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The origins of the Royal Society lie in an "invisible college" of natural philosophers who began meeting in the mid-1640s to discuss the ideas of Francis Bacon. Its official foundation date is 28 November 1660, when 12 of them met at Gresham College after a lecture by Christopher Wren, the Gresham Professor of Astronomy, and decided to found 'a Colledge for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning'. This group included Wren himself, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, Sir Robert Moray, and William, Viscount Brouncker.

The Society was to meet weekly to witness experiments and discuss what we would now call scientific topics. The first Curator of Experiments was Robert Hooke. It was Moray who first told the King, Charles II, of this venture and secured his approval and encouragement. At first apparently nameless, the name The Royal Society first appears in print in 1661, and in the second Royal Charter of 1663 the Society is referred to as 'The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge'.

The Society found accommodation at Gresham College and rapidly began to acquire a library (the first book was presented in 1661) and a repository or museum of specimens of scientific interest. After the Fire of 1666 it moved for some years to Arundel House, London home of the Dukes of Norfolk. It was not until 1710, under the Presidency of Isaac Newton, that the Society acquired its own home, two houses in Crane Court, off the Strand.

In 1662 the Society was permitted by Royal Charter to publish and the first two books it produced were John Evelyn's Sylva and Micrographia by Robert Hooke. In 1665, the first issue of Philosophical Transactions was edited by Henry Oldenburg, the Society's Secretary. The Society took over publication some years later and Philosophical Transactions is now the oldest scientific journal in continuous publication.

From the beginning, Fellows of the Society had to be elected, although the criteria for election were vague and the vast majority of the Fellowship were not professional scientists. In 1731 a new rule established that each candidate for election had to be proposed in writing and this written certificate signed by those who supported his candidature. These certificates survive and give a glimpse of both the reasons why Fellows were elected and the contacts between Fellows.

The Society moved again in 1780 to premises at Somerset House provided by the Crown, an arrangement made by Sir Joseph Banks who had become President in 1778 and was to remain so until his death in 1820. Banks was in favour of maintaining a mixture among the Fellowship of working scientists and wealthy amateurs who might become their patrons. This view grew less popular in the first half of the 19th century and in 1847 the Society decided that in future Fellows would be elected solely on the merit of their scientific work.

This new professional approach meant that the Society was no longer just a learned society but also de facto an academy of scientists. The Government recognised this in 1850 by giving a grant to the Society of £1,000 to assist scientists in their research and to buy equipment. Therefore a Government Grant system was established and a close relationship began, which nonetheless still allowed the Society to maintain its autonomy, essential for scientific research. In 1857 the Society moved once more, to Burlington House in Piccadilly, with its staff of two.

The Royal Society Building Over the next century the work and staff of the Society grew rapidly and soon outgrew this site. Therefore in 1967 the Society moved again to its present location on Carlton House Terrace with a staff which has now grown to over 120, all working to further the Royal Society's roles as independent scientific academy, learned society and funding body .

Blackett was born in Kensington, London. He was educated at the Osborne Naval College and Dartmouth College for a career in the Royal Navy and saw action during the First World War at the Battle of Jutland. He resigned from the navy at the end of the war and entered Magdalene College, Cambridge, to read for the Natural Sciences Tripos, 1919-1921. He became a research student under Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory in 1921, working with cloud chambers. In 1924 he succeeded in obtaining the first photographs of an atomic transmutation, which was of nitrogen into an oxygen isotope. He continued to develop the cloud chamber and in 1932, with the assistance of G. Occhialini, he designed a cloud chamber in which photographs of cosmic rays were taken automatically. Early in 1933 the device confirmed the existence of the positron. In the same year he became Professor of Physics at Birkbeck College, London, where he continued his cosmic ray studies, demonstrating in 1935 the formation of showers of positive and negative electrons from gamma rays in approximately equal numbers. In 1937 he succeeded W.L. Bragg as Langworthy Professor of Physics at Manchester University, continuing his cosmic ray work. He was brought into the Air Defence Committee in 1936 by H.T. Tizard and during the Second World War he contributed to or directed several research projects such as proximity fuses and bombsights and greatly developed the technique of operational research, notably as applied to controversies over bombing policy and the U-boat campaign. He returned to academic life at the end of the war and, as a consequence of his research into cosmic rays, became interested in the history of the Earth's magnetic field and turned to the study of rock magnetism. In 1953 he was appointed Head of the Physics Department at Imperial College, London, where he built up a team specialising in rock magnetism. He was Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Fellow, 1965-1974. Blackett was always politically committed to the left, and in later years to developing countries and especially to India. At certain periods he exerted influence, particularly after the Labour Party's General Election victory in 1964 when he became Deputy Chairman and Scientific Adviser, Advisory Council on Technology, Ministry of Technology.

Blackett received many honours and awards both in Britain and internationally. He was elected FRS in 1933 (Bakerian Lecture 1939, Royal Medal 1940, Copley Medal 1956, PRS 1965-1970), and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1948 for his work on particle disintegration and cosmic rays. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1967 and received a Life Peerage in 1969.

At school, Christopher, like his brother Michael, proved an accomplished mathematician but after winning a scholarship to Oxford decided to turn his efforts to chemistry. Graduating in 1945 with a first-class honours degree, he went on to hold various prestigious positions at the University of Manchester, King's College London, and Chicago University and in 1954 was appointed Humphrey Plummer Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at Cambridge.

Using the tools of quantum and statistical mechanics he made major contributions to the study of the structure and properties of molecules and to molecular spectroscopy. Understanding the benefit of communication between disciplines, Christopher also combined the voices of molecular chemistry and physics to become the founder of the journal Molecular Physics. At home with some of the greatest minds of the day, Christopher could include the Nobel Prize winning Gerhard Herzberg FRS in his list of many correspondents and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1958.

In the late 1960s Christopher's career made another move towards interdisciplinary research when he made the dramatic decision to leave chemistry and enter the field of artificial intelligence. Always taking an active interest in the contribution of scientific analysis to philosophical questions, his research now focused on the study of the mind. Bringing together groups in computer engineering, computer science, linguistics and experimental psychology, Christopher coined the term 'cognitive science' to cover areas as diverse as informatics, neural networks, perception and language generation and co-founded the first school of Epistemics at the University of Edinburgh.

Having always had an aptitude for music - Christopher was both a talented performer and composer- in his later years he also gave fresh insight into the theory of music. Among his work, some of which remained unpublished at his death, include computer programs for parsing Bach and research into the algorithmic analysis of harmony, rhythm and metre. With his eye for big questions, the collection also shows Christopher's interest in the effects of modern transport on climate change as well as correspondence with Francis Crick FRS concerning consciousness, indicating that he was indeed a true all-round scientist and polymath.

These Council Minutes were created at the end of the eighteenth century at the same time as the Journal Books Copy and continued to the early nineteenth century for security reasons.

The Council for Science and Society was established in 1972 as an independent organization with the stated objectives 'to promote the study of and research into the social effects of science and technology: and to disseminate the results thereof to the public'.

Certificates of Election were created as a result of a meeting of Council on 7 December 1730 when a draft of a new statute was proposed with the intention of limiting membership of the Society. The Statute proposed that each candidate for election should be recommended by three existing Fellows, 'who shall deliver to one of the Secretaries a paper signed by themselves, signifying the name, addition, profession, occupation, and chief qualifications of the Candidate for election, as also notifying the usual place of habitation'. Such certificates were dated and hung in the meeting room for ten gatherings of Fellows before being balloted, and bear the signatures of those Fellows supporting the candidate, with the date of election. Certificates were not made compulsory until 1847 when new statutes were enacted. Therefore there may not be a certificate for every Fellow elected in the period 1731 to 1849.

The number of Fellows elected annually varies, and the Statutes have to be changed to accommodate the changed numbers. In 2006 the numbers of Foreign Fellows were raised from 6 to 8, to take effect in 2007 (require amendment of Statute 3 (c) and Standing Orders 22 c) and 26.)

The number of new nominations made in any year is unlimited. Once nominated, candidates remain eligible for election for seven years. If not elected within this period, an individual may be proposed as a candidate again after a break of three years and then remains eligible for election for a period of three years. This three year cycle may be repeated without limit eg there were 564 candidates for election as Fellows in 2005. The Society does not provide details of the identities of nominated candidates to anybody outside the Fellowship, except those individuals consulted in confidence during the refereeing process.

The nominations process was made easier in 2001 by reducing from six to two the number of Fellows signatures required on a certificate of proposal. This change was introduced because it was felt that the larger number of signatures might discriminate against minorities in science, such as women, those in new and emerging subjects or those in institutions and organisations with few existing Fellows.

In addition, the President of the Royal Society periodically writes to Vice-Chancellors, and Chairs and Chief Executives of Research Councils, to encourage them to put forward names of potential candidates. Any suggestions generated through this route are considered before 30 September by the President, Vice-Presidents and one or more members of the Council of the Royal Society. These suggestions, if thought suitable, then follow the normal nomination process, with the proposing and seconding of a candidate by existing Fellows.

The Society has also broadened the scope of candidates to encourage nomination and election of scientists, technologists and engineers whose major contribution to their subject has been other than through original research, for example by leadership, inspiration or furtherance of science in a senior managerial or administrative capacity, or through science communication.

The proposing Fellow is responsible for informing the candidate that he or she has been nominated. The proposer must ensure, in consultation with the candidate, that all information relevant to the nomination is up to date.

Francis (Franz) Simon received a classical education, but developed a strong interest in science and went to Munich in 1912 to read physics. He was called up for military service in 1913, and from 1914-1918 served as lieutenant in field artillery. He resumed his studies at University of Berlin in 1919, and in 1920 started work for his Ph.D under Nernst who is known for his heat theorem or third law of themodynamics. Simon's research concerned measurement of specific heats at low temperatures, which remained the basis of his scientific interest throughout his life. He received his doctorate in 1921 and in 1924 became 'Privatdozent', then associate professor in 1927. In 1931 he was appointed to the chair of Physical Chemistry at the Technical University of Breslau, and spent part of 1932 as visiting professor at Berkeley. In June 1933 he resigned and accepted the invitation of FA Lindemann (later Lord Cherwell) (1886-1957) to work at the Clarendon Laboratory in Oxford, where KAG Mendelssohn (1906-1980), one of his former co-workers, had set up a helium liquefaction plant. He was accompanied by Nicholas Kurti (1908-1998), another member of his Berlin School. In 1935 he was appointed Reader in Thermodynamics, and Professor, 1945-1956. He succeeded Lindemann as Lee Professor of Experimental Philosophy, but died only a few weeks after his appointment. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1941, and received the Rumford Medal in 1948; received the first Kamerlingh Onnes Medal of the Dutch Institute of Refrigeration in 1950; and the Linde Medal in 1952. Also in 1952 he was elected a honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. For his war work on atomic energy he received the CBE in 1946. He was knighted in 1955.

Maskeylyne was educated at Westminster school with a good grounding in classics, and tutored in his vacations in writing and arithmetic. His interest in optics and astronomy led to his study of mathematics as the essential tool for their proper study. He applied his knowledge to other aspects of natural philosophy, especially mechanics, pneumatics, and hydrostatics, first at Catherine Hall and then Trinity College Cambridge, graduating in 1754 as Seventh Wrangler. He was ordained in 1755 and accepted a curacy at Barnet in Hertfordshire, devoting his leisure hours to assisting the Astronomer Royal, James Bradley, in computing tables of refraction. Bradley's influence with the Royal Society sent Maskelyne in 1761 to the island of St Helena to observe the Transit of Venus. This was unsuccessful because of cloud cover. However, he kept tidal records and determined the altered rate of one of Shelton's clocks. His observations regarding the method of determining longitude at sea made on the voyage were more successful. He used the lunar tables of Tobias Mayer which had been submitted in 1755 to support his application for a parliamentary bounty offered for discovery of longitude at sea. The instrument used was a reflecting quadrant of the type invented by John Hadley in 1731. Maskelyne's second voyage, to Bridgetown in Barbados in 1764, was to assess the accuracy of the rival chronometer method of longitude determination championed by John Harrison, and two other methods based on observations of the satellites of Jupiter and on occultations of stars by the moon. He attended the Board of Longitude meeting of 9 February 1765 where the sums to be awarded to Harrison and Mayer were specified, where he testified to the usefulness of the lunar-distance method for finding longitude at sea to within one degree or 60 miles, and proposed the practical application of this method by a nautical ephemeris with auxiliary tables and explanations. This last resulted in the publication of the Nautical Almanac for 1767, which Maskelyne continued to supervise until his death and was his major contribution to astronomical science. He was responsible for the publication of Mayer's lunar theory (1767), his solar and lunar tables (1770) and the preparation of 'Requisite Tables' (1767) for eliminating the effects of astronomical refraction and parallax from the observed lunar distances. As Astronomer Royal he also assessed the large numbers of chronometers submitted for official trial by such pioneers of watchmaking as John Arnold, Thomas Mudge and Thomas Earnshaw. This led to the establishment of a consistent system of rating and the introduction in 1823 of trial or test numbers, modified by George Airy in 1840 to a system which is still used. In 1774 with the aid of Charles Hutton and John Playfair he determined the earth's density in a famous experiment on Mt Schiehallion in Scotland, the first convincing experiment demonstrating the universality of gravitation, meaning it not only operates between the bodies of the solar system but also between the elements of matter of which each body is composed. For this he was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1775. He was elected in 1802 one of eight foreign members of the French Institute. He died while working at the Observatory in 1811.

Founder member of the Royal Society, and one of the earliest Freemasons, Moray was devoted to the causes of the welfare of Scotland, loyalty to his monarch, and in promoting the new experimental philosophy. He was experienced in negotiating affairs of state, and an intimate friend of King Charles II. The son of Sir Mungo Moray of Craigie in Perthshire, he was educated in Scotland and in France, probably a member of the Scottish regiment which joined the French army in 1633. He made a considerable reputation for himself and was favoured by Cardinal Richelieu. In 1641 he was recruiting Scots soldiers for the French, later becoming Colonel of the Scots Guards at the French court. He was knighted in 1643 by Charles I. He was captured by the Duke of Bavaria in November 1643 whilst leading his regiment into battle for the French, and whilst in prison until 1645 was lent a book on magnetism by Kircherus, with whom he entered into correspondence. He tried unsuccessfully to arrange the escape of Charles I in 1646, and in 1651 was engaged in negotiations with the Prince of Wales to persuade him to come to Scotland, thus beginning his long friendship with the future Charles II. After a failed Scottish rising in the Highlands in 1653, his military career was over and he went into exile, in Bruges in 1656, then Maastricht until 1659, where he led the life of a recluse but spent his time in scientific pursuits. It was at this time that many of his letters to Alexander Bruce were written. Late in 1659 he went to Paris and did much, by correspondence, to help prepare for the return of the King to England, especially in relation to religious matters. After the return he was active in promoting the best interests of Scotland and was given high office. He was also provided with rooms at Whitehall Palace, the King's London residence, which included a laboratory, as the King shared his scientific interests. It was Moray who was the chief intermediary between the Royal Society and the King, and other highly placed persons at the Court such as Prince Rupert and the Duke of York. More important than his scientific work for the Society were his powers of organisation and firmness of purpose in establishing it on a sound and lasting basis, including his efforts in obtaining the three founding Royal Charters and his attempts to put the Society on a sound financial footing. In 1670 he and Lauderdale quarrelled, leading to Moray withdrawing from politics. On his death in 1673 he was buried in Westminster Abbey by personal order and expense of the king.

Sir William Herschel (1738-1822) was born in Hanover and came to England in 1757, where he taught music in Leeds, Halifax and Bath. He devoted himself to the study of mathematics and astronomy, built his own telescope in c.1773, and with it discovered the planet Uranus in 1781 (which he named 'Georgium Sidus' in honour of George III). He was appointed private astronomer to George III in 1782 and knighted in 1816, and is regarded as the virtual founder of sidereal science.

Born, 1845; Education: Owens College, Manchester; Heidelberg University, Bonn University. PhD (Heidelberg); Career: Professor of Chemistry, Andersonian Insitute, Glasgow (1870); Professor of Chemistry, Yorkshire College of Science, Leeds (1874-1885); Professor of Chemistry, Royal College of Science, London (1885); Director, Government Laboratories, London (1894); President, British Association (1921); keen yachtsman; FCS; FRSE; FChemSoc, FRS, 1876; Royal Medal, 1889; Secretary of the Royal Society, 1899-1903; Vice President of the Royal Society, 1894-1895; died, 1925.

The bonds which for many years were demanded of Fellows as an assurance for the regular payment of their fees to the Royal Society.

Originally set to the family trade of broadcloth weaving, Canton's learning and mechanical talent, as shown by his creation of an accurate sundial proudly displayed outside the house by his father, brought him to the attention of Dr Henry Miles (Fellow of the Royal Society, 1843). Miles persuaded Canton's father to allow John to reside with him in Tooting, Surrey, until 1738, when John articled himself to Samuel Watkins, master of a school in Spital Square, London, whom he succeeded as master and owner of the school until his death in 1772. Canton's first contributions to science were routine calculations of the times of lunar eclispes, published in the Ladies Diary for 1739 and 1740. Through Miles he met London's best 'experimental philosophers' such as the apothecary William Watson and clockmaker John Ellicott. He rapidly acquired the same reputation, largely for his invention of a new method of making strong artificial magnets. He kept the method secret, hoping to make some income from it, until the publication of John Mitchell's A Treatise of Artificial Magnets (1750). His procedure appeared very similar to Mitchell's, who immediately accused him of plagiarism. This did not prevent the Royal Society from awarding him the Copley Medal for 1751; Canton had a method before Mitchell's publication, and from what is known of his character testifies to his innocence. In 1752 Canton learned of the French experiments confirming Franklin's conjecture about lightning. He was the first in England to repeat the experiments successfully, and in the process discovered independently that clouds came electrified both positively (as theory suggested) and negatively. His work on determining the sign of a cloud's charge led Canton to design the well known experiments on electrostatic induction which have earned him a place in the history of electricity. He also made the notable discovery that glass does not always charge positively by friction; the sign of the electricity developed depends upon the nature of the substance rubbed over it and the condition of the surface of the glass. Other contributions to the subject were a portable pith-ball electroscope (1754), a method for electifying the air by communication (1754), a careful account of that bewildering stone the tourmaline (1759) and an improvement in the electrical machine, coating its cushion with an amalgam of mercury and tin (1762). As a gifted amateur physicist of his time, Canton displayed interest in other topics, such as identifying the cause of the luminosity of seawater (putrefying organic matter); invented a strongly phosphorescent compound 'Canton's phosphor' made of sulphur and calcined oyster shells (CaS); kept a meteorological journal; recorded the diurnal variations of the compass; and demonstrated the compressibility of water, a notable achievement, which depended on measurements so minute he was challenged on his revolutionary interpretation of them, although they stood the scrutiny of a special committee of the Royal Society and earned him a second Copley Medal in 1765. He was a frequenter of the Club of Honest Whigs in the company of Franklin and Dissenting Ministers like Joseph Priestley, whose History and Present State of Electricity owed much to his patient assistance. Canton was one of the most distinguished of the group of self-made, self-educated men who were the best representatives of English physics in the mid-eighteenth century.

Born in Birstall, Yorkshire, the eldest of six children. From 1742 adopted by his father's eldest sister, Sarah, wife of John Keighley. At Batley Grammar School from 1745, where learnt Latin and Greek; subsequently pupil of John Kirkby (1677-1754) congregational minister who had taught him Hebrew. Health initially not good enough to be a minister, so taught himself French German and Italian, and sought instruction in algebra and mathematics from George Haggerston (d. 1792) When health improved went to a dissenting academy, the Daventry Academy, where he was the first theological student under Caleb Ashworth, although Samuel Clarke (1727-1769) had more influence. His first post was as presbyterian minister at Needham Market, Suffolk, where his preaching was uncontroversial, though he did not hide his Arianism. In 1758 he became minister at Nantwich, Cheshire, where he established a flourishing school, and formed friendships with Edward Harwood and Joseh Brereton, vicar of Acton. In 1761 he became tutor at Warrington Academy, followed in 1762 by becoming ordained and marrying Mary, daughter of Isaac Wilkinson of Plas Grono, ironmaster at Bersham. The marriage led him to found a 'widows fund' for protestant dissenters of Lancashire and Cheshire in 1764, which became a valuable benefit society. Priestley spent a part of every year in London, where he met Benjamin Franklin. He was happy at Warrington, but it was not well paid, and his wife's health failed, so he took a post at Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds in 1767, where his ecclesiastical views underwent a change, and his printed tracts aroused criticism. In 1770 he founded the Leeds circulating library, and in 1771 received the offer of the post of astronomer on Captain Cook's second expedition by Sir Joseph Banks which he was unable to take up. Instead, in 1772 he took up the post of librarian or 'literary companion' with William Fitzmaurice-Pettty, second earl of Sherburne, afterwards first marquis of Lansdowne, at Calne. The books he catalogued are now the Lansdowne MSS in the British Museum, and he was given an extra £40 a year for his scientific experiments. He made his major discovery of 'dephlogisticated air' on 1 August 1774, just before accompanying his patron on a continental tour. His winters were spent in London, where he frequented the Whig Club at the London coffee-house of which Franklin and Canton were members. In 1780 he and Shelbourne parted amicably, and he moved to Birmingham to be nearer his brother-in-law John Wilkinson, who provided him with a house. His income was augmented by gifts from a wealthy widow, Elizabeth Rayner, and by annual subscriptions from his friends, such as Josiah Wedgwood the potter, and Samuel Parker a London optician, who also supplied him with every instrument he needed in glass. He became engaged for pastoral Sunday duty at the New Meeting in Birminghan in 1780. He dined once a month with the 'Lunar Society', meeting Matthew Boulton, James Keir, James Watt, William Withering the botanist and Erasmus Darwin. Politically he was never a member of a political party, but supported the reforming measures of the ablition of the slave trade and the repeal of the test and corporation acts. Popular feeling was against him after he vindicated the principles of the French revolution. In 1791 the Constitutional Society of Birmingham held a meeting, to which Priesltley did not go, but which led to riots; finding the guests had left the Dudley Hotel, the mob attacked the residences of the organisers, including Priestley's house at Fairhill. therafter he took up residence in London, becoming minister at the Gravel Pit Chapel in Hackney, where his friends more than made up his financial losses. However, he considered emigration to America for the sake of his children, a move supported by his wife, and in 1793 his three sons emigrated, followed in 1794 by Priestley and his wife.He settled in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, and after the death of his wife in 1796 went to live with his eldest son. He was never naturalized as an American citizen. He considered returning to Europe, especially France where he had property, but developing a fever while visiting Philadelphia in 1801 enfeebled him, and he died in Northumberland in 1804, and was buried in the Quakers burial ground there with William Chrisite giving a funeral address.

George Lindsay Johnson, MD, FRCS.

James Sowerby trained as an artist and studied at the Royal Academy of Arts. He was best known for his illustrations to English Botany: or Coloured Figures of British Plants, With Their Essential Characters, Synonyms, and Places of Growth (1790-1814). This subsequently became known as 'Sowerby's Botany', although the text was supplied by James Edward Smith, whose name was at first withheld at his own request. His accurate descriptions and Sowerby's skilful drawings, beautifully coloured, made it a highly esteemed work which was frequently re-issued. Sowerby then published British Mineralogy in parts beginning in 1802, and his more important Mineral Conchology of Great Britain, again issued in parts from 1812. Sowerby also provided illustrations for other natural history works, such as that of Strata Identified by Organized Fossils by William Smith. His major contribution to natural history was his vast correspondence with naturalists in Britain and abroad, illustrating the advice he gave and his encouragement to collectors of plants, birds, insects, fossils and minerals. Many specimens were sent to him for identification. He too sent others in return, together with copies of parts of his publications, stimulating further research. He had his own museum at 2 Mead Place Lambeth, which was regularly visited by other naturalists. He married Anne de Carle of Norwich. His eldest son James de Carle Sowerby (1787-1871) and second son George Brettingham Sowerby (1788-1854) assisted him in his work. Their children too were artists and naturalists.

Robert Were Fox was the son of Robert Were Fox, a shipping agent, and Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Tregellen of Falmouth. Educated privately, he showed a special aptitude in mathematics, and was taught to study natural phenomena by his mother. In 1814, during his wedding trip on the continent, he formed lasting friendships with F W H A von Humboldt and other foreign scientists. His researches began in 1812 with Joel Lean, when they performed a series of experiments hoping to improve Watt's engines which were used in Cornish mines. In 1815 Fox began his researches into the internal temperature of the earth, which continued throughout his life. Facilities were provided for this by his lifelong connection with Cornish mines. Fox was the first to prove definitively that heat increased with depth, and that this increase was in diminishing ratio as depth increased. Fox was also interested in magnetic phenomena, especially relating to the earth's magnetism, and constructed a new dipping needle of great sensitivity and accuracy which was later used by Sir James Clark Ross in his voyage to the Antarctic in 1837 and by Captain Nares in the expedition to the North Pole in 1875-1877. Fox was one of the founders of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in 1833, and was Vice President several times. He died at his house near Falmouth in 1877 and was buried at the Friends' burial ground at Budock.

George Lindor Brown was born in Liverpool on 9 February 1903, son of George William Arthur Brown, schoolmaster in Warrington, and Helen Wharram. He attended Boteler Grammar School in Warrington, and entered the University of Manchester on a scholarship to study medicine, where A V Hill, the Nobel Prize winner, was his Professor of Physiology. He took an honours B.Sc. in physiology in 1924, then won the Platt Physiological Scholarship which enabled him to do research with B A McSwiney, earning an M.Sc. (1925). He qualified in Medicine in 1928 (MB, Ch.B Manch.), winning the Bradley Prize and medal for operative surgery. He joined McSwiney as lecturer in physiology at Leeds University in 1928, taking six months' leave to work in Sir C S Sherrington's laboratory at Oxford, and collaborating with J C Eccles. In 1934 Sir Henry Dale offered, and Brown accepted, a post at the National Institute for Medical Research in Hampstead, where he worked with (Sir) John Gaddum and W S Feldberg establishing the cholinergic theory of chemical transmission. In 1942 the Royal Naval Personnel Research Committee was established, and he became involved very successfully with diving and underwater operations, remaining Secretary to the RNPRC until 1949, and then its chairman until 1969. In 1949 he accepted the Jodrell Chair of Physiology at University College London, where he strenghthened the physiology and biophysics departments under (Sir) Bernard Katz and worked with J S Gillespie on adrenergic transmission. He served on various Royal Society committees, becoming Biological Secretary, 1955-1963. In 1960 he accepted the Waynflete chair of physiology in Oxford, becoming a Fellow of Magdalen. He also became a member of the Franks Commission of Inquiry into the working of Oxford University. In 1967 he resigned his chair to be elected Principal of Hertford College Oxford, although he continued with his research group in the pharmacology department. He was responsible for inaugurating the College's major apeal, negotiated two senior research fellowships, and dealt lightly with student restiveness. He married in 1930 Jane Rosamond, daughter of Charles Herbert Lees, FRS, Professor of Physics in the University of London and Vice-Principal of Queen Mary College, and had one daughter and three sons.

Born, 1844; Education: LLD; MA; Honours: CMG 1901; Kt 1915; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1900; died, 1934.

The son of a physician, Edward George Tandy Liddell was born on 25 March 1895 in Harrogate. Suffering from pneumonia bouts during his first years, Liddell was to remain in poor health throughout his life, but completed a vast amount of experimental work on the nature of the nervous system.

As an undergraduate reading medicine at Trinity College, Oxford, Liddell was greatly influenced by Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, who at that time held the position of Waynflete Professor of Physiology at Oxford. Sherrington had already made significant contributions to the study of the nervous system and reflexes with finely-tuned experiments on cats and dogs. His results demonstrated 'Sherrington's Law,' the principle that when one muscle is stimulated, muscles that work in opposition are simultaneously inhibited, a turning point in the understanding of co-ordinated motion. Liddell was to be Sherrington's sole assistant in research until 1926. Much of their collaboration appears in Liddell's dissertation, which provided concrete experimental evidence of Sherrington's theories of inhibition.

Liddell continued to refine his experimental techniques in recording reflexes and contributed many details to the emerging picture of the integrated nervous system, often collaborating with pioneers of neurology such as D Denny-Brown and J C Eccles. He conducted several experiments concerning postural reflexes and their origin of control in the brain, work which proved crucial in understanding spinal cord injuries. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1939 and Waynflete Professor of Physiology in 1940, he was increasingly active in administration and the rebuilding of laboratories at Oxford after the war.

In 1960 Liddell published a book/memoir, 'The Discovery of Reflexes,' detailing the history of ideas about the nervous system up through the exciting time of Sherrington's laboratory work.

The collection of Liddell's papers includes his unpublished degree thesis, 'The excitatory and inhibitory states in reflex activity,' as well as notebooks from his early school years through university. A later notebook contains Liddell's own detailed instructions for cat dissection with an emphasis on features of the nervous system. The collection also includes correspondence relating to the publication of his book 'The Discovery of Reflexes,' with notes and reminiscing from Sherrington's son Carr, D Denny-Brown, R S Creed, R Granit and other well-known names in the history of neurophysiology.

Born, 1903; CBE 1956; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1948; Rumford Medal, 1956; died, 1968.

The International Association of Academies (1899-1913) was an association designed for the purpose of linking the various Academies around the world, of which the first meeting was held in Paris, France, in 1900.

Thomas Henry Holland was born on 22 November 1868 at Helston, Cornwall, of John Holland and Grace Treloar Roberts, one of eight children. Educated first at a dame's school at Helston, he later studied under John Gill, a schoolmaster at Helston, who, recognising his promise, prepared him for a scholarship to the Royal College of Science at South Kensington which he won at the age of sixteen. He won a London Associate 1st Class with Honours in Geology in 1888, and the Murchison Medal and Prize. Thomas Henry Huxley was then the Dean, and Holland became a lifelong admirer. After a period as assistant to Professor Judd at the Royal College of Science, he became a Berkeley Fellow at Owens College Manchester in 1889. In 1890, at the age of twenty one, he was appointed Assistant Superintendent in the Geological Survey of India. He travelled there via the United States, Canada and the Far East, arriving in Calcutta in October 1890 where he was made Curator of the Geological Museum and Laboratory, holding the post until 1896. He soon established a reputation as a petrographer and one interested in the economic side of geology, his energy and organizing ability soon becoming evident to the Government of India, being appointed Director of the Geological Survey of India 1903-1909. His work put the Geological Survey into a position of prestige in India, both with the Government and public, which it never lost. His outstanding service in India was recognized by the award of KCIE in 1908. He was appointed to the Chair of Geology and Mineralogy at Manchester University in 1909, taking it up in 1910. With Rutherford and Elliot Smith he formed the dominant trio, while influencing heavily the interest in petrology, geodesy and mineral deposits, and revifying the rather moribund mining department. He returned to India in 1916 as President of the Indian Munitions Board, resigning his professorship in favour of membership of the Advisory Council of the University. He married Frances Maud Chapman (died 1942), daughter of Charles Chapman, Deputy Commisisoner in Oudh, on 23 December 1896, and had one son, Major General John F C Holland, and one daughter, Margaretta, widow of Colonel A G Shea. In 1946 he married Helen Eileen, daughter of Frank Verrall, of Bramley, near Guildford, with whom he took a house in Surbiton in Surrey. She survived him and was, from 1948 until 1954, an active member of Surrey County Council. Holland was awarded KCIE for scientific services in 1908; KCSI for war services in 1918; and elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1904.

Henri Victor Regnault was born in Germany, 1810; Foreign Member of the Royal Society, 1852; Copley Medal, 1869; Rumford Medal, 1848; died in Paris, 1878.

Born, 1892; Education: Eton; Career: Sir William Dunn Reader in Biochemistry, Cambridge University (to 1933); Head of Genetical Department, John Innes Horticultural Institution; Fullerian Professor of Physiology, Royal Institution; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1932; Croonian Lecture, 1946; Darwin Medal, 1952; died, 1964.

Born, 1653; assistant to the Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, 1684-1685, 1688 and 1690; clerkship in the King's shipyard at Portsmouth, 1691; returned to Little Horton, 1694, here he pursued mathematics, astronomy, and instrument making; died, 1742.

Born, 1834; Education: King's College, London; Royal College of Chemistry; Lincoln College, Oxford. MA (Oxon); Career: Professor of Chemistry, Agricultural College, Cirencester (1863-1879); Professor of Chemistry, Royal Academy of Arts (1879-1911); wrote on organic, physiological and mineralogical chemistry; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1888; died, 1915.

The Batt Family were Surgeon Apothecaries, of Witney, Oxon.

Nicholas Carlisle was an antiquarian.

Henry Lee was naturalist to the Brighton Aquarium and a Fellow of the Linnean, Geological and Zoological Societies.

William Ackland (c 1791-1867), William Henry Ackland (c 1825-1898), Charles Kingsley Ackland (1859-1940) and the latter's nephew Martin Wentworth Littlewood (1888-1972) were four generations of general practitioners who had a practice in Bideford, Devon.

The firm of Corbyn and Co., wholesale, retail and manufacturing chemists and druggists, was founded by Thomas Corbyn (1711-1791), who used his connections as a member of the Society of Friends to build up an extensive overseas trade. After successive changes of name, the firm became known as Corbyn, Stacey and Co. It was liquidated in 1927.

General Apothecaries Co. Ltd was in active operation from 1856. It claimed (in 1941) to be 'the only company that is run by medical men for the benefit of the medical profession'.

The Hunterian Society was founded in 1819 as a general medical society for physicians, surgeons and general practitioners, serving the City and eastern districts of London. Many of its prominent members were based at the London Hospital, or at Guy's or St Thomas's Hospital.

The pharmacy, at 20 Fore Street, Taunton, Somerset was run by R Woollatt until 1906, and thereafter by J Boyd.

Thomas Hodgkin was born in London in 1798, the son of John Hodgkin (1766-1845), a private tutor. The family were strong Quakers and originated in Warwickshire. He trained in medicine at Edinburgh University, taking his M.D. in 1823. After travels in Europe he became Curator of the Medical Museum and Inspector of the Dead at Guy's Hospital, London. His pathological work led him to the first description of what is now known as Hodgkin's Disease in his honour. He left Guy's Hospital following his failure, in 1837, to be appointed Assistant Physician and after a short period at St. Thomas's Hospital devoted himself to private practice and to his other interests. He had a keen interest in the world beyond Europe and in particular in the societies there that were threatened with cultural extinction by the spread of European commercial, political or cultural dominion; his works in this area included playing a moving role in the foundation and functioning of the Aborigines Protection Society. In 1850 he married Sarah Frances Scaife, a widow, from Nottingham. The couple had no children of their own but there were two sons from her first marriage. He died in 1866 at Jaffa while on a journey with his friend Sir Moses Montefiore (1784-1885) to negotiate for better treatment for Jewish residents in Palestine.

Born, 1855; attended school in Jersey, graduated MB CM at Aberdeen University in 1876, and in 1880 proceeded MD (Aberdeen) and took the diploma of public health at Cambridge; medical officer of health at Aberdeen, 1881; medical officer of health for Calcutta, 1886; chair of hygiene at King's College, London, 1898-1923; co-founder of the London School of Tropical Medicine; lectured on tropical hygiene at the London School of Tropical Medicine, 1898-1923; taught hygiene at the London School of Medicine for Women, 1900-1914; member of a commission to inquire into dysentery and enteric fever among the troops in South Africa, 1900; commissioner to investigate plague in Hong Kong, 1902; investigated sanitation in Singapore, 1906; investigated plague on the Gold Coast, and public health in Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Southern Nigeria, 1908; reported on plague and public health in east Africa, Uganda, and Zanzibar, 1913, member of a yellow fever commission in west Africa; studied sanitation and plague in the mines and mining villages in the Gold Coast and the Asante kingdom, 1924; co-founder of the Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases at Putney, where he became the first Director of Tropical Hygiene, and physician to the attached hospital, 1926; visited Chester-Beatty group of copper mines in Northern Rhodesia, 1929; died, 1931.

Sir Hermann Gollancz was a rabbi and Goldsmid Professor of Hebrew at University College, London, 1902-1923.