitution, and the inability of the protagonists to compromise". Andrade launched a lawsuit to set the arbitration aside, which he lost.
Director Greenfield firing From 1998 to 8 January 2010, the director of the Royal Institution was
Baroness Susan Greenfield, but following a review, the position was abolished for being "no longer affordable". Greenfield subsequently announced that she would be suing for discrimination. The RI's official statement stated it would "continue to deliver its main charitable objectives under the direction of chief executive officer, Chris Rofe and a talented senior team including Professor Quentin Pankhurst, the Director of the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory,
Dr Gail Cardew, the Head of Programmes and Professor Frank James, Head of Collections and Heritage." Baroness Greenfield later dropped the discrimination case. ==Current organisation==