The Royal Society

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We have extensive collections open to researchers and members of the public. Access is free of charge.

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Blog: the Repository

Millstone milestone

17 April 2018

Katherine Marshall

Nuclear secrets

10 April 2018

Virginia Mills

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Objectivity videos

Brady visits the AP Archive to take a lucky dip into their collection of films.

Random Films from the Archive - Objectivity #160

03 April 2018

Brady Haran

Brady uncovers some old samples of palladium and very early plastic.

The First Plastic - Objectivity #161

10 April 2018

Brady Haran

Print shop

Explore science through its visual history with our collection of rare, intriguing and beautiful paintings, drawings and prints.

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The Wolfson Foundation at 60

Discover a selection of stories and documents.

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Turning the pages

Explore a gallery of high-quality scans of some of the important and beautiful manuscripts in our collection.

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The Davy lamp

Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) was a chemist, but perhaps is best known for inventing the miners’ safety-lamp, a lamp that would not cause explosions when gas was present in mines.
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A Nobel laureate

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin OM FRS (1910-1994) was a leading biochemist and a pioneer in the field of protein crystallography. She received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964, the first British woman to be so honoured.
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Hooke’s micrographia

This is the world’s first illustrated book of microscopic observations. Robert Hooke investigated many everyday objects through the microscope, including a feather, mould, a razor’s edge, finely woven cloth, and even a full stop printed in a book.
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Principia mathematica

The manuscript of Sir Isaac Newton’s work, philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (1687, mathematical principles of natural philosophy), is the Royal Society’s greatest treasure and a cornerstone of scientific thought.
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The art and science of Richard Waller

The paintings of Richard Waller FRS (c. 1660-1715) are technically brilliant and years ahead of their time. His groundbreaking set of botanical watercolours was intended to illustrate a catalogue of plants.
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A view of Vesuvius

Sir William Hamilton FRS (1731-1803) arrived in Naples in 1764, intent on a systematic study of modern volcanic eruptions. He employed a monk, Antonio Piaggi, to keep daily written observations and pencil sketches of activity at Vesuvius.
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