What it was
Founded at Gresham College by natural philosophers including Wren and Boyle, and chartered by Charles II in 1662, the society made experiment and publication the currency of knowledge. Its Philosophical Transactions, begun in 1665, is the oldest continuously published scientific journal and pioneered peer review.
Role
It published Newton’s Principia in 1687, and Newton presided from 1703 to 1727. Fellows from Darwin and Faraday to the present shaped every era of British science, and the society advised the state on scientific matters long before formal ministries existed.
Fate
The society remains the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences, electing fellows on scientific distinction, advising government, and funding research from its home at Carlton House Terrace.