List of presidents of the Royal Society

The arms of the Royal Society

The President of the Royal Society (PRS) is the elected director of the Royal Society of London who presides over meetings of the society's council.

After informal meetings at Gresham College, the Royal Society was officially founded on 28 November 1660 when a group of academics decided to found "a Colledge for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning",^[1] acquiring a Royal Charter on 15 July 1662.^[2] The Royal Charter nominated William Brouncker as president, and stipulated that future presidents should be elected by the Council and Fellows of the society at anniversary meetings each year on St. Andrew's Day (30 November).

The details of the presidency were described by the second Royal Charter, which did not set any limit on how long a president could serve. There were considerable fluctuations in the president's term of office until well into the 19th century. By then, sentiment had turned against electing wealthy amateurs solely because they might become patrons of the society, and in 1847 the society decided that Fellows would be elected solely on scientific merit. Since the 1870s it has been usual (with a few exceptions) for each President to serve for exactly five years. Under the current statutes, a president cannot serve for more than five years.^[3]

The current President is Venkatraman Ramakrishnan who began his 5 year tenure in 2015.^[4] Historically, the duties of the president have been both formal and social. Under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876, the President was one of only a few people authorised to certify that a particular experiment on an animal was justified, and in addition he acted as the government's chief (albeit informal) advisor for scientific matters. At the same time, the President was tasked with entertaining distinguished foreign guests and scientists.^[5]

The changeover of presidents occurs on the Royal Society Anniversary Day, the weekday on or nearest to 30 November, after the departing President's Anniversary Address.^[6]

Presidents of the Royal Society

Years	President		Profession
1662–1677		The Viscount Brouncker	Mathematician
1677–1680		Sir Joseph Williamson	Civil servant and politician
1680–1682		Sir Christopher Wren	Architect, astronomer and physicist
1682–1683		Sir John Hoskyns, Bt	Lawyer
1683–1684		Cyril Wyche	Lawyer and politician
1684–1686		Samuel Pepys	Naval administrator and Member of Parliament
1686–1689		The Earl of Carbery	Politician
1689–1690		The Earl of Pembroke	Politician
1690–1695		Sir Robert Southwell	Diplomat
1695–1698		Charles Montagu	Poet and statesman
1698–1703		The Lord Somers	Jurist and statesman
1703–1727		Sir Isaac Newton	Physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian
1727–1741		Sir Hans Sloane, Bt	Physician and collector
1741–1752		Martin Folkes	Antiquarian
1752–1764		The Earl of Macclesfield	Astronomer
1764–1768		The Earl of Morton	Astronomer and representative peer
1768-1768		James Burrow	Legal reporter
1768–1772		James West	Politician and antiquarian
1772-1772		James Burrow	Legal reporter
1772–1778		Sir John Pringle	Physician
1778–1820		Sir Joseph Banks	Naturalist and botanist
1820-1820		William Hyde Wollaston	Chemist
1820–1827		Sir Humphry Davy, Bt	Chemist and inventor
1827–1830		Davies Gilbert	Engineer, author and politician
1830–1838		HRH The Duke of Sussex	Sixth son of George III of the United Kingdom
1838–1848		The Marquess of Northampton	Nobleman
1848–1854		The Earl of Rosse	Astronomer
1854–1858		The Lord Wrottesley	Astronomer
1858–1861		Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bt	Physiologist and surgeon
1861–1871		Sir Edward Sabine	Astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist and explorer
1871–1873		Sir George Biddell Airy	Mathematician and astronomer
1873–1878		Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker	Botanist and explorer
1878–1883		William H. Spottiswoode	Mathematician and physicist
1883–1885		Thomas Henry Huxley	Biologist
1885–1890		Sir George Stokes	Mathematician and physicist
1890–1895		Sir William Thomson	Mathematical physicist
1895–1900		The Lord Lister	Surgeon
1900–1905		Sir William Huggins	Astronomer
1905–1908		The Lord Rayleigh	Physicist
1908–1913		Sir Archibald Geikie	Geologist and writer
1913–1915		Sir William Crookes	Chemist and physicist
1915–1920		Sir Joseph John Thomson	Physicist
1920–1925		Sir Charles Scott Sherrington	Neurophysiologist, histologist, bacteriologist, and pathologist
1925–1930		Sir Ernest Rutherford	Physicist and chemist
1930–1935		Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins	Biophysicist
1935–1940		Sir William Henry Bragg	Physicist, chemist and mathematician
1940–1945		Sir Henry Hallett Dale	Pharmacologist and physiologist
1945–1950		Sir Robert Robinson	Organic chemist
1950–1955		Edgar Adrian	Electrophysiologist
1955–1960		Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood	Physical chemist
1960–1965		Sir Howard Florey	Pharmacologist and pathologist
1965–1970		Patrick Blackett	Physicist
1970–1975		Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin	Physiologist and Biophysicist
1975–1980		The Lord Todd	Biochemist
1980–1985		Sir Andrew Huxley	Physiologist and biophysicist
1985–1990		Sir George Porter	Chemist
1990–1995		Sir Michael Atiyah	Mathematician
1995–2000		Sir Aaron Klug	Chemist and biophysicist
2000–2005		Sir Robert May	Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government
2005–2010		The Lord Rees of Ludlow	Cosmologist and astrophysicist
2010–2015		Sir Paul Nurse	Geneticist and cell biologist
2015–present		Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan	Biophysicist

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