Count Rumford and the Founding of the Royal Institution

Abstract

A HUNDRED and fifty years ago, on March 7, 1799, a meeting was held at the house of Sir Joseph Banks in Soho Square, London, to consider proposals for founding a new scientific institution in London. The gathering in Sir Joseph's principal room or council chamber included a number of peers, members of Parliament and public men, with others distinguished for their scientific attainments or well known for their charitable and philanthropic activities. Those who had been called to the meeting were the contributors of fifty guineas each in response to an appeal "for forming by subscription, in the Metropolis of the British Empire, a Public Institution for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and improvements, and for teaching by courses of philosophical lectures and experiments the application of science to the common purposes of life".