Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society
An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society is a person elected under special criteria to Fellowship of the Royal Society. They are ineligible in the other criteria for election as a Fellow or Foreign Member but have "rendered signal service to the cause of science, or whose election would significantly benefit the Society by their great experience in other walks of life".
The position of Honorary Fellow replaced that whereby Fellows could be elected under Statute 12. Under this statute, members such as Margaret Thatcher, Clement Attlee and Benjamin Disraeli became fellows.
They must be nominated by six fellows and then receive two thirds of votes at the meeting. Only one honorary fellow may be elected per year.
Eight Honorary Fellows have been elected since their creation in 2000:
- John Maddox (2000)
- Patrick Moore (2001)
- Leonard Wolfson, Baron Wolfson (2005)
- Ralph Kohn (2006)
- Onora O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve (2007)
- David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville (2008)
- Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg of Wigton (2010)
- Bill Bryson (2013)