Ministero dei Beni delle Attivitą Culturali e del Turismo Direzione Generale Biblioteche e Istituti Culturali

Royal Society

Royal SocietyThe scientific society of London was founded in 1660 by a group of naturalists who met at Gresham College, London, for initial impulse of Robert Boyle (1627-1691) with the intent to promote mathematical-experimental science, following the teaching of Francis Bacon (1561-1626).

The training period is from 1660 to 15 July 1662 when the Royal Society was recognized by Charles II (1630-1685): the Crown assumed the prerogative to appoint the President, but without calling into question the full autonomy of the company which does not receive any funding from the Monarchy.

The Royal Society published, since 1665, the first European scientific journal, the "Philosophical Transactions", which soon became a tool for the dissemination of new scientific ideas.

It counted among its highest members British and European scientists. Robert Hooke (1635-1702) was long the Secretary in charge to program and set up the experimental sessions. The Royal Society was also long-chaired by Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who published in the "Philosophical Transactions" in 1672 his famous memoir on light and color. The prestige of the Royal Society remained unchanged in later centuries. The institution is still active and preserves, in its London office, an archive among the most important in the world.