November

The Royal Society, the oldest national scientific institution in the world, was founded on 28^thNovember 1660. The Royal Society was born out of such troubled times. Although the English Civil War officially lasted between 1642 and 1651, the consequences of this war were far reaching and the peace was by no means to be taken for granted. A group of twelve men from Gresham College met on 28^th November 1660 in the rooms of the college in central London, after the lecture by Christopher Wren. In this meeting the new organization was established, and this date, and the meeting, are regarded as the beginning of the Royal Society. The Royal Society currently has around 1600 fellows and foreign members. Over its history, it has had more than 8000 fellows, including the most famous mathematicians and scientists: Sir Isaac Newton, Darwin, Faraday, Einstein, Turing, Hawking were all members.