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Copley Medal
The Copley Medal is the most prestigious award of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, conferred "for sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science". The award alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. It is arguably the highest United Kingdom, British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for scientific achievement, and has often been included among the most distinguished international scientific awards. Given annually, the medal is the oldest Royal Society medal awarded and the oldest surviving scientific award in the world, having first been given in 1731 to Stephen Gray (scientist), Stephen Gray, for "his new Electrical Experiments: – as an encouragement to him for the readiness he has always shown in obliging the Society with his discoveries and improvements in this part of Natural Knowledge". The medal is made of silver-gilt and awarded with a £25,000 prize. It is awarded to "senior scientists" irres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Gabriel Stokes
Sir George Gabriel Stokes, 1st Baronet, (; 13 August 1819 – 1 February 1903) was an Irish mathematician and physicist. Born in County Sligo, Ireland, Stokes spent his entire career at the University of Cambridge, where he served as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics for 54 years, from 1849 until his death in 1903, the longest tenure held by the Lucasian Professor. As a physicist, Stokes made seminal contributions to fluid mechanics, including the Navier–Stokes equations; and to physical optics, with notable works on Polarization (waves), polarisation and fluorescence. As a mathematician, he popularised "Stokes' theorem" in vector calculus and contributed to the theory of asymptotic expansions. Stokes, along with Felix Hoppe-Seyler, first demonstrated the oxygen transport function of haemoglobin, and showed colour changes produced by the aeration of haemoglobin solutions. Stokes was made a baronet by the British monarch in 1889. In 1893 he received the Royal Society's Copl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abraham Hill
Abraham Hill FRS (19 April 1633 in London – 5 February 1721) was a British merchant. Life Hill was baptised on 16 June 1635 at St Dionis Backchurch, London. His father, Richard Hill, a merchant R. E. W. Maddison, ''Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London'', Vol. 15, (Jul. 1960), pp. 173-182 and of London, was appointed by the Long parliament treasurer of sequestrations in the summer of 1642, and acted in that capacity until 1649. His mother, Agnes Trewolla, was the daughter of Thomas Trewolla of Mevagissey who hailed from the line from John Trewolla, Esquire, builder of the quay in Mevagissey, and Letitia Rashleigh Trewolla, both of Treleavan who herself was grandchild of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Biddell Airy
Sir George Biddell Airy (; 27 July 18012 January 1892) was an English mathematician and astronomer, as well as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1826 to 1828 and the seventh Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievements include work on planetary orbits, measuring the mean density of the Earth, a method of solution of two-dimensional problems in solid mechanics and, in his role as Astronomer Royal, establishing Greenwich as the location of the prime meridian. Biography Airy was born at Alnwick in Northumberland, one of a long line of Airys who traced their descent back to a family of the same name residing at Kentmere, in Westmorland, in the 14th century. The branch to which he belonged, having suffered in the English Civil War, moved to Lincolnshire and became farmers. Airy was educated first at elementary schools in Hereford, and afterwards at Colchester Royal Grammar School. An introverted child, Airy gained popularity with his schoolmates through his grea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penny (British Pre-decimal Coin)
The United Kingdom, British £sd, pre-decimal penny was a denomination of Coins of the United Kingdom, sterling coinage worth of one Pound sterling, pound or of one Shilling (British coin), shilling. Its symbol was ''d'', from the Roman denarius. It was a continuation of the earlier Penny (English coin), English penny, and in Scotland it had the same monetary value as one Acts of Union 1707, pre-1707 Scottish shilling, thus the English penny was called in Scottish Gaelic. The penny was originally minted in silver, but from the late 18th century it was minted in copper, and then after 1860 in bronze. The plural of "penny" is "pence" (often added as an unstressed suffix) when referring to an amount of money, and "pennies" when referring to a number of coins. Thus 8''d'' is eightpence or eight pence, but "eight pennies" means specifically eight individual penny coins. Before Decimal Day in 1971, sterling used the Carolingian monetary system (£sd), under which the largest unit w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shilling (British Coin)
The United Kingdom, British shilling, abbreviated "1s" or "1/-", was a unit of currency and a denomination of Coins of the United Kingdom, sterling coinage worth of one Pound (currency), pound, or twelve Penny (British pre-decimal coin), pre-decimal pence. It was first minted in the reign of Henry VII of England, Henry VII as the testoon, and became known as the shilling, from the Old English , sometime in the mid-16th century. It circulated until 1990. It was commonly known as a ''bob'', as in "ten-bob note", also the Scout Association's Bob a Job Week. The shilling was last minted in 1966, prior to Decimal Day, decimalisation. Following decimal day on 15 February 1971 the coin had a value of Five pence (British coin), five new pence, and a new coin of the same value but labelled as "five new pence" (later removing "new" after 1980) was minted with the same size as the shilling until 1990. The five-pence coin was reduced in size in 1990, and the old larger five-pence coins and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alessandro Volta
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (, ; ; 18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian chemist and physicist who was a pioneer of electricity and Power (physics), power, and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the discoverer of methane. He invented the voltaic pile in 1799, and reported the results of his experiments in a two-part letter to the president of the Royal Society, which was published in 1800. With this invention, Volta proved that electricity could be generated chemically and debunked the prevalent theory that electricity was generated solely by living beings. Volta's invention sparked a great amount of scientific excitement and led others to conduct similar experiments, which eventually led to the development of the field of electrochemistry. Volta drew admiration from Napoleon Bonaparte for his invention, and was invited to the Institute of France to demonstrate his invention to the members of the institute. Throughout his life, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James Cook's First voyage of James Cook, first great voyage (1768–1771), visiting Brazil, Tahiti, and after 6 months in New Zealand, Australia, returning to immediate fame. He held the position of president of the Royal Society for over 41 years. He advised King George III on the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, sending botanists around the world to Botanical expedition, collect plants, he made Kew the world's leading botanical garden. He is credited for bringing 30,000 plant specimens home with him; amongst them, he was the first European to document 1,400. Banks advocated Colony of New South Wales, British settlement in New South Wales and the colonisation of Australia, as wel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Presidents Of The Royal Society
The president of the Royal Society (PRS), also known as the Royal Society of London, is the elected Head of the Royal Society who presides over meetings of the society's council. After an informal meeting (a lecture) by Christopher Wren at Gresham College, the Royal Society was officially founded on 28 November 1660 when a group of academics decided to found "a College for the Promoting of Mathematical Experimental Learning". King Charles II granted the society a Royal Charter on 15 July 1662, formally establishing it as the "Royal Society of London." The Royal Charter nominated William Brouncker, 2nd Viscount Brouncker, William Brouncker as president and stipulated that future presidents should be elected by the Council and Fellows of the Society at anniversary meetings each year on St. Andrew's Day (30 November). The details of the presidency were described by the second Royal Charter in 1663, which did not set any limit on how long a president could serve. There were considera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's official maker of British coins. It is currently located in Llantrisant, Wales, where it moved in 1968. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclusive contract to supply the nation's coinage. As well as minting circulating coins for the UK and international markets, The Royal Mint is a leading provider of precious metal products. The Royal Mint was historically part of a series of mints that became centralised to produce coins for the Kingdom of England, all of Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and nations across the Commonwealth. The Royal Mint operated within the Tower of London for several hundred years before moving to what is now called Royal Mint Court, where it remained until the 1960s. As Britain followed the rest of the world in decimalising its currency, the Mint moved from London to a new 38-acre (15 ha) plant in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Sigismund Tanner
John Sigismund Tanner (1705 – 14 March 1775; ) was an engraver of the Kingdom of Great Britain, making dies for coins and medals. Tanner, a native of Saxe-Coburg, worked mostly for the Royal Mint at the Tower of London and was its Chief Engraver from 1741 until his death in 1775. During his latter years he suffered from approaching blindness and many other infirmities and took little part in preparing new dies or other work, which was carried out by his chief assistant and successor Richard Yeo. Under the instruction of Master of the Mint Richard Arundell, Tanner produced replicas of Thomas Simon's coins of 1658. The wider availability of Tanner's sixpences compared to the originals led to them being nicknamed "tanners". This name preserved until decimalisation in 1971. Life In 1729, the Master of the Mint admitted, with some apprehension, that John Croker, Chief Engraver to the Mint since 1705, was then "the only man now living who has hitherto made Puncheons for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Belchier
John Belchier (also Belcher, Belchar) (bap. 1706 – 6 February 1785) was a British surgeon at Guy's Hospital from 1736 to 1768. Life He was the son of James Belchier of Kingston, Surrey, and was educated at Eton College. He then became an apprentice to William Cheselden of St Thomas's Hospital. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1732. Belchier discovered at about the time of his Guy's appointment that the vegetable dye madder stained newly forming bone tissue, opening up the study of the growth and development of the skeleton. He was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1737. This research direction was taken forward by Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau and John Hunter. Belchier was a member of the Court of Assistants at the Company of Surgeons; in 1766 he was one of two representatives of Guy's on the body of six, with Joseph Warner. He was on the 1768 list of governors and guardians of the Foundling Hospital. Associations Belchier was a friend of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Folkes
Martin Folkes (29 October 1690 – 28 June 1754) was an English antiquary, numismatist, mathematician and astronomer who served as the president of the Royal Society from 1741 to 1752. Life Folkes was born in Westminster on 29 October 1690, the eldest son of Martin Folkes, councillor at Law.Albert G. Mackey, M.D. An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences, New and Revised edition. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1894. p. 280 Educated at Clare College, Cambridge, he so distinguished himself in mathematics that when only twenty-three years of age he was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society. He was elected one of the council in 1716, and in 1723 Sir Isaac Newton, president of the society, appointed him one of the vice-presidents. On the death of Newton he became a candidate for the presidency, but was defeated by Sir Hans Sloane, whom, however, he succeeded in 1741; in 1742 he was made a member of the French Royal Academy of Sciences; in 1746 he received honorary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
