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Bill Bryson: The Secret to the Success of the Royal Society

1,183 views · Published 8 October 2010 · 2:43 · Indexed 26 September 2026

Channel: Gresham College · 2010 · Science & Technology

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The Royal Society attracted the greatest minds with a boundless curiosity, even from the start, but this wasn't enough to guarantee its longevity.
Bill Bryson suggests three key features to the success of The Royal Society's 350 years: it was international, it elected members for their ability rather than for their breeding, and it had a brilliant knack of electing members before their moment of greatness.

This a part of Bill Bryson's Gresham College lecture marking the 350th anniversary of the birth of The Royal Society: 'An Even Shorter History of Nearly Everything'.
In the talk he spoke about the history of science and of the Royal Society, founded 350 years ago by Gresham College Professors (such as Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke) within Gresham College.
The lecture was given to 800 people within the Guildhall on the 30th of September 2010. The event was hosted in conjunction with the City of London Corporation and the Royal Society.

Bill Bryson's full lecture is available to download (like all of our lectures) in its complete form from the Gresham College website, in video, audio or text formats:
http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download.

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