2010 is the 350th anniversary of
the foundation of the Royal Society
On November 30th 1660 a dozen men gathered to hear the young Christopher Wren give a lecture on astronomy. In the discussion that followed they decided to form a society for the study of the new and still controversial Experimental Philosophy. Two years later Charles II made it his Royal Society and in the 350 years since it was founded, its Fellows have given us gravity, evolution, the electron, the double helix, the internet and a large part of the modern world.
In 2010 we celebrate 350 years of scientific brilliance and fearless investigation. As the year unfolds, this site will bring you all the information you need to take part. We hope you are able to join us.
| Calendar | Books | TV | Radio | Journals | Conferences | Miscellany |
Events
in 2010
There will be events all over the country and throughout the year, and the main purpose of this site will be to bring them all together in an interactive calendar and map. The calendar will be published here on February 12th and will allow you to find events by area, type, topic and period. Meanwhile, some highlights:
Local Heroes
Across the UK our partners will be celebrating your local scientific heroes, the pioneers, mavericks and geniuses, who for centuries have changed the way we live and see the world.
Capital Science
A year of exhibitions, talks, conferences, seminars and workshops developed in partnership with London's leading organisations from the arts, humanities and sciences.
Summer of Science
In late June and early July 2010, the Society, in partnership with the Southbank Centre, will present a huge and splendid celebration of the joy and vitality of science, its importance to society and culture and its role in shaping who we are and who we will become.
Seeing Further
Edited and introduced by Bill Bryson, with contributions from Richard Dawkins, Margaret Atwood, Richard Holmes, Martin Rees, Richard Fortey, Steve Jones, James Gleick and Neal Stephenson amongst others, this beautiful, lavishly illustrated book tells the story of science and the Royal Society, from 1660 to the present. 'Seeing Further' celebrates its momentous history and achievements, bringing together the very best of science writing. Filled with illustrations of treasures from the Society's archives, this is a unique, ground-breaking and beautiful volume, and a suitable reflection of the immense achievements of science.
Seeing Further is available at Amazon and all good bookshops.
World of Wonder
The BBC has designated 2010 its ‘year of science’ and there will be special programmes all year under the banner World of Wonder. From the sublime to the joyfully ridiculous, they will take to the whole country the idea that science is not a subject but a state of mind. Highlights include The Story of Science and Seven Wonders of the Solar System on BBC2, Richard Hammond going beyond the visible on BBC1, an in-depth look at the discovery of the elements on BBC4 and the even more volatile Bang goes the Theory.
in How Earth Made Us, Iain Stewart looks at the role geology and geography have played in human history. Water, wind and earth are available to watch online. Fire is next.
Radio in 2010
Radio 4 will throw a wide range of programming into the BBC’s year of science, including Richard Dawkins’ series The Age of the Genome, the national talent search So You Want To Be A Scientist and the Reith Lectures, which this year are to be delivered by Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society.
The Radio 4 site will give you a full list of their science programming and most of it can also be found on the BBC’s iplayer.
Please note that the BBC’s programming is entirely independent: the Royal Society is not involved and the views expressed are not ours.
Melvyn Bragg has devoted four episodes of In Our Time to the long and sometimes turbulent history of the Royal Society.
Material World, Radio 4’s weekly science show, is searching for the BBC’s Amateur Scientist of the Year. It’s not about inventions, but real scientific enquiry. More at So You Want to be a Scientist?.
Journals in 2010
The Royal Society has just published a special edition of Philosophical Transactions A, the world’s oldest continuing scientific journal. It ranges across the whole spectrum of physical sciences to present personal perspectives and bold conclusions about what is – and is not – promising in the current state of each subject.
The special edition is topical and accessible to the general scientific reader, and until the end of February you can read it freely online. The Society is offering free access to its entire archive of 35,000 journal articles, dating back to 1665 and ranging from the very first peer-reviewed papers to the most cutting-edge interdisciplinary articles in Interface.
Trailblazing is an online, interactive timeline for everybody with an interest in science. Compiled by scientists, science communicators and historians, it showcases sixty interesting and groundbreaking scientific articles drawn from our journal archive.
Discussion Meetings
The Royal Society will hold a series of discussion meetings in 2010 to raise and address the major scientific questions of the 21st century. These meetings will provide a scientific backbone to the 350th anniversary celebrations and they will help us to set the agenda for the next 20-30 years. The conferences will bring together hundreds of world-leading researchers to tackle interdisciplinary topics and problems with global impact. They will reach broadly, both to map out the future of the most vital research fields and to bring home their growing importance to a wider audience.
The topics include:
- The new science of ageing
- Handling uncertainty in science
- Web science: a new frontier
- Greenhouse gases in the earth system
The Society will make many new research appointments and awards over the course of the year, and will be holding many other scientific events to mark these appointments, both in the UK and internationally.
Anniversary Miscellany
London Underground is celebrating 350 years of the Royal Society with six poems reflecting on scientific thought and the changes it has wrought. They launch on February 1st and range from the collision of gas molecules to the Victorian lament for lost certainty. Download the full set.