In the heart of the fashionable and wealthy Mayfair district of central London, behind Corinthian columns, the Royal Institution of Great Britain continues in the same building that it has always occupied (see figure 1)—no small achievement for an organization founded in the 18th century.1 The scientific knowledge that has flowed out of the Royal Institution since its founding more than two centuries ago has had crucial impacts on the development of society and culture throughout the world. For 70 years it possessed the best-equipped laboratory in Britain and one of the best in Europe. From it emerged scientific discoveries in physics and chemistry that radically altered the way we think about the world.
The Royal Institution was founded at a meeting held on 7 March 1799 in the London house of Joseph Banks (1743–1820), president of the Royal Society of London for 42 years from 1778. A...
