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The Royal Society

The President, Council and Fellows of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge
The Royal Society Coat of Arms.svg
Coat of arms of the Royal Society. Unlike the coat of arms of the other corporations in Britain that use a closed helmet, the Royal Society uses a barred helmet, reserved for members of the nobility.
Motto Nullius in verba
(Take nobody's word for it)
Formation November 1660
Headquarters London, England
Coordinates 51°30′21.53″N 0°07′56.86″W / 51.5059806°N 0.1324611°W / 51.5059806; -0.1324611Coordinates: 51°30′21.53″N 0°07′56.86″W / 51.5059806°N 0.1324611°W / 51.5059806; -0.1324611
Membership
  • ~ 1600 Fellows
  • ~ 140 Foreign Members
  • 6 Royal Fellows
President
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
Website royalsociety.org

The President, Council and Fellows of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, commonly known as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science and is possibly the oldest such society still in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by King Charles II as "The Royal Society". The Society is the United Kingdom's and Commonwealth of Nations' Academy of Sciences and fulfills a number of roles; promoting science and its benefits, recognising excellence in science, supporting outstanding science, providing scientific advice for policy, fostering international and global co-operation, education and public engagement.

The society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the Society's President, according to a set of statutes and standing orders. The members of Council and the President are elected from and by its Fellows, the basic members of the society, who are themselves elected by existing Fellows. As of 2016, there are about 1,600 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society), with up to 52 new fellows appointed each year. There are also royal fellows, honorary fellows and foreign members, the last of which are allowed to use the postnominal title ForMemRS (Foreign Member of the Royal Society). The Royal Society President is Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who took up the post on 30 November 2015.

Since 1967, the society has been based at 6–9 Carlton House Terrace, a Grade I listed building in central London which was previously used by the Embassy of Germany, London.

The Royal Society started from groups of physicians and natural philosophers, meeting at variety of locations, including Gresham College in London. They were influenced by the "new science", as promoted by Francis Bacon in his New Atlantis, from approximately 1645 onwards. A group known as "The Philosophical Society of Oxford" was run under a set of rules still retained by the Bodleian Library. After the English Restoration, there were regular meetings at Gresham College. It is widely held that these groups were the inspiration for the foundation of the Royal Society.


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