Trustees report and financial statements 2020

STRATEGIC REPORT GOVERNANCE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OTHER INFORMATION THE ROYAL SOCIETY TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 4 SCIENCE SHAPING THE WORLD WE LIVE IN 5 At a glance Our heritage The Royal Society is founded, following a lecture by Christopher Wren. The first Foreign Secretary of the Society is appointed, 59 years before the UK government appoints its first Foreign Seretary. Fellows begin ‘conversaziones’ as an opportunity to demonstrate their cutting-edge research to the rest of the Fellowship. These have since developed into the annual public Summer Science Exhibition. The UK government awards the Society its first annual government grant of £1,000 to be distributed for ‘private individual scientific research’. The Society publishes Open Biology , its first fully ‘open access’ journal. 1660 1723 1778 1851 2011 LOOKING FORWARD: 2021 The Royal Society publishes its first book, John Evelyn’s Sylva . This recognised the impact of humans on the natural world and the need for sustainability. The Royal Society University Research Fellowships are established to create opportunities for early career scientists within UK universities. Many University Research Fellows have gone on to become leaders in their field. The launch of the HMS Challenger expedition, heralds the creation of a new scientific discipline – oceanography. Organised by the Royal Society and the Admiralty the voyage vastly increased knowledge of ocean ecosystems and identified over 4,000 new marine species. Alexander Fleming FRS recognises the antibacterial effect of penicillin, and its significance, following his observations of infection among the wounded of the First World War. The Copley Medal is established from an endowment of £100 received from the estate of Sir Godfrey Copley in 1709. It is the world’s oldest scientific honour, a prestigious forerunner of the Nobel Prize. The Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics (DELVE) group is convened by the Royal Society in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 1662 1983 1928 1736 2020 Royal Society Wolfson Research Professor, Dorothy Hodgkin, becomes the UK’s only female Nobel Prize-winning scientist. Edward Jenner FRS unveils a new weapon in the fight against smallpox – vaccination. It will eventually lead to the eradication of the disease in humans. 1964 1797 Two years after the election of the first women to the Royal Society, Mary Lucy Cartwright becomes the first female mathematician elected to the Fellowship. She is recognised for her pioneering work in what would later be known as chaos theory. John Vane FRS elucidates how the effective substance in aspirin acts as an anti-inflammatory and inhibits pain in the human body. His research paves the way for the development of other useful drugs and treatments. 1947 1971 The Royal Society will continue to convene scientific experts urgently to support the response to the global pandemic and provide new scientific advice as it evolves. 1872