Founding and early years 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. The term accrued currency in the exchanges of correspondence within the
Republic of Letters. In letters dated 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. 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, and London-based
Samuel Hartlib. , 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 and
Wadham College in Oxford University. They were influenced by the "
new science", as promoted by
Francis Bacon in his
New Atlantis, from approximately 1645 onwards. A group known as "
Philosophical Society of Oxford" was run by
John Wilkins, Warden of Wadham College under a set of rules still retained by the
Bodleian Library. It is widely held that these groups were the inspiration for the foundation of the Royal Society. An alternative 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.
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. On 28 November 1660, which is considered the official foundation date of the Royal Society, a meeting at
Gresham College of 12
natural philosophers decided to commence a "Colledge for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning". Amongst those founders were
Christopher Wren,
Robert Boyle,
John Wilkins,
William Brouncker and
Robert Moray. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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". 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.
18th century FRS, President of Royal Society, 1703–1727. Newton was one of the earliest Fellows of the Royal Society, elected in 1672. , 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. 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, and editions of the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society were appearing regularly. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
19th century , 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. 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 the years 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. 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. In 1850 the society accepted the responsibility of administering a government
grant-in-aid of scientific research of £1,000 per year; 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. 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. This grant has now grown to over £47 million, some £37 million of which is to support around 370 fellowships and professorships. By 1852, the congestion at
Somerset House had increased due 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. 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. One flaw was the lack of space for the office staff, which was then approximately eighty.
20th century 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. Following approval by the Council,
Marjory Stephenson and
Kathleen Lonsdale were elected as the first female Fellows. Cartwright was also the first woman to serve on the Council of the Royal Society. The report examined behavioural and policy issues surrounding vaccine uptake, including how governments might respond to misinformation online. Commentators such as former Supreme Court Justice
Jonathan Sumption subsequently discussed the limits of regulating online content, arguing in a 2021 opinion column that “science advances by confronting contrary arguments, not by suppressing them.” In October 2025, the
Financial Times reported that the Royal Society had discussed the fellowship status of
Elon Musk. According to the Society's statement to the newspaper, its incoming president
Sir Paul Nurse had written to Musk, asking him to consider resigning his fellowship if he felt unable to promote or support science. The Society told the
FT that Musk did not respond on that point and that staff concluded it was not in the Society's interests to pursue disciplinary action. ==Coat of arms==