14 Facts About Royal Institution

1.

Royal Institution of Great Britain is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster.

FactSnippet No. 793,106
2.

Much of the Royal Institution's initial funding and the initial proposal for its founding were given by the Society for Bettering the Conditions and Improving the Comforts of the Poor, under the guidance of philanthropist Sir Thomas Bernard and American-born British scientist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford.

FactSnippet No. 793,107
3.

Royal Institution was founded as the result of a proposal by Sir Benjamin Thompson for the "formation by Subscription, in the Metropolis of the British Empire, of a Public Institution for diffusing the Knowledge and facilitating the general Introduction of useful Mechanical Inventions and Improvements, and for the teaching by courses of Philosophical Lectures and Experiments, the application of Science to the Common Purposes of Life".

FactSnippet No. 793,108
4.

Since 1799, the Royal Institution has had fifteen presidents and one acting president.

FactSnippet No. 793,109
5.

From 1998 to 8 January 2010, the director of the Royal Institution was Baroness Susan Greenfield, but following a review, the position was abolished for being "no longer affordable".

FactSnippet No. 793,110
6.

The Royal Institution had found itself in a financial crisis following a £22 million development programme led by Greenfield, which included refurbishment of the institution's main Albemarle Street building, and the addition of a restaurant and bar with an aim to turn the venue into a "Groucho club for science".

FactSnippet No. 793,111
7.

Today the Royal Institution is committed to "diffusing science for the common purposes of life".

FactSnippet No. 793,112
8.

Royal Institution's palatial home has been greatly enlarged and redeveloped since 1799, and is a Grade I listed building.

FactSnippet No. 793,113
9.

Royal Institution has a substantial public science programme and science for schools programme, holding over one hundred events per year on a wide variety of topics.

FactSnippet No. 793,114
10.

In May 2015, The Royal Institution was host to the historic unveiling of the Santara Computer, created by Dr Andrew Deonarine.

FactSnippet No. 793,115
11.

In December 2011 the Royal Institution launched the Ri Channel, a new website displaying science videos and archive content from the Royal Institution, including past Christmas Lectures.

FactSnippet No. 793,116
12.

Royal Institution has become a mixed tenancy office building that hosts conferences, weddings and events in order to pay its bills.

FactSnippet No. 793,117
13.

In 2015, a room in the Royal Institution was used in an experiment on moral ethics for the US TV scientific show Braingames.

FactSnippet No. 793,118
14.

In 1973 the Royal Institution opened the Faraday Museum, a museum dedicated to Michael Faraday.

FactSnippet No. 793,119