Origins of the Royal Society: key Oxford figures

John Wilkins (1614-1672) was Warden of Wadham College from 1648-1659. Originally appointed to spearhead Cromwellian reform at the University, his tolerant attitude, charm and thirst for knowledge ensured that Oxford became a Mecca for early scientists whether they had parliamentarian or royalist sympathies. Aged just 34 when he became Warden, Wilkins’s approach to scientific work was collaborative, interdisciplinary and based on experiment. It was at Wadham that Wilkins formed a club for those interested in science (sometimes referred to as ‘The Oxford Experimental Philosophy Club’) many of whose members would play a key role in the founding of The Royal Society in 1660. Original members of the club from Oxford University included Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren, Seth Ward, Robert Wood, and John Wallis. He created a formal garden at Wadham where many mechanical devices such as clockwork flying machines, the first mechanical seed drill, and transparent beehives (from which honey could be extracted without killing bees), were tested. The garden was also fitted with a range of scientific instruments and a ‘talking statue’ complete with a tube through which Wilkins could convey his voice to surprise visitors. As a divine he vigorously championed the value of an education in mathematics and science for clergymen.

Robert Hooke (1635-1703) has been described as the ‘father of microscopy’ and coined the term ‘cell’ for the most basic unit of life as well as deducing the wave theory of light. In 1653 or 1654 he took up the post of chorister at Christ Church. At Oxford he would become an assistant to the chemist Thomas Willis and then Robert Boyle. Hooke joined the scientific club at Wadham College founded by John Wilkins where he would meet many of the age’s greatest scientific minds including Christopher Wren, and Seth Ward - who prompted him to develop clockwork apparatus to help record astronomical observations. During this time he was responsible for Boyle’s first working vacuum pump, assisted him in experiments to measure the weight of air and test springs, and invented a spring-regulated watch. Hooke did not receive a bachelor's degree from Oxford, but was awarded his MA degree in 1663. As curator of experiments at the Royal Society he undertook numerous scientific investigations, became a fellow in 1663, and was awarded a salary by the Society in 1664 (he would be elected as one of two secretaries to the Royal Society in 1677). Amongst his most famous works is Micrographia (1665), which documents the wonders of the natural world as observed through the microscope and founded the field of microscopy. 

Christopher Wren (1632-1723), although famous today as an architect, had a varied career as a mathematician, astronomer, anatomist, and inventor. He came to Wadham College in 1650 where he would join John Wilkins’s circle of experimental philosophers: whilst an undergraduate at Wadham he designed a hygrometer (to measure humidity) and a box-beehive. After completing his undergraduate studies he was elected to a fellowship at All Souls College in 1653. He continued to work closely with John Wilkins who encouraged Wren to develop devices for writing two copies of a document at once and for helping the viewer draw from an image on a microscope, as well as an instrument for accurately recording scenic views. Originally interested in computational astronomy, Wren became interested in optical astronomy and, with Wilkins, in 1655 built an 80 foot telescope to observe the Moon. He also studied the phases of Saturn but would abandon this work when he learnt of Huygen’s comprehensive publication Systema Saturnium. As well as astronomy Wren studied anatomy, dissecting fish and other creatures and around 1656 experimenting with intravenous injection into animals. During his fellowship he would also invent new surveying devices, musical instruments, and develop techniques for underwater construction and submarine navigation. In 1659 he was made bursar of All Souls and then in 1661 he was elected to the Savilian chair of astronomy at Oxford (succeeding Seth Ward), a post he would hold until 1673. Throughout the 1660s and 1670s Wren would make regular contributions to the meetings of the new Royal Society on everything from muscles to insect physiology, friction brakes to optical lenses. He served as Vice-President of the Royal Society (1678-80) and was elected President in 1681. Amongst other notable architectural accomplishments he designed Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre (completed in 1668).

Seth Ward (1617-1689) took up the post of Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford in 1650. He was a fellow-commoner at Wadham College where he became friends with John Wilkins and a member of Wadham’s natural philosophy club. Ward was the first Savilian professor to teach Copernican theory and in the 1650s produced a study on comets, as well as influential works on the paths of planets and a simplified version of Kepler's second law of planetary motion. He joined with Wilkins to defend the importance of rational thought and a scientific education for clergymen and, alongside Wilkins, investigated the possibility of creating a ‘universal language’ to more easily communicate all knowledge. Having been elected president of Trinity College in 1659, he proved himself to be an able administrator although he soon stood aside so that the president who had been ejected by Cromwell could return to the role after the Restoration. He resigned his Savilian professorship in 1660 and over the next few decades was actively involved in Royal Society meetings. Ward would gradually leaving his scientific studies behind and carve out a career as a renowned ecclesiastical administrator, becoming Bishop of Exeter (1662) and then Bishop of Salisbury (1667).

John Wallis (1616-1703) was appointed Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford in 1649 and over the course of half a century in this post he would build a reputation as one of the leading mathematicians of his generation. On arrival in Oxford he was incorporated MA from Exeter College and became part of John Wilkins’s circle at Wadham. During the 1650s he would publish a series of influential mathematical works, including his ‘Tract on Conic Sections’ which introduced the sign for infinity, ∞, using 1/∞ to represent an infinitesimal height, and ‘The Arithmetic of Infinitesimals’ in which he extended methods devised by Descartes and Cavalieri to deal with sums using indivisible or infinitesimal quantities: this last work would have a significant influence on Newton in his development of calculus. In 1668 he would present a solution to the problem of colliding bodies to the Royal Society, considering both elastic and imperfectly elastic bodies, and in 1670 would produce a comprehensive guide to what was known about statics, impact laws, and centres of gravity. He was a key figure in many of the great mathematical disputes of the age, clashing with Fermat, Pascal and Hobbes, and a dedicated champion of English achievements: something reflected in his last great work, ‘A Treatise of Algebra’ (1685), a blend of mathematics and Anglocentric history. As well as a mathematician Wallis was a renowned cryptographer, deciphering intercepted messages for the British Government for many years – in 1653 he donated some of these deciphered letters to the Bodleian Library. Elected keeper of the university archives in 1658, he revolutionised the organisation and recording of the collections. He was a founding and highly active member of the Royal Society, contributing more than 60 papers to the journal Philosophical Transactions, as well as reviewing and editing publications on all areas of maths.

Robert Wood (c1621-1685) was a mathematician with an interest in economic problems. He obtained a BA (1647) and MA (1649) from Merton College and was elected a fellow of Lincoln College in 1650. He was licensed to practise medicine in 1656 but it was around this time that he wrote the work ‘Ten to One’ which suggested that decimalisation would benefit the economy. Shortly after this he was sent to Ireland as part of an effort to solve the country’s monetary crisis where he also took an interest in agricultural reform. He would return to England in 1657 but would then go back to Ireland following his dismissal from Lincoln College after the Restoration. Wood returned once again to England in the 1680s and would become a member of the Royal Society in 1681, contributing a proposal for a new luni-solar year, translations of mathematical work by Oughtred, and several papers to Philosophical Transactions.