Certificates of election and candidature for Fellowship of the Royal Society
Item
Country
GB
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG
Contact information: phone number
0044 2074512500
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
library@royalsociety.org
Reference number
EC
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Certificates of election and candidature for Fellowship of the Royal Society
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
The Royal Society
Date(s)
1731/-
Language(s)
deu
eng
fra
ita
lat
Extent
7,338 documents
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This fonds is composed of certificates of election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society and covers candidates elected as Fellows (scientists from the UK and the Commonwealth), Foreign Members (Scientists from outside the Commonwealth) in recognition of their scientific excellence, and Honorary Fellows, who are typically not scientists elected in recognition of their contribution to the cause of science. A small percentage of the certificates are for unsuccessful candidates.
There have been changes in the format of the certificates over time, but each certificate typically contains: personal details of the candidate (name, date and place of birth, nationality, address and contact information, honours and qualifications, current profession); date of submission to the Society, years/meetings for which the certificate is 'suspended' (i.e. remains eligible) and date of the election; which sectional committee would consider the nomination, and whether the candidate was from the mainstream physical and biological sciences, applied sciences, human sciences or was a general/honorary Fellow candidate; a citation, which states the reasons the candidate had been nominated; and the names of the proposers of each Fellow.
Among these certificates, there are some Sephardic Jews elected Fellows of the Royal Society, namely Álvaro Lopes Suasso on April 24, 1735 (EC/1735/08), Moses Mendes da Costa on February 10, 1737 (EC/1736/13), Emanuel Mendes da Costa on November 26, 1747 (EC/1747/11), Joseph Salvador on March 15, 1759 (EC/1758/14) and Jacob Rodrigues Pereira on January 24, 1760 (EC/1759/13). Some of these fellows and other Portuguese fellows were proposed by Jacob de Castro Sarmento.
There have been changes in the format of the certificates over time, but each certificate typically contains: personal details of the candidate (name, date and place of birth, nationality, address and contact information, honours and qualifications, current profession); date of submission to the Society, years/meetings for which the certificate is 'suspended' (i.e. remains eligible) and date of the election; which sectional committee would consider the nomination, and whether the candidate was from the mainstream physical and biological sciences, applied sciences, human sciences or was a general/honorary Fellow candidate; a citation, which states the reasons the candidate had been nominated; and the names of the proposers of each Fellow.
Among these certificates, there are some Sephardic Jews elected Fellows of the Royal Society, namely Álvaro Lopes Suasso on April 24, 1735 (EC/1735/08), Moses Mendes da Costa on February 10, 1737 (EC/1736/13), Emanuel Mendes da Costa on November 26, 1747 (EC/1747/11), Joseph Salvador on March 15, 1759 (EC/1758/14) and Jacob Rodrigues Pereira on January 24, 1760 (EC/1759/13). Some of these fellows and other Portuguese fellows were proposed by Jacob de Castro Sarmento.
Archival history
Election certificates were created as a result of a meeting of the Council on December 7, 1730, when a draft of a new statute was proposed. This stated that each candidate for election should be recommended by three existing Fellows who should present a paper to one of the Secretaries which would be dated and hung in the meeting room for ten gatherings of Fellows before being balloted, and bear the signatures of those Fellows supporting the candidate, with the date of the election. There was a major review of the procedure for the election of Fellows and Foreign Members in 1963.
The number of Fellows and Foreign members elected annually varies through the history of the Royal Society, and the Statutes have to be changed to accommodate the adjusted numbers. Initially, there was no restriction on the number of Fellows. A limit of 15 new Fellows per annum was enforced from 1848 and remained until 1930. Other changes occurred in the following decades. In 2016, 52 was the maximum number of Fellowships (18 Fellowships allocated to candidates drawn from Physical Sciences, up to 18 from Biological Sciences, up to ten from Applied Sciences, Human Sciences and Joint Physical and Biological Sciences, a maximum of six "Honorary", "General" or "Royal" Fellows, and a maximum of ten Foreign Members.
The number of Fellows and Foreign members elected annually varies through the history of the Royal Society, and the Statutes have to be changed to accommodate the adjusted numbers. Initially, there was no restriction on the number of Fellows. A limit of 15 new Fellows per annum was enforced from 1848 and remained until 1930. Other changes occurred in the following decades. In 2016, 52 was the maximum number of Fellowships (18 Fellowships allocated to candidates drawn from Physical Sciences, up to 18 from Biological Sciences, up to ten from Applied Sciences, Human Sciences and Joint Physical and Biological Sciences, a maximum of six "Honorary", "General" or "Royal" Fellows, and a maximum of ten Foreign Members.
Administrative / Biographical history
The Royal Society is the oldest national scientific society in the world and the leading British organisation for the promotion of scientific research. It originated on November 28, 1660, when 12 men met after a lecture at Gresham College, London, by Christopher Wren (1632-1723), then professor of astronomy at the college, and resolved to set up a college for the promoting of "Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning". Those present included the scientists Robert Boyle (1627-91) and Bishop John Wilkins (1614-72) and the courtiers Sir Robert Moray (1609-73) and William, 2nd Viscount Brouncker (1620-84).
This group's ambition to create a national society devoted to the promotion of science was put into effect over the next few years, particularly through a charter of incorporation granted by Charles II in 1662 and revised in 1663. The royal charter provided an institutional structure for the society, with a president, treasurer, secretaries, and council. Though it had royal patronage almost from the start, the society has always remained a voluntary organisation, independent of the British state.
A key development of the Royal Society was the establishment in 1665 of a periodical that acted as the society's mouthpiece, the Philosophical Transactions, which still flourishes today as the oldest scientific journal in continuous publication.
The presidency of Isaac Newton from 1703 to 1727 saw this great mathematician and physicist asserting the society's dominant role in science in Britain and farther afield. Endowments from the 18th century onward made possible prizes for various aspects of science that are still awarded today. In the 1830s, a reform program reinvigorated the society and restored it to a prominence that it has retained ever since.
Since 1967, the society has occupied premises in Carlton House Terrace, London, where meetings are held, and the society's extensive archival and other resources are housed.
This group's ambition to create a national society devoted to the promotion of science was put into effect over the next few years, particularly through a charter of incorporation granted by Charles II in 1662 and revised in 1663. The royal charter provided an institutional structure for the society, with a president, treasurer, secretaries, and council. Though it had royal patronage almost from the start, the society has always remained a voluntary organisation, independent of the British state.
A key development of the Royal Society was the establishment in 1665 of a periodical that acted as the society's mouthpiece, the Philosophical Transactions, which still flourishes today as the oldest scientific journal in continuous publication.
The presidency of Isaac Newton from 1703 to 1727 saw this great mathematician and physicist asserting the society's dominant role in science in Britain and farther afield. Endowments from the 18th century onward made possible prizes for various aspects of science that are still awarded today. In the 1830s, a reform program reinvigorated the society and restored it to a prominence that it has retained ever since.
Since 1967, the society has occupied premises in Carlton House Terrace, London, where meetings are held, and the society's extensive archival and other resources are housed.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
Up to 1820, certificates are arranged by date of proposal, then a period of variation in ordering until 1828, from which time they are arranged consistently by date of the election, and in alphabetical order of candidates' names within each election year. Foreign Fellows are listed alphabetically after the Fellows, and Honorary Fellows after the Foreign Fellows. Within the catalogue, certificates for successful candidates have been given the date of the election, while certificates for unsuccessful candidates have been given the date of proposal.
Access, restrictions
50 year closure period from date of election.
Digital copies of the certificates are available online.
Digital copies of the certificates are available online.
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2023
Linked resources
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