As the spirit of scientific intellectualism grew in Europe, communication between the great thinkers of the

time became more and more common, as they found their fields overlapping and their services of help to one
another. The Royal Society of London was officially organized in 1662, though its members had been
meeting weekly to discuss current issues of philosophy and scientific import. In 1662, after a plea was sent to
parliament and the crown, King Charles II proclaimed himself the founder and patron of the Royal Society,
sometimes referred to as Gresham College. Charles continued to take an active role in the life of the Royal
Society, proposing topics for investigation, and asking for the society's cooperation on a number of projects.
One of the most prominent features of the Royal Society was that it admitted as Fellows men of all religions,
professions, origins, and classes. It sought to promote a universal culture of peace throughout Europe, and
shunned war and discrimination. Many famous scientists of the era were Fellows of the Royal Society, and
almost all of the society's Fellows went on to become somewhat famous, at least within their fields. The
Fellows assisted each other with advice, criticism, and cooperation, and attempted to learn as much as
possible from one another.
The Royal Society promoted the advancement of all professions and was heavily involved in the promotion
of invention. In 1662, Charles II decreed that all inventions must pass under the inspection of the Royal
Society before patents would be granted for them. Many of inventions of the period actually emanated from
the Fellows themselves, as well. The society undertook many laboratory experiments, funded by the crown,
and promoted the wide discussion of the results. In 1664, the society began to publish the works of its
Fellows in scientific journals, and this practice eased the accessibility to scientific thought for the common
man and constantly advanced the cutting edge of scientific study. In fact, Isaac Newton submitted
his Principia in rough draft for inspection by the Royal Society, and found the suggestions offered by the
fellows instrumental in the revision of his work.
One important function of the Royal Society was correspondence, which it undertook by committee in order
to keep in touch with developments in science initiated by men and societies elsewhere. In 1666, the
Academie Royale de Sciences officially formed in France, and the Prussian Akademie der Wissenschaften
organized in 1700. All of Europe's scientific societies had similar purposes: to gather the great minds of their
region and push forward modern scientific thought, and the interconnecting system which rose up between
them contributed markedly to these goals.
Commentary
In the minds of the Royal Society's founders, the society was meant to serve a double purpose. Amply
funded, and consisting of many high born, wealthy gentlemen, the society served to check the tendency to
sacrifice the thorough search for truth to the prospect of immediate profit, and thus prod the Fellows to see
their discoveries from conception to application in a continuous process, rather than exposing new theories
as soon as they cropped up, without thinking them out fully. The second purpose of the society was to check
dogmatism and the subservience of the Fellows thereto. The society observed the restricting and damaging
effects of the wide acceptance of the Aristotelian system, and strove to strike a more effective balance

between the transmission of past knowledge and the initiative to unearth new knowledge. This latter function
spawned the rigorous and unyielding demand for demonstration of scientific principles. The Fellows of the
Royal Society demanded to be shown the manifestation of their colleagues' work. In this attitude the societies
instituted the method of scientific inquiry most unfavorable to the persistence of dogmatism: laboratory
experimentation. To quote past authority was useless, and frowned upon. The crest of the Royal Society
bears the motto Nullius in verba('On the word of no man'). This motto expresses the demand for tangible
evidence, for repeatable experimentation, which created the spirit of science, as we know it today.
The Fellows preserved an openness throughout the existence of the Royal Society that stemmed from the
conviction that their mental powers would be raised to higher levels in the company of other great minds
than in solitude. They welcomed diversity of character and diversity of view, and practically insisted upon
debate. The common-sense judgment of the average citizen was oft sought and highly valued. Even though
the society was home to some of the most respected men in all of Europe, the contributions of the young and
inexperienced to discussions and experimentation was never rejeccted or belittled. The Royal Society made a
conscious effort to be bound by no concept of undeniable truth and no specific codes of scientific
experimentation. The society at one point published the view that "true experimenting has this one thing
inseparable from it, never to be a fixed and settled art, and never to be limited by constant rules."
The Royal Society of London had its beginnings in the English Civil War, which engulfed much of Great
Britain in the middle of the 17th century. In 1640, two years before the onset of civil war, several individuals
calling themselves "natural philosophers" began holding regular meetings in private homes and taverns.
These meetings continued in erratic fashion during the troubled civil war period, often centered on Gresham
College, to which many of them were connected. By 1658, life under Cromwell's Commonwealth had
compelled the natural philosophers to suspend their meetings.
Events began to move swiftly in 1660, with the end of the Commonwealth and the restoration of the Stuart
monarchs. Meetings resumed, a Society of Philosophers was founded, and in December, they obtained the
patronage of King Charles II. Thus the Royal Society of London was born. Among the first Fellows of the
Royal Society were Christopher Wren, John Wallis, Robert Boyle, and Robert Hooke. The years
immediately following 1660 were productive ones: the Society found formal accommodations at Gresham
College, began a library, and in 1665 published its first volume of the Philosophical Transactions.
Unfortunately, this growth was severely curtailed in 1666 with the Great Fire of London. While the fire did
not damage the Society's rooms at Gresham College, it did destroy most of the old city that lay within the
Roman walls. To accelerate the city's recovery, the Lord Mayor of London compelled the Society remove
itself from Gresham College so that space could be made available for the Mayor's offices, as well as for city
merchants. Meetings were held at various private homes before finding more permanent space at Arundel
House, the residence of the Duke of Norfolk. On a side note, Hooke developed and submitted a rebuilding
plan to the king, and Wren was instrumental in designing and supervising the reconstruction of the city.
One might expect that after recovering from the Great Fire, the Royal Society would begin a period of
growth.