The Royal Institution
The formation of the Royal Institution
On March 7, 1799, at a meeting in the Soho Square house of noted naturalist and botanist Sir Joseph Banks (who was president of the Royal Society at the time)*, a decision was made that still lies at the heart of science today.
A group of leading scientists agreed to found an institution with a clear ambition: to engage as many people as possible with science. Today the Royal Institution of Great Britain (or RI for short) still has the same clear ambition. The founders were a bit more wordy, though – their aim was :
‘The formation by Subscription, in the Metropolis of the British Empire, of a Public Institution for diffusing the Knowledge and facilitating the general Introduction of useful Mechanical Inventions and Improvements, and for the teaching by courses of Philosophical Lectures and Experiments, the application of Science to the Common Purposes of Life’.
Later the same year, accommodation was purchased for the RI in Albemarle Street and it has been there ever since. The premises have grown over the years and a unifying grand façade was added in 1837.
Did you know?
What is the difference between the Royal Society and the Royal Institution?
The Royal Society focuses on scientific research and fellowship among prominent scientists, whereas the Royal Institution focuses on public engagement and education in science.
The Royal Society was founded in 1660 by King Charles II, and the Royal Institution received its Royal Charter from King George III in 1799.
*The Royal Institution was actually founded at a meeting held at the house of Joseph Banks, the president of the Royal Society at that time, highlighting the historical connection between the two.
Sir Humphrey Davy and Michael Faraday
In 1801, Davy became an Assistant Lecturer at the RI aged just 23. His groundbreaking experiments and discoveries with gases and electrolysis gave rise to the new field of electrochemistry.
This led him to isolate 9 chemical elements for the first time and he studied the forces involved in separating these elements from their salts.
There is a nifty, hands-on periodic table on the wall which challenges you to press each element that was isolated/discovered at the RI when it is mentioned in a song.
Davy also experimented with nitrous oxide, noting its pleasurable effects (he came up with the name ‘laughing gas’), as well as identifying its possible use as an anaesthetic.
He almost lost his sight whilst working with another gas, the highly explosive nitrogen trichloride.
Did you know?
Nitrogen trichloride:
Also known as trichloramine, this is the gas that gives swimming pools their signature smell. In pools, it is formed by the reaction of chlorine containing disinfectants with the urea in swimmers’ sweat and urine.
In need of a temporary assistant because of his sight problems, Davy hired a young Michael Faraday.
Faraday’s early work was in chemistry and he discovered several new organic molecules including benzene, a simple, ring-shaped molecule found in many materials like gasoline and plastics – although its structure was only determined 100 years later, also in the RI.
Faraday went on to make major contributions in the fields of electricity and magnetism. He invented the first electric motor and dynamo, discovered the effect of magnetism on light and demonstrated the relation between electricity and chemical bonding.
It is perhaps comforting to learn that he, like many of us, struggled with the maths side of things!
Faraday’s original laboratory containing many original pieces of his equipment is on display in the RI’s basement.
Other major breakthroughs at the RI
In the late 1890s James Dewar invented his eponymous flask – better known to us as the vacuum flask or the Thermos flask. This allowed liquefied gases to be kept liquid at very low temperatures and facilitate new fields of scientific discovery.
A little earlier, John Tyndall had explained and demonstrated why the sky is blue during the day and red at sunrise and sunset. He also presented his work on the impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) and explained what we erroneously think of as a new concept, the greenhouse effect.
It was in the RI’s theatre that JJ Thompson announced the discovery of the first sub-atomic particle, the electron. He was awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 1906 for showing that the electron was a particle.
His son George Thompson was to be awarded the same prize in 1937 for showing that the electron was also a wave!
Lectures at the RI: The inspiration for Frankenstein?
In 1812, fourteen year old Mary Shelley was taken by her father, William Godwin, to hear the public chemistry lectures of Sir Humphrey Davy in the Royal Institution.
In the era that Shelley wrote her novel, the subject of ‘what, exactly, differentiates living things from inanimate matter’ was the focus of impassioned debate. Davy favoured the hypothesis of a life force, similar to heat or electricity.
What she heard and saw there was to form the basis of her 1818 novel ‘Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus’, and in the novel, Davy became the model for Professor Waldman, who lectured to the young medical student, Victor Frankenstein.
Davy remained influential in Mary’s life: in October 1816, when she was writing Frankenstein almost daily, Shelley noted in her diary that she was simultaneously reading Davy’s ‘Elements of Chemical Philosophy.
Christmas lectures
In 1825 Michael Faraday gave the first of what have become the annual RI Christmas lectures. A series of 3 lectures, aimed at young people and delivered by leading scientists, they have been delivered almost every year since, were first televised in 1936 and regularly broadcast since 1966. You can watch them all here.
The lectures are given in the RI’s own theatre and notable scientists who have delivered the lectures include Alice Roberts, David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins and Hannah Fry.
Still today the RI is at the forefront of scientific development, housing as it does the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory (DFRL) where work is underway using nanoparticles in the targeted treatment of diseases – the field of healthcare biomagnetics.
The RI is free to enter and is open Monday-Friday 0900-1700 (although sadly closed on public holidays and weekend). Regular talks and events are held and there are many fixed and temporary exhibitions. The Young Scientist Centre in the RI holds hands-on masterclasses and science shows for schools.
To vsit their website for more information, please click here.
Visit the Royal Institution With Us!
The RI is one of the stops on Excellent Walks of London’s ‘Molecules and Magnets’ guided walk and our guides can arrange tailored tours for schools which include a visit inside the RI, exploring the building and its collections.
Steve
