List of presidents of the Royal Society

The president of the Royal Society (PRS), also known as the Royal Society of London, is the elected Head of the Royal Society of London who presides over meetings of the society's council.

After an informal meeting (a lecture) by Christopher Wren at Gresham College, the Royal Society was officially founded on 28 November 1660 when a group of academics decided to found "a College for the Promoting of Mathematical Experimental Learning",^[1] acquiring a Royal Charter on 15 July 1662.^[2] King Charles II granted the society a royal charter in 1662, formally establishing it as the "Royal Society of London." The Royal Charter nominated William Brouncker as president and stipulated that future presidents should be elected by the Council and Fellows of the Society at anniversary meetings each year on St. Andrew's Day (30 November).

The details of the presidency were described by the second Royal Charter, which did not set any limit on how long a president could serve. There were considerable fluctuations in the president's term of office until well into the 19th century. By then, sentiment had turned against electing wealthy amateurs solely because they might become patrons of the society, and in 1847 the society decided that Fellows would be elected solely on scientific merit. Since the 1870s, it has been usual (with a few exceptions) for each President to serve for exactly five years. Under the current statutes, a president cannot serve for more than five years.^[3] The current President is Sir Adrian Smith who began his 5-year tenure on 30 November 2020.^[4]

Historically, the duties of the president have been both formal and social. Under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876, the President was one of only a few people authorized to certify that a particular experiment on an animal was justified, and in addition he acted as the government's chief (albeit informal) advisor for scientific matters. At the same time, the President was tasked with entertaining distinguished foreign guests and scientists.^[5]

The changeover of presidents occurs on the Royal Society Anniversary Day, the weekday on or nearest to 30 November, after the departing President's Anniversary Address.^[6] Of the 26 presidents since 1901, 18 have been Nobel laureates (seven in Physiology or Medicine, four in Physics and seven in Chemistry). Many past presidents, including all those in the 20th century, have been appointed to the Order of Merit.

Sir Joseph Banks was the longest serving president of Royal Society.

Presidents of the Royal Society

List of presidents of the Royal Society from 1662 – till date.
No.	Term	President	Profession
1	1662–1677	William Brouncker, 2nd Viscount Brouncker	Mathematician
2	1677–1680	Sir Joseph Williamson	Civil servant and politician
3	1680–1682	Sir Christopher Wren	Architect, astronomer and physicist
4	1682–1683	Sir John Hoskyns, 2nd Baronet	Lawyer
5	1683–1684	Cyril Wyche	Lawyer, politician and administrator
6	1684–1686	Samuel Pepys	Civil servant and politician
7	1686–1689	John Vaughan, 3rd Earl of Carbery	Politician
8	1689–1690	Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke	Politician
9	1690–1695	Sir Robert Southwell	Diplomat
10	1695–1698	Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax	Poet and Statesman
11	1698–1703	John Somers, 1st Baron Somers	Jurist and Statesman
12	1703–1727	Sir Isaac Newton	Physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian
13	1727–1741	Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet	Physician and collector
14	1741–1752	Martin Folkes	Antiquarian
15	1752–1764	George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield	Astronomer
16	1764–1768	James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton	Astronomer
17	1768–1768	Sir James Burrow	Legal reporter
18	1768–1772	James West	Politician and antiquarian
19	1772–1772	Sir James Burrow	Legal reporter
20	1772–1778	Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet	Physician
21	1778–1820	Sir Joseph Banks	Naturalist and botanist
22	1820-1820	William Hyde Wollaston	Chemist
23	1820–1827	Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet	Chemist and inventor
24	1827–1830	Davies Gilbert	Engineer, author and politician
25	1830–1838	Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex	Sixth son of George III of the United Kingdom
26	1838–1848	Spencer Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton	Nobleman
27	1848–1854	William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse	Astronomer
28	1854–1858	John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley	Astronomer
29	1858–1861	Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 1st Baronet	Physiologist and surgeon
30	1861–1871	Sir Edward Sabine	Astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist and explorer
31	1871–1873	Sir George Biddell Airy	Mathematician and Astronomer
32	1873–1878	Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker	Botanist and explorer
33	1878–1883	William H. Spottiswoode	Mathematician and physicist
34	1883–1885	Thomas Henry Huxley	Biologist
35	1885–1890	Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet	Mathematician and physicist
36	1890–1895	William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin	Mathematical physicist
37	1895–1900	Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister	Surgeon
38	1900–1905	Sir William Huggins	Astronomer
39	1905–1908	John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh	Physicist
40	1908–1913	Sir Archibald Geikie	Geologist and writer
41	1913–1915	Sir William Crookes	Chemist and physicist
42	1915–1920	Sir Joseph John Thomson	Physicist
43	1920–1925	Sir Charles Scott Sherrington	Neurophysiologist, histologist, bacteriologist, and pathologist
44	1925–1930	Sir Ernest Rutherford (later 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson)	Physicist and chemist
45	1930–1935	Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins	Biochemist
46	1935–1940	Sir William Henry Bragg	Physicist, chemist and mathematician
47	1940–1945	Sir Henry Hallett Dale	Pharmacologist and physiologist
48	1945–1950	Sir Robert Robinson	Organic chemist
49	1950–1955	Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian	Electrophysiologist
50	1955–1960	Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood	Physical chemist
51	1960–1965	Howard Florey, Baron Florey	Pharmacologist and pathologist
52	1965–1970	Patrick Blackett (Baron Blackett after 1969)	Physicist
53	1970–1975	Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin	Physiologist and Biophysicist
54	1975–1980	Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd	Biochemist
55	1980–1985	Sir Andrew Huxley	Physiologist and biophysicist
56	1985–1990	Sir George Porter (Baron Porter of Luddenham after 1990)	Chemist
57	1990–1995	Sir Michael Atiyah	Mathematician
58	1995–2000	Sir Aaron Klug	Chemist and biophysicist
59	2000–2005	Sir Robert May (Baron May of Oxford after 2001)	Mathematical Biologist
60	2005–2010	Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow	Cosmologist and astrophysicist
61	2010–2015	Sir Paul Nurse	Geneticist and cell biologist
62	2015–2020	Venki Ramakrishnan	Biophysicist
63	2020–present	Sir Adrian Smith	Statistician