List of Fellows of the Royal Society 1660 – 2007

Guide to use of the list
Entries are set out as follows:
Name
Birth and death dates (where known) Elected status Election date
Names
Double-barrelled surnames are entered under the former element, with a reference from the
last element, eg
Shaw, Henry Selby Hele-
See Hele-Shaw, Henry Selby
Names including Van, de, etc are entered under the subsequent element, eg
Bergh, Sidney van den
Van den Bergh, Sidney
See Bergh, Sidney van den
People with titles such as Sir and Dame and who share their surname with other Fellows, have
been placed alphabetically according to their first name, eg
Ross, Graham Garland
Ross, Sir James Clark
Ross, John
References have been provided from well-known titles of peerage, where these differ from the holder’s surname,
eg
Kelvin of Largs, William Thomson, Baron
See Thomson, William, Baron Kelvin of Largs
Elected status
Fellow The vast majority of those listed.
Founder Fellow Those present at the inaugural meeting of the Society at Gresham
College on 28 November 1660.
Original Fellow Everyone, with the exception of the Founder Fellows, elected before
July 1663.
Foreign Member Used from the second decade of the 19 th century, it is now applied
specifically to those who are not citizens of the Commonwealth or the
Irish Republic, or have not yet lived and worked in those countries for
five years.
Royal Fellow Members of the Society by virtue of royal blood.
Patron The British Sovereign.
Statute 12 Established in 1903 for those “who have rendered conspicuous
service to the cause of science, or are such that their election would
be of signal benefit to the Society”.
Honorary Fellow Replaced Statute 12 in 1996.