Royal Society

Creation of the Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, to give it its full title, was founded by a group of individuals in London toward the end of 1660. The previous two decades had been a period of unprecedented turbulence in British political history. The devastating civil war had ended with the execution of King Charles I in 1649 and England turning from a monarchy into a republic, the so-called Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell. When Cromwell died in 1658, he was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son Richard, who, however, resigned within a year. An anxious few months of uncertainty followed. Then Charles II returned from exile on the continent and the monarchy was restored at the beginning of 1660.

It was an equally momentous period in science, as it was during this time that the practice of studying the natural world through systematic observation and experiment began to take root. There were many strands to this, of course. But a pivotal one was the groups that met privately in Oxford and London during and after the civil war, eventually resolving in late 1660 to establish a College for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning. They recognized the advantages of royal patronage to protect their fledging enterprise and its disruptive mission of a new approach to knowledge and promptly used their social connections to secure it from the newly restored King Charles II. It has been known simply as the “Royal Society” ever since.

Communication Among Scientists

The communication of the latest scientific results was its core business. The society met weekly to see new experiments performed and to discuss the latest results. Everything was recorded in meticulous detail, and much of this material from the early days of modern science can still be consulted in the Royal Society archives.

Members also corresponded with colleagues beyond London. Henry Oldenburg, one of the earliest Fellows of the Society, was particularly assiduous in this task, to the extent that he may be considered one of the founders of systematic scientific communication. German-born, trained as a theologian, and working as a private tutor, he traveled widely in Europe and spoke English, French, Italian, Latin, and Dutch as well as his native German. In those preprofessional days, his intellectual energy more than made up for lack of specific scientific expertise, and he was made secretary of the society in 1662. He cultivated widespread networks of scholars throughout Europe who kept him informed of their progress. Their letters were read out at the society's weekly meetings and recorded in a book. This served the twin purposes of disseminating their work and establishing priority—a matter of some importance to researchers then as now. Some idea of the extent of this activity can be gleaned from the fact that Oldenburg's surviving correspondence from his 15 years as secretary occupied 13 large volumes when published between 1965 and 1986; the Royal Society alone holds nearly 1,500 items of this correspondence.

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