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The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the '''Royal Society''', claims to be the oldest Learned Society still in existence, founded in 1660. The Royal Society Of Edinburgh (founded 1783) is a separate Scottish body. The Royal Irish Academy (founded 1785) is a separate Irish body. Although a voluntary body, it serves as the academy of sciences of the United Kingdom , and is a Learned Society for science. It is a member organization of the Science Council . HISTORY The Royal Society was founded in 1660 , only a few months after the Restoration of King Charles II , by members of one or two either secretive or informal societies already in existence. The Royal Society enjoyed the confidence and official support of the restored Monarchy . The "New" or "Experimental" form of Philosophy was generally ill-regarded by the Aristotelian (and religious) academies, but had been promoted by Francis Bacon in his book New Atlantis . Robert Boyle refers to the "Invisible College" as early as 1646. A founding meeting was held at the premises of Gresham College in Bishopsgate on 28 November 1660 , immediately after a lecture by Sir Christopher Wren , at that time Gresham Professor of Astronomy . At a second meeting a week later, Sir Robert Moray , an influential Freemason who had helped organize the public emergence of the group, reported that the King approved of the meetings. The Royal Society continued to meet at the premises of Gresham College and at Arundel House, the London home of the Dukes of Norfolk, until it moved to its own premises in Crane Court in 1710. {Link without Title} A formal Royal Charter of incorporation passed the Great Seal on 15 July 1662 , creating "The Royal Society of London", with Viscount William Brouncker as the first President , and Robert Hooke was appointed as Curator of Experiments in November 1662. A second Royal Charter was sealed on 23 April 1663 , naming the King as Founder and changing the name to "The Royal Society of London for Promoting Natural Knowledge". The , which established scientific truth based on deductive logic, concordance with divine providence and the citation of such ancient authorities as Aristotle. PHILOSOPHY AND SIGNIFICANCE The Royal Society imagined a network across the globe as a public enterprise, an "Empire of Learning", and strove to remove language barriers within the Sciences. The Royal Society was dedicated to the free flow of information and encouraged communication. Boyle, in particular, began the practice of reporting his experiments in great detail so that others could replicate them, unlike previous Alchemists . Newton Was A Practising Alchemist and his assistant, J. T. Desaguliers , a demonstrator for the Royal Society, was a prominent Freemason. The Society thus had a complex relationship with Occultism and secret societies. During the eighteenth century, masonic lodges in France became conduits for circulating scientific texts which could not be made available publicly (see John Toland ). GOVERNANCE The Society is governed by its Council of trustees, which is chaired by its President. The members of Council and the President are elected from its Fellowship. Fellowship As with many Learned Societies , the Society's governance structure is based on its Fellowship. Fellows are elected annually by the existing Fellowship for their "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge including mathematics, engineering science and medical science". Fellows must be citizens or ordinarily resident of the Commonwealth or Irish Republic , otherwise they may be elected as a Foreign Member . There are two additional categories: Royal Fellow, for a member of the Royal family to be admitted, and Honorary Fellow, for someone who has "rendered signal service to the cause of science, or whose election would significantly benefit the Society by their great experience in other walks of life". A maximum of forty-four Fellows, six Foreign Members and one Honorary Fellow may be elected each year. {Link without Title} Council and Officers The Fellowship elects twenty-one members of Council, the governing body and trustees of the society. The chair of the council is the President of the Royal Society, and there are four other titled posts, variously referred to as Vice-Presidents, Secretaries and Officers: The Treasurer, the Foreign Secretary, the Physical Secretary and the Biological Secretary. [http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?tip=1&id=1033 A selected list of presidents See Also: Presidents of the Royal Society
FAMOUS MEMBERS Several famous scientists were either the founding members or involved during its history. The early group included Robert Boyle , John Evelyn , Robert Hooke , William Petty , John Wallis , Thomas Browne , John Wilkins , Thomas Willis and Sir Christopher Wren . Isaac Newton demonstrated his theory of optics to them, and later became president of the society. AWARDS The Society awards 10 medals, 6 prizes (which it terms ''awards'') and 9 prize lectureships variously annually, biennially or triennially, according to the terms of reference for each award. The Society also runs The Aventis Prizes For Science Books . Medals and Prize lectures are awarded to scientists in honour of the excellence of their science. Only Fellows can make nominations, which are assessed by committees of Fellows which recommends to the Society's Council who should receive them. Nominees do not have to be Fellows. Recipients of Medals and Prize Lectures receive a struck medal, a scroll, and an honorarium from the Society's private funds. Prize lecturers are required to give a public lecture. {Link without Title} . The Prizes often have the word ''Award'' in their title, are open to nomination from all. They have a variety of assessment criteria and selection process. Some, such as the Michael Faraday Prize , require the recipient to give a public lecture, whereas others, such as the Kohn Award, provide funds for the recipient to undertake a project. A full list of recipients is on the Awards section of the Society's website . SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Medals Prize Lectures IN FICTION The early days of the Royal Society forms the backdrop for the events of Neal Stephenson 's Baroque cycle of novels — Quicksilver , The Confusion and The System Of The World REFERENCES
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