The Royal Society

Those of you who have read any of my Wrexford & Sloane mysteries will have noticed that I use scientific and technological innovations/discoveries during the Regency as the “MacGuffin” in my books. I’ve mentioned a number of times how that still amuses me given that science and math were NOT my favorite subjects in school. Thank heavens that learning is for a lifetime, because I discovered rather late in the game how fascinating and relevant those subjects are to so many facets of  our lives.

I actually had a great informal interest in the world around me as a child. I was constantly outdoors and intrigued by polliwogs in ponds, insects building nests, the flowers, trees and birdlife . . . But in choosing classes to take, I was definitely a Humanities student, loving history, art and English. It’s been really fun discovering the wonders of science and mathematics, and I read a lot about various topics—not just as research for my plots, but because I find it truly interesting and engaging.

And so, given that science and mathematics seems on the defensive these days, I thought I would a shout-out to the Royal Society, an organization that often makes a cameo appearance in my mysteries. Founded in 1660 and based in London—it received a charter from King Charles II and its official name, The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, in 1662—it is the oldest scientific society in continuous existence. Through the centuries, its members have led the way in momentous discoveries that have profoundly changed the world.

Its motto, also adopted in 1662,  is ‘Nullius in verba,’ which basically translates into ‘Don’t take anyone’s word for it.’ So, from the start, it was dedicated to the search for ‘truth,” basing conclusions or theories on the working of the cosmos on empirical evidence, based on careful observation and experimentation.

Early members included Sir Isaac Newton, John Locke and Robert Boyle. But membership wasn’t limited to Englishmen. Scientific thinkers from Europe and the New World were exploring “big” ideas  were also invited to join—Alessandro Volta, an early experimenter n electricity who invented the first voltaic battery, Gottfried Leibniz, who along with Newton “discovered” calculus, and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, who developed the optics for microscopes were among the early foreign members.

This interest in knowledge led the Royal Society to establish a scientific journal to that apers on various subjects could be shared and disseminated—in my mind one of the truly great ideas that the early members had. Philosophical Transactions, the Society’s journal, was started in 1665—it’s the oldest scientific journal in the world—and is still going strong today. It’s impossible to list all the important ideas/ research that have appeared in its pages. One of the early papers was Robert Hooke’s Micrographa, which included some of the first drawings ever made of objects seen through the lens of a microscope.

As for other contributors,  Benjamin Franklin contributed over 19 papers to the journal; Charles Darwin penned a paper on geology; Michael Faraday wrote over 40 papers, many on his groundbreaking work on electromagnetism, which eventually led to the electric motor . . . Alan Turning and Stephen Hawking are some of the more recent luminaries. And to their credit, they published a paper by a women in 1787—Caroline Herschel, the sister of the King’s Astronomer, was a scientific luminary in her own right, and wrote on her discovery of a new comet.

The Royal Society came up with another excellent in the early 1700s, when they decided to establish an award to recognize momentous accomplishments in science and mathematics. The Copley Medal was first awarded in 1731 to Stephen Gray, a researcher in electricity. Past winners include Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Priestley, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Dorothy Hodgkin, the first women to receive it.

The Royal Society’s first home was on Crane Court, but in 1780, led by its newly elected president , the legendary Sir Joseph Banks, they moved to much more specious accommodations in Somerset House, a grand and stately building complex overlooking the River Thames that also housed the Royal Academy of Arts and the Society of Antiquities. In 1857 it moved to Burlington House, and today it now resides at Carlton House terrace.

So that’s a quick peek at an institution that has become near and dear to my heart. It’s been such a catalyst for original thinking and momentous discovery—and its members have had such a positive effect in so many fields of science and mathematics, making the world better place for all mankind.

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