Royal InstitutionIn 1799, the Royal Institution in England was founded at a meeting at the Soho Square house of the President of the Royal Society, Joseph Banks (1743-1820). A list was read of the names of fifty-eight gentlemen who had agreed to contribute fifty guineas each to be a Proprietor of a new Institution for diffusing the knowledge, and facilitating the general introduction, of useful mechanical inventions and inprovements; and for teaching, by courses of philosophical lectures and experiments, the application of science to the common purposes of life. A group of Proprietors met to discuss the Proposals for such an Institution put together in the previous weeks by Sir Benjamin Thompson Rumford. |
