Editing Royal Institution (section)

==History==
The Royal Institution was founded as the result of a proposal by Sir [[Benjamin Thompson]] (Count Rumford) for 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".<ref name="Brown">{{cite book |author=G. I. Brown |title =COUNT RUMFORD The Extraordinary Life of a Scientific Genius | chapter=The Royal Institution |publisher=Sutton Publishing |date=1999}}</ref>

Rumford's proposal led to a 7 March 1799 meeting at the house of [[Joseph Banks]], then president of the [[Royal Society]], a similar but much older [[learned society]].  A follow-up meeting on 9 March saw the first meeting of the managers of the Institution.  In June of that year, the society elected [[George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea]] as its first president, and in July it purchased the 21 [[Albemarle Street]], [[Mayfair]] building that has served as its home ever since. Renovations began immediately on the building to provide appropriate meeting, office, and laboratory space for the Institution's mission.

The first Professor and Public Lecturer in Experimental Philosophy, Mechanics and Chemistry was [[Thomas Garnett (physician)|Dr Thomas Garnett]], whom Rumford poached from the newly founded [[Strathclyde University|Andersonian Institute]] in [[Glasgow]] in October 1799.

The steep-sided main lecture hall that has become the building's most publicly visible feature, as the home of its Christmas lectures, was completed in 1800, the same year that the institution received its [[royal charter]] from [[George III of Great Britain|George III]].  The lecture hall was put to use immediately; the first lecture given in it was by Garnett in March 1800.<ref name = timeline/>

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = {{visible anchor|Royal Institution of Great Britain Act 1810}}
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act for enlarging the Powers granted by His Majesty to the Royal Institution of Great Britain, and for extending and more effectually promoting the Objects thereof.
| year                  = 1810
| citation              = [[50 Geo. 3]]. c. li
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 18 April 1810
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo3/50/51/pdfs/ukla_18100051_en.pdf
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
[[Image:Faraday Michael Christmas lecture detail.jpg|thumb|Michael Faraday's 1856 Christmas Lecture]]
Throughout its history,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rigb.org/our-history|title=History of The Royal Institution, UK}}</ref> the Institution has supported public engagement with science through a programme of lectures, many of which continue today. The most famous of these are the annual Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, founded by [[Michael Faraday]] in 1825.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures |title=Christmas Lectures |website=www.rigb.org|language=en|access-date=2019-03-12}}</ref>

Despite Garnett's first lectures being a great success, his salary was frozen, he was not allowed to practise as a doctor, and [[Humphry Davy]] was appointed as his assistant, so he resigned.<ref name="Brown"/> Humphry Davy was an even greater success, as was his assistant and successor Michael Faraday. Davy's immediate successor was [[William Thomas Brande]].

Thus the Institution has had an instrumental role in the advancement of science since its founding. Notable scientists who have worked there include Sir Humphry Davy (who discovered [[sodium]] and [[potassium]]), Michael Faraday, [[James Dewar]], Sir [[William Henry Bragg]] and Sir [[William Lawrence Bragg]] (winners of the [[Nobel Prize for Physics]] for their work on [[x-ray diffraction]]), [[Max Perutz]], [[John Kendrew]], [[Antony Hewish]], and [[George Porter]].

In the 19th century, Faraday at the Royal Institution carried out much of the research which laid the groundwork for the practical exploitation of electricity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rigb.org/our-history/michael-faraday |title=Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution |access-date=17 November 2017 |archive-date=15 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215040325/https://www.rigb.org/our-history/michael-faraday |url-status=dead }}</ref> In total fifteen scientists attached to the Royal Institution have won [[Nobel Prize]]s. Ten [[chemical element]]s including [[sodium]] were discovered there; the [[electric generator]] was devised at the Institution, and much of the early work on the [[atomic structure]] of crystals was carried out within it.

The Royal Institution was founded during the age of slavery, and one of its major supporters was [[Mad Jack Fuller|John Fuller]], whose fortune derived from two Jamaican plantations. Fuller contributed more than £10,000 to the institution, including endowing two professorships; Michael Faraday was the first Fullerian Professor of Chemistry. In contemporary times, use of the Fullerian title has been discontinued, and the two chairs will no longer be filled.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Fuller 'Mad Jack' - Profile & Legacies Summary |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/-1047169191 |website=Legacies of British Slavery |publisher=University College, London |access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref>

===Nobel laureates===
{{Div col}}
# [[John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh|John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh)]] (1842–1919): Physics 1904 with William Ramsay for the discovery of argon
# [[Joseph John Thomson]] (1856–1940): Physics 1906 for studies of electrical connection through gases
# [[Ernest Rutherford]] (1871–1937): Chemistry 1908 for work on the chemistry of radioactive substances and the disintegration of the elements
# [[William Lawrence Bragg]] (1890–1971): Physics 1915 joint with WH Bragg, for determining the molecular structure of crystals using x-rays
# [[William Henry Bragg]] (1862–1942): Physics 1915 joint with WL Bragg, for determining the molecular structure of crystals using x-rays
# [[Charles Scott Sherrington]] (1857–1952): Medicine 1932 shared with [[Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian|Edgar Adrian]], for his discovery of the function of neurons
# [[Henry Hallett Dale]] (1875–1968): Medicine 1936 joint with Otto Loewi, for their work on the chemical transmission of nerve impulses<ref>{{cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1936 |website=www.nobelprize.org |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1936/dale.html |access-date=30 January 2013}}</ref>
# [[Peter Brian Medawar]] (1915–1987): Medicine 1960 for his work on making permanent skin grafts
# [[John Cowdery Kendrew]] (1917–1997): Chemistry 1962 with Perutz, for determining the structures of haemoglobin and myoglobin using X-ray crystallography and (new at the time) electronic computers
# [[Max Ferdinand Perutz]] (1914–2002): Chemistry 1962 with Kendrew, for determining the structures of haemoglobin and myoglobin using X-ray crystallography and (new at the time) electronic computers
# [[Andrew Fielding Huxley]] (1917–2012): Medicine 1963 for explaining how nerves use electricity to send signals around the body
# [[Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/collections/dorothy-hodgkin/|title=Nobel Prize - Dorothy Hodgkin}}</ref> (1910–1994): Chemistry 1964 for determining the structure of important biochemical substances including vitamin B12 and penicillin using X-ray techniques
# [[George Porter]] (1920–2002): Chemistry 1967 for work on chemical reactions triggered by light, and for photographing the behaviour of molecules during fast reactions
# [[Antony Hewish]] (1924–2021): Physics 1974 for his work on the discovery of pulsars
# [[John Gurdon|Sir John Gurdon]] (1933–): in 2012, he and [[Shinya Yamanaka]] were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be converted to stem cells

{{div col end}}

===Chemical elements discovered or isolated===
{{Div col}}
# [[Potassium]] – Isolated from caustic potash by [[Humphry Davy]] in 1807 using electrolysis.
# [[Sodium]] – Humphry Davy first isolated sodium in 1807 from molten sodium hydroxide.
# [[Barium]] – Isolated by electrolysis of molten barium salts by Humphry Davy in 1808.
# [[Boron]] – Discovered by Humphry Davy who first used electrolysis to produce a brown precipitate from a solution of borates in 1808. He produced enough of the substance to identify it as an element but pure boron was not produced until 1909.
# [[Calcium]] – Isolated by Humphry Davy in 1808 from a mixture of lime and mercuric oxide using electrolysis.
# [[Chlorine]] – Elemental chlorine was discovered in 1774 but was thought to be a compound and was called "dephlogisticated muriatic acid air". Humphry Davy named it chlorine in 1810 after experimenting with it and declared it was an element.
# [[Magnesium]] – First produced and discovered in 1808 by Humphry Davy using electrolysis of a mixture of magnesia and mercury oxide.
# [[Strontium]] – Known in mineral form but isolated as an element in 1808 by Humphry Davy from a mixture of strontium chloride and mercuric acid.
# [[Iodine]] – Discovered by [[Bernard Courtois]] in 1811, he lacked the resources to investigate the substance but gave samples to various researchers. It was named by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac who thought it either a compound of oxygen or an element. A few days later Humphry Davy stated it was a new element leading to argument between the two over who identified it first.
# [[Argon]] – Discovered in 1894 by [[Lord Rayleigh]] and [[William Ramsay]].

{{div col end}}

===Past presidents===
{{Div col}}
Since 1799, the Royal Institution has had fifteen presidents and one acting president.<ref>[http://www.rigb.org/our-history/people/officers-and-staff Key officers and staff of the Royal Institution since 1799], Royal Institution website, accessed 29 December 2014</ref>
*1799 – [[George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea]]
*1813 – [[George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer]]
*1825 – [[Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester]]
*1827 – [[Edward Adolphus Seymour, 11th Duke of Somerset]]
*1842 – [[Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland]]
*1865 – [[Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet]]
*1873 – [[Algernon George Percy, 6th Duke of Northumberland]]
*1899 – [[Henry George Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland]]
*1918 – [[Alan Ian Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland]]
*1930 – [[Eustace Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Newcastle|Lord Eustace Percy]], raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Percy of Newcastle in 1953
*1945 – [[Robert John Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh]]
*1948 – [[John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara]]
*1963 – [[Alexander Fleck, 1st Baron Fleck]]
*1968 – [[William Wellclose Davis]] (acting)
*1969 – [[Harold Roxbee Cox, Baron Kings Norton]]
*1976 – [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent]]
{{div col end}}

===Past directors===
{{Main|Directors of the Royal Institution}}

The leadership of the Royal Institution has had various titles:
* Director of the Laboratory
* Director of the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory
* Director

The position was abolished in 2010, with the firing of [[Susan Greenfield]].<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6968961/Baroness-Greenfields-redundancy-only-way-to-get-rid-of-her.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100113194432/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6968961/Baroness-Greenfields-redundancy-only-way-to-get-rid-of-her.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 13 January 2010 |title=Baroness Greenfield's redundancy 'only way to get rid of her' |work=The Daily Telegraph |location= London |author1=Gammell, Caroline |author2= Alleyne, Richard |date=12 January 2010 |access-date=28 April 2014}}</ref>

The position was restored in April 2017 with the appointment of [[Sarah Harper]], Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rigb.org/about/news/spring-2017/director-announcement|title=Ri Trustees appoint Professor Sarah Harper as Director}}</ref> Harper resigned in September 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rigb.org/about/news/autumn-2017/the-royal-institution-confirms-the-departure-of-it|title=The Royal Institution (Ri) confirms the departure of its Director, Professor Sarah Harper}}</ref>

The present director is [[Katherine Mathieson]].

===Andrade controversy===
In 1952, [[Edward Andrade]] was forced to resign following a complicated controversy over the management of the Royal Institution and his powers as director, involving a power struggle with [[Alexander Rankine]] who was secretary. Following various resignations and general meetings of members, Andrade was awarded £7,000 by arbitration: the arbitrators blamed the problems on "a lack of clear definition of roles&nbsp;... an outdated constitution, and the inability of the protagonists to compromise". Andrade launched a lawsuit to set the arbitration aside, which he lost.<ref>Frank James & Vivianne Quirke "L'Affaire Andrade" in ''The Common Purposes of Life'' (Ashgate, 2002)</ref>

===Director Greenfield firing===
From 1998 to 8 January 2010, the director of the Royal Institution was [[Susan Greenfield|Baroness Susan Greenfield]], but following a review,<ref>{{cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8402701.stm |title= Science body confirms review |access-date=9 January 2010 |work= BBC News |date=8 December 2009}}</ref> the position was abolished for being "no longer affordable".<ref name="telegraph"/> The Royal Institution had found itself in a financial crisis following a £22 million development programme led by Greenfield, which included refurbishment of the institution's main Albemarle Street building, and the addition of a restaurant and bar with an aim to turn the venue into a "[[Groucho club]] for science". The project ended £3 million in debt.<ref name="telegraph"/><ref>{{cite news |author1=McKie, Robin |author2=Syal, Rajeev |url= https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jan/10/greenfield-redundancy-royal-institution |title=Top scientist Susan Greenfield told to quit her job – and her flat |work=The Observer |location= London |date=10 January 2010 |access-date=28 April 2014}}</ref>

Greenfield subsequently announced that she would be suing for discrimination.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8449718.stm |title=Royal Institution former chief suing for discrimination |access-date=9 January 2010 |work=BBC News |date=9 January 2010}}</ref>
The RI's official statement stated it would "continue to deliver its main charitable objectives under the direction of chief executive officer, Chris Rofe and a talented senior team including Professor Quentin Pankhurst, the Director of the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory, [[Gail Cardew|Dr Gail Cardew]], the Head of Programmes and Professor Frank James, Head of Collections and Heritage."<ref>[http://www.rigb.org/contentControl?action=displayContent&id=00000003906 Press Statement — Baroness Greenfield and the role of Director at the Royal Institution] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210094816/http://www.rigb.org/contentControl?action=displayContent&id=00000003906 |date=10 February 2010 }}, Royal Institution, UK, 8 January 2010.</ref> Baroness Greenfield later dropped the discrimination case.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/governance/news/content/6560/baroness_greenfield_drops_sex_discrimination_case_against_the_royal_institution |title=Baroness Greenfield drops legal action against the Royal Institution |publisher=Civilsociety.co.uk |access-date=28 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225535/http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/governance/news/content/6560/baroness_greenfield_drops_sex_discrimination_case_against_the_royal_institution |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-03-03}}</ref>