On this day in 1660, The Royal Society (a learned society and the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences.) was founded by twelve men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray. It was granted a royal charter by King Charles II and is the oldest continuously existing scientific academy in the world.
The society’s motto, Nullius in verba, is Latin for “Take nobody’s word for it”. It was adopted to signify the fellows’ determination to establish facts via experiments and comes from Horace’s Epistles, where he compares himself to a gladiator who, having retired, is free from control.
Christopher Wren by Godfrey Kneller 1711
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