The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 1

In Our Time: Science

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2010

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As part of the BBC's year of science programming, Melvyn Bragg looks at the history of the oldest scientific learned society of them all: the Royal Society. Melvyn travels to Wadham College, Oxford, where under the shadow of the English Civil War, the young Christopher Wren and friends experimented in the garden of their inspirational college warden, John Wilkins. Back in London, as Charles II is brought to the throne from exile, the new Society is formally founded one night in Gresham College. When London burns six years later, it is two of the key early Fellows of the Society who are charged with its rebuilding. And, as Melvyn finds out, in the secret observatory in The Monument to the fire, it is science which flavours their plans.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for down learning the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.uk.
0:10.0	I hope you enjoy the program. I'm here at the Royal Society on London's Mal, overlooking
0:18.4	St James Park, two Royal Palaces, Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. Here were the
0:24.4	assembled fellows of Britain's oldest and most prestigious learned society where
0:28.6	they're celebrating a birthday. In 1660 a group of like-minded men decided to form a club for the promoting
0:36.1	physical mathematical learning, something we might now call science, but which
0:42.1	in 1660 was a rather novel and controversial type
0:45.8	of philosophy. The president of the Royal Society Lord Reese has just come in and proceedings for this special day are about to begin.
1:00.0	Ladies and gentlemen, may I welcome you all to the Society for its anniversary day.
1:08.0	The Royal Society was founded in 1660 under the patronage of King Charles II and he presented the mace
1:16.4	which lies here in front of us to signify this is a formal meeting of the society.
1:21.6	The mace is made of silver and on its upper end a
1:23.6	formal meeting of the society. The mace is made of silver and on its upper end there are embossed figures of a rose
1:26.8	a harp a thistle and a fleur de lille representing England, Ireland, Scotland and France.
1:31.3	The mace is very like those in the Houses of Parliament, big, silver,
1:36.2	a richly gilt club.
1:38.3	Since we have founded in 1660, this is a special year, this is a special meeting as it marks the beginning of our 350th anniversary year during which we are having a variety of special events and celebrations.
1:57.0	Bosted by a Royal Charter, the Fellows went on to create and perform a distinguished
2:06.4	and crucially influential combination of roles in the nation's intellectual life.
2:11.6	As advisor, benefactor, investigator, debating club, administrator, arbiter,
2:16.7	diplomat, patron, servant, publisher and popularizer of all things science. This week from Monday to Thursday I'd be examining what they
2:26.2	were up to and what they thought they were up to and discussing how that dazzling
	...

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