Royal Society and Related Topics

Portrait of Newton at 46 by Godfrey Kneller, 1689

Isaac Newton

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English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the greatest mathematicians and physicists of all time and among the most influential scientists.

Replica of Newton's second reflecting telescope, which he presented to the Royal Society in 1672

Illustration of a dispersive prism separating white light into the colours of the spectrum, as discovered by Newton

Facsimile of a 1682 letter from Isaac Newton to Dr William Briggs, commenting on Briggs' A New Theory of Vision.

Engraving of a Portrait of Newton by John Vanderbank

Newton's own copy of his Principia, with hand-written corrections for the second edition, in the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Isaac Newton in old age in 1712, portrait by Sir James Thornhill

Coat of arms of the Newton family of Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire, afterwards used by Sir Isaac.

Newton's tomb monument in Westminster Abbey

A Wood engraving of Newton's famous steps under the apple tree.

Newton statue on display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Newton (1795, detail) by William Blake. Newton is depicted critically as a "divine geometer".

He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and spent the last three decades of his life in London, serving as Warden (1696–1699) and Master (1699–1727) of the Royal Mint, as well as president of the Royal Society (1703–1727).

Robert Boyle

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Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor.

Sculpture of a young boy, thought to be Boyle, on his parents' monument in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

One of Robert Boyle's notebooks (1690-1691) held by the Royal Society of London. The Royal Society archives holds 46 volumes of philosophical, scientific and theological papers by Boyle and seven volumes of his correspondence.

Plaque at the site of Boyle and Hooke's experiments in Oxford

Fig. 3: Illustration of Excerptum ex collectionibus philosophicis anglicis... novum genus lampadis à Rob. Boyle ... published in Acta Eruditorum, 1682

The 2014 Robert Boyle Prize for Analytical Science medal

Statue of Boyle in Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland

Title page of The Sceptical Chymist (1661)

Boyle's self-flowing flask, a perpetual motion machine, appears to fill itself through siphon action ("hydrostatic perpetual motion") and involves the "hydrostatic paradox" This is not possible in reality; a siphon requires its "output" to be lower than the "input".

Title page of "New Experiments and Observations upon Cold" (1665)

alt=|1665 copy of "New Experiments and Observations upon Cold"

alt=|1661 copy of Boyle "Certain Physiological Essays, Written at Distant Times, and on Several Occasions"

alt=|First page of "Certain Physiological Essays, Written at Distant Times, and on Several Occasions" (1661)

alt=|1725 edition "The Philosophical Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle," volumes 1-3

alt=|First page of a 1725 edition "The Philosophical Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle," volumes 1-3

In 1663 the Invisible College became The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, and the charter of incorporation granted by Charles II of England named Boyle a member of the council.

c. 1680 Portrait of a Mathematician by Mary Beale, conjectured to be of Hooke but also conjectured to be of Isaac Barrow.

Robert Hooke

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English polymath active as a scientist and architect, who, using a microscope, was the first to visualize a micro-organism.

Hooke's microscope, from an engraving in Micrographia

Robert Boyle by Johann Kerseboom, at Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire

Illustration from The posthumous works of Robert Hooke... published in Acta Eruditorum, 1707

Engraving of a louse from Hooke's Micrographia

Drawings of the Moon and the Pleiades from Hooke's Micrographia

Hooke noted the shadows (a and b) cast by both the globe and the rings on each other in this drawing of Saturn.

Church of St Mary Magdalene at Willen, Milton Keynes

Portrait thought for a time to be Hooke, but almost certainly Jan Baptist van Helmont

Hooke memorial plaque in Westminster Abbey

Hooke was also a member of the Royal Society and since 1662 was its curator of experiments.

John Wilkins

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Arms: Argent on a pale engrailed cotised plain Sable three martlets Or.

An 18th Century engraving of John Wilkins, Chester

Wilkins' signature as Secretary, signing off the 1667 accounts of the Royal Society, from the minutes book

Frontispiece of John Wilkins "An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language" (1668)

John Wilkins, (14 February 1614–19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society.

Charles in Garter robes by John Michael Wright or studio, c. 1660–1665

Charles II of England

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King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.

Charles II as an infant in 1630, painting attributed to Justus van Egmont

Portrait by William Dobson, c. 1642 or 1643

Cast gold coronation medal of Charles II, dated 1651

Charles in exile, painted by Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1653

Charles sailed from his exile in the Netherlands to his restoration in England in May 1660. Painting by Lieve Verschuier.

Coronation portrait: Charles was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661.

Dutch engraving of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza

Charles was presented with the first pineapple grown in England in 1675. Painting by Hendrick Danckerts.

Statue of Charles II as a Roman Caesar, erected 1685, Parliament Square, Edinburgh

Statue of Charles II (c. 1682) in ancient Roman dress by Grinling Gibbons at the Royal Hospital Chelsea

Sir Robert Moray, a member of Charles's court, played an important part in achieving this outcome, and he was to be the first president of this new Royal Society.

Headquarters of the Royal Society in Carlton House Terrace in London

Fellow of the Royal Society

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Isaac Newton was one of the earliest fellows of the Royal Society, elected in 1672.

Stephen Hawking was elected a fellow in 1974

Bill Bryson was elected an Honorary Member in 2013

David Attenborough was elected a fellow in 1983, under former statute 12

Brian Cox, a professor of physics, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2016 having previously held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF) from 2005 to 2013

Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science, and medical science".

Emblematic image of a Rosicrucian College; illustration from Speculum sophicum Rhodo-stauroticum, a 1618 work by Theophilus Schweighardt. Frances Yates identifies this as the "Invisible College of the Rosy Cross".

Invisible College

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Term used for a small community of interacting scholars who often met face-to-face, exchanged ideas and encouraged each other.

One group that has been described as a precursor group to the Royal Society of London consisted of a number of natural philosophers around Robert Boyle.