WHEN SCIENCE CAME INTO ITS OWN

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29270, 30 July 1960, Page 10

WHEN SCIENCE CAME INTO ITS OWN

The Royal Society’s 300 Years

[By ANTHONY SMITH, Science Correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” Reprinted by arrangement.}

ANTHONY SMITH,

LONDON, July 18. ’J’ODAY sees th 4 beginning of the Royal Society’s celebrations of its tercentenary. Our science correspondent describes how the ideals and purposes that inspired it have been maintained over the years. This is the tercentenary of that “wonderful pacifick year” when King Charles II returned to his own again, and a body of natural philosophers gathered to hear a lecture by a professor of astronomy before deciding to form a “colledge” for the promotion of physico-mathematical learning. ' That professor’s name was Christopher Wren, and he was one of the 41 judged suitable for membership.

There was, however, the vital question of Royal patronage. It was no mere chance that the formation of such a society was mooted so soon after the turbulence of the previous two decades had ended, but the King’s benediction was essential.

Of the original gathering, 31 are known to have been Royalist, two to have supported Parliament, while the political affiliations of seven more must be put into a “don’t know” category. The forty-first member, a Mr Rawlins, did not accept the invitation to join. Anyhow, the original group was predominantly Royalist, and aljvays had been. This also was no stroke of chance, for early in the Society's rules come the proviso that no person should be admitted into it without scrutiny, unless he happened to be of ’the degree of baron or above. Sir Robert Moray, a friend of the King, was chosen to acquaint him of the society’s birth and acquire Royal patronage. This he did with efficiency. A charter was granted in 1662, and a second one, acclaiming the King as founder, followed the year later. The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge had come into being.

The London in which it had arrived was just about to writhe under the agonies of the Great Plague, and then almost to disappear in the holocaust of the Great Fire. But, in the same way as the ground was then cleared

for Wren to start work, so had the scientific ground just been prepared for science to start work. The early part of the seventeenth century in this country witnessed many vital strides in the pursuit of knowledge. Gilbert had’ shown that the earth had two diametrically opposed magnetic poles, and explained the dip of a compass needle. Harvey had shown that the blood circulated round the body, Napier had, invented logarithms, and Briggs’ England’s first professor of geometry, had published log tables roughly in the form they are in today. Gunter had established his numbers, and the principle of the slide rule. Wright’s work on instruments had revolutionised navigation. On the Continent similar strides were being made. Galileo published his remarkable Sidereus Nuncius in 1610 which showed in its 60 pages that the moon’s surface was rough, not smooth; that 10 times as many stars could be seen with the telescope as with the unaided eye; that more than 500 stars could be added to the constellation of Orion; that Jupiter had four satellites; that Venus had phases just like our moon; that spots existed on the sun; that countless other things existed in' the heavens that had not been dreamed of ■in previous philosophies. Many Scientific Societies Quite apart from Galileo, whose 60 pages shook the world, the Continent was well populated’ with natural philosophers who had already been forming themselves into royal societies. The Accademia dei Lincei had been formed at the beginning of the century, and it, supported Galileo. France was peppered with scientific societies, and such men as Descartes were organising them. • Britain was slightly behind the times, despite Francis Bacon’s posthumous call in his “New Atlantis” of 1627 for an academy, or “Solomon’s House,” of philosophers to experiment on nature. The Civil War got in the way but, once the Commonwealth was over, no time was lost in setting up the Royal Society. Yet -it should not be forgotten that there was Gresham College, a kind of half-way house between an academy and a university. A wealthy merchant, financial agent to Queen Elizabeth I, had started it in 1596, and lectures were regularly held there. It was in Gresham College that the decisive meeting took place, following Wren’s lecture, for the formation of the Royal Society. At that time there were only two universities in England, Oxford and Cambridge, and London could have done with one. But Gresham, although it was an anticipation of London University, fell on hard times.

In 1768 an untrustworthy set of trustees, not unaware of the value of the land on which Gresham College stood, decided to sell it. They even helped to pay for the destruction of the old buildings from the trust funds left by the founder, Sir Thomas Gresham. With the annual rent then collected from the site, they arranged for lectures to be given in convenient rooms. -

Has Existed In Its Fellows •

The Royal Society has had a more fortunate history. It has' not been sold, partly because its members have been a rhore ardent lot, and partly because there was nothing to sell. It has its mace presented by Charles H, but beyond that it has existed in its fellows. These made the society in the first place, and they have continued to make it. It does now possess certain treasures, such as the reflecting telescope made by Newton in 1671, and has also accumulated a library of 150,000 books, but it possesses no accommodation. of its own.

Originally, the members each gave a shilling a week to defray all expenses, and for accommodation it made use of Gresham College. But shortly after that expired, and the buildings of its quadrangle were reduced to rubble, the Government decided that the society should not be troubled with the expense of housing itself. This beneficent act was made in 1780 and. after making use of other rooms such as those in Somerset House, the Society settled down in its present free abode at Burlington House in 1873.

A similar kind of fluctuation has occurred with the membership list The original 40 rapidly expanded to over 200 and, after a decline at the end of that seventeenth century, expanded fairly continually until it reached a maximum of 764 in 1847. In that year the fellows resolved to stop this growth, and also to enhance the scientific reputation of the society. They decided to elect only 15 a year, and to make certain that those elected were at least scientists.

Consequently, the membership was reduced until by 1930 it was only 350. The annual election of only 15 was then considered insufficient, and now 25 are elected < t

every year. As before, the. election is done by the fellows, and there are at present over 600 people who are entitled to put F.R.S. after their name, among them 15 women. Considering that most scientists would give a back tooth or two to become an F.R.S., it is surprising that so little resentment or jealousy is aroused by the annual elections. But the Society lavishes extreme care on the regeneration of its fellowship, and last year carefully sifted through the 300 suggested names for the 25 places. Also, an FJI.S. is not granted only at the end of life like so many awards. The average age of election in recent years has been the late forties.

Expert Scieutfic Advice

The result of all this combing is that the Society provides for itself a fund of expert scientific advice that is without parallel. It uses this advice on a vast number of committees. These either control the Society’s own endeavours, such as voyages of exploration, or help to administer funds, or make suggestions if need be for government, industry and others.

At the top is the president and his council of 21 fellows. The 62 committees and the 42 sub-com-mittees of the society plus the 11 joint committees associated with other organisations all repdrt to this council. The society has its fingers in innumerable pies connected with science, and has countless other relatively fiddling jobs besides. It is one of the custodians of a standard yard and pound. It nominates representatives to 80 institutions. Also it is a publishing house, and to commemorate its 300th birthday it has brought out some egocentric volumes:

These are excellent, notably the one edited by Sir Harold Hartley (‘The Royal Society; its Origins and Founders”), which gives a fascinating picture of an exceptional period of British science. The illustrated booklet by E. N. da C. Andrade (“A Brief History of the Royal Society”) tells the bare facts plainly. What next for the Royal Society? Despite the fact that the scientific revolution has occurred since its inception, the Society’s structure has been such that it could accept change without its basic tenets being changed. There is no reason why they should not last another 300 years, and in the form expressed by Charles II when he founded the Society: “We look with favour upon all forms of learning, but with particular grace we encourage philosophical studies, especially those which by actual experiments attempt either to shape out a new philosophy or to perfect the old.”