Royal Microscopical Society (RMS)
Since 1839, the Royal Microscopical Society has been at the forefront of developments and advances in microscopy and imaging.
The Society was founded as "The Microscopical Society of London" in 1839 and was awarded its Royal Charter in 1866. A lot has happened since then...
The origin of the Society can be traced back to a meeting of seventeen gentlemen – including Edwin Quekett and Joseph Jackson Lister - at Wellclose Square, London on 3rd September 1839.
They met “to take into consideration the propriety of forming a society for the promotion of microscopical investigation, and for the introduction and improvement of the microscope as a scientific instrument.” Following discussions, the group resolved to establish a Society and a provisional committee was appointed to see it through.
Their account of why a Society was necessary captures the tone of the era. It starts, “For some years past, several of the metropolitan microscopical observers have been in the habit of occasionally meeting in each other’s houses, for the purpose of comparing the powers and other merits of different microscopes.” It goes on to say how the increasing number of “lovers of the microscope” meant that a permanent address was needed where they could all meet for the purposes of “the advancement of the science of the microscope.” And so, The Microscopical Society of London was founded.
At its first meeting, Professor Richard Owen took the Chair and was elected its first President. Forty men signed-up as original members. They wrote their names in a large leather-bound book. This book is still in use today to record the Society’s Honorary Fellows (its highest honour) and provides a lasting link with the Society’s past. The names of the first forty Fellows - in the handwriting of the day – are still there.