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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Society | 4/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T10:29:14.242742+00:00 | kb-cron |
The early 19th century has been seen as a time of decline for the society; of 662 fellows in 1830, only 104 had contributed to the Philosophical Transactions. The same year, Charles Babbage published Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes, which was deeply critical of the society. The scientific Fellows of the society were spurred into action by this, and eventually James South established a Charters Committee "with a view to obtaining a supplementary Charter from the Crown", aimed primarily at looking at ways to restrict membership. The Committee recommended that the election of Fellows take place on one day every year, that the Fellows be selected on consideration of their scientific achievements and that the number of Fellows elected a year be limited to 15. This limit was increased to 17 in 1930 and 20 in 1937. As of 2024, 85 Fellows and 24 Foreign Members are elected each year. This had a number of effects on the society: first, the society's membership became almost entirely scientific, with few political Fellows or patrons. Second, the number of Fellows was significantly reduced—between the years 1700 and 1850, the number of Fellows rose from approximately 100 to approximately 750. From then until 1941, the total number of Fellows was always between 400 and 500. The period did lead to some reform of internal Society statutes, such as in 1823 and 1831. The most important change there was the requirement that the Treasurer publish an annual report, along with a copy of the total income and expenditure of the society. These were to be sent to Fellows at least 14 days before the general meeting, with the intent being to ensure the election of competent Officers by making it readily apparent what existing Officers were doing. This was accompanied by a full list of Fellows standing for Council positions, where previously the names had only been announced a couple of days before. As with the other reforms, this helped ensure that Fellows had a chance to vet and properly consider candidates. In 1850 the society accepted the responsibility of administering a government grant-in-aid of scientific research of £1,000 per year; this was supplemented in the financial year 1876/1877 by a Government Fund of £4,000 per year, with the society acting as the administering body of these funds, distributing grants to scientists. The Government Fund came to an end after a period of five years, after which the Government Grant was increased to £4,000 a year in total. This grant has now grown to over £47 million, some £37 million of which is to support around 370 fellowships and professorships. By 1852, the congestion at Somerset House had increased due to the growing number of Fellows. Therefore, the Library Committee asked the Council to petition Her Majesty's Government to find new facilities, with the advice being to bring all the scientific societies, such as the Linnean and Geological societies, under one roof. In August 1866, the government announced their intention to refurbish Burlington House and move the Royal Academy and other societies there. The Academy moved in 1867, while other societies joined when their facilities were built. The Royal Society moved there in 1873, taking up residence in the East Wing. The top floor was used as accommodation for the Assistant Secretary, while the library was scattered over every room and the old caretaker's apartment was converted into offices. One flaw was the lack of space for the office staff, which was then approximately eighty.
=== 20th century === On 22 March 1945, the first female Fellows were elected to the Royal Society. This followed a statutory amendment in 1944 that read "Nothing herein contained shall render women ineligible as candidates", and was contained in Chapter 1 of Statute 1. Because of the difficulty of co-ordinating all the Fellows during the Second World War, a ballot on making the change was conducted via the post, with 336 Fellows supporting the change and 37 opposing. Following approval by the Council, Marjory Stephenson and Kathleen Lonsdale were elected as the first female Fellows. In 1947, Mary Cartwright became the first female mathematician elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. Cartwright was also the first woman to serve on the Council of the Royal Society. Due to overcrowding at Burlington House, the society moved to Carlton House Terrace in 1967.
=== 21st century === In October 2020, the Royal Society’s “Science in Emergencies Tasking – COVID” group (SET-C) published a report titled COVID-19 vaccine deployment: Behaviour, ethics, misinformation and policy strategies, led by sociologist Melinda Mills. The report examined behavioural and policy issues surrounding vaccine uptake, including how governments might respond to misinformation online. Commentators such as former Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption subsequently discussed the limits of regulating online content, arguing in a 2021 opinion column that “science advances by confronting contrary arguments, not by suppressing them.” In October 2025, the Financial Times reported that the Royal Society had discussed the fellowship status of Elon Musk. According to the Society's statement to the newspaper, its incoming president Sir Paul Nurse had written to Musk, asking him to consider resigning his fellowship if he felt unable to promote or support science. The Society told the FT that Musk did not respond on that point and that staff concluded it was not in the Society's interests to pursue disciplinary action.
== Coat of arms ==