Royal Society The Royal Society (formerly the Royal Society of London) is a fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists. It is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. Following a lecture by Sir Christopher Wren, the Royal Society was founded at Gresham College, London, on 28 November 1660. This was the very first ‘learned society’ meeting and was attended by the leading polymaths of the day. Shortly thereafter, on 12 January 1662, the Society received a royal charter from King Charles II, and he became their official patron. In its original form, the Society was an ‘invisible college’ of natural philosophers and physicians. From 1663, it was known as the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. Quite a few of the early clockmakers, their collaborators, and important figures in horology were members of the Royal Society during the golden age of British clockmaking. They include Thomas Tompion, George Graham, Robert Hooke, John Ellicott, William Harrison, John Flamsteed, Edmund Halley and Nevil Maskelyne. In 1769, the Society backed an expedition to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti. The vessel Endeavour, commanded by Lieutenant James Cook, was used for the expedition. It reached Australia and New Zealand. Clockmaker John Shelton the Younger made five astronomical regulators for the Society that were used for timing the transits of Venus in 1769, and one was taken by Cook to Tahiti for his transit observations there. The Society also bought an astronomical regulator from Ellicott for this purpose. The Royal Society’s motto is Nullius in verba, which is the Latin for ‘take nobody’s word for it’. The Society’s website states that their motto is ‘an expression of the determination of Fellows to withstand the domination of authority and to verify all statements by an appeal to facts determined by experiment’. You can learn more about the Royal Society by visiting their website.
