Royal Microscopical Society

File:Alfred William Bennett, British botanist and publisher.jpg, botanist, publisher, early vice-president and editor of the Journal of Microscopy from 1897 until his death in 1902.{{cite journal|last1=Gilbert Baker|first1=John|author-link=John Gilbert Baker|editor1-last=R.G|editor1-first=Hebb |title=Obituary – Biographical Memoir of A.W. Bennett|date=1902|page=158|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2202742|access-date=22 January 2016|journal=Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society}}]]

On 3 September 1839, a meeting of 17 gentlemen including physicist Joseph Jackson Lister, photography pioneer Joseph Bancroft Reade, the botanists Edwin John Quekett and Richard Kippist,{{cite journal|year=1882|title=Notes|journal=Nature|volume=25|issue=638|pages=275–277|issn=0028-0836|doi=10.1038/025275a0|bibcode=1882Natur..25..275.|doi-access=free}} and artist and inventor Cornelius Varley,{{cite journal |last=Jeffery |first=John Varley |title=A most active member of the Society: Cornelius Varley – artist and scientist (1781–1871) |journal=RSA Journal |date=1998 |volume=146 |issue=5485 |pages=137–139 |publisher=: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce |location=London |jstor=41378588}}{{cite ODNB |title=Varley, Cornelius (1781–1873), landscape painter and inventor of optical apparatus {{!}} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/28113|year=2004 |last=Klonk |first=Charlotte}}{{verify source|date=August 2019}} was held at Quekett's residence at 50 Wellclose Square "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",{{cite web|title=RMS – History|url=http://www.rms.org.uk/about/history-of-the-rms.html|website=rms.org.uk|access-date=22 January 2016}}{{cite magazine|last1=Brewster|first1=Sir David|last2=Taylor|first2=Richard|last3=Phillips|first3=Richard|editor1-last=Brayley|editor1-first=Edward W|title=LXXVII – Proceedings of Learned Societies: Microscopial Society|magazine=The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science|date=1839|issue=XV|page=549|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3WrkAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA549|access-date=22 January 2016|publisher=Richard & John E. Taylor|location=Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London}}{{cite web|title=UCL Bloomsbury Project – Quekett Microscopical Club|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-project/institutions/quekett_microscopical_club.htm|website=ucl.ac.uk|access-date=22 January 2016}}{{cite web|title=SurgiCat – Quekett, John Thomas (1840–1854) – MS0027|url=http://surgicat.rcseng.ac.uk/Details/archive/110004333|website=Royal College of Surgeons (SurgiCat)|access-date=7 October 2017|location=London}} following a decade of great advances in the field of microscopy. At this gathering it was agreed that a society should be founded and a committee appointed. It was named the Microscopical Society of London and a constitution was drawn up.{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Gerald L'E.|title=God bless the microscope!: a history of the Royal Microscopical Society over 150 years|date=1989|publisher=Royal Microscopical Society|location=[Oxford]|isbn=9780950246345|pages=7–8|edition=1st|url=http://www.parlouraquariums.org.uk/Pioneers/Warington/warington.html#societies|access-date=24 February 2017}} On 20 December 1839, a public meeting was held at the Horticultural Society's rooms at 21 Regent Street in London. At the convention, Professor Richard Owen was elected president, along with Nathaniel Ward as Treasurer, and Farre as Secretary. A Council was also appointed, consisting of J.S. Bowerbank, Thomas Edwards, Dr F. Farre, George Gwilt, George Jackson, Dr John Lindley, George Loddiges, the Rev. C. Pritchard, Edwin John Quekett, M.J. Rippingham, Richard Horsman Solly and Robert Warington. With them, forty-five men were enrolled as members.

At its foundation, the Society acquired the best microscopes then obtainable from the three leading makers, Powell & Lealand, Ross, and Smith.{{cite web|author=Gerard L'E. Turner|title=1839 – Royal Microscopical Society = History of Scholarly Societies|url=http://www.scholarly-societies.org/history/1839rms.html|website=Scholarly Societies Project|publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|access-date=20 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220151539/http://www.references.net/societies/history/1839rms.html|archive-date=20 February 2017}} The first president of the Society was palaeontologist Sir Richard Owen, who is best known for coining the word "dinosaur" and for his role in the creation of London's Natural History Museum.{{cite journal|last=Wilson|first=Tony|title=Introduction|journal=Journal of Microscopy |date=January 2016|volume=261|issue=1|page=1|url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2818/asset/homepages/Introduction.pdf?v=1&s=923176206c03ac89a50d1594fc459670d791a88d|issn=1365-2818|doi=10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2818}} It was renamed the Royal Microscopical Society in 1866, when the Society received its Royal Charter under the Presidency of James Glaisher.{{cite journal |last=Turner |first=G. L'E |title=The origins of the Royal Microscopical Society |journal=Journal of Microscopy |date=1989 |volume=155 |issue=3 |pages=235–248 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2818.1989.tb02888.x |publisher=Royal Microscopical Society |location=Oxford |s2cid=93222711 |issn=1365-2818}} Its governing documents are its Charter and By-laws.

In 1870, the President, Rev. Joseph Bancroft Reade, in his maiden speech revealed that he had suggested adding the suffix "-al" to the name of the fledgling society to prevent "the possibility of ourselves being mistaken for microscopic objects".

John Thomas Quekett (brother of co-founder Edwin John Quekett) served as the Society's secretary from 1841 to 1860. Distinguished botanist Dukinfield Henry Scott served as president of the Society between 1904 and 1906{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=31 May 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}

In 1885, botanist and women's rights campaigner Marian Farquharson, became the first female Fellow of the Society. Although not permitted to attend meetings, her greatest contribution to the scientific community was of her campaign in gaining women rights to full fellowship of learned societies. In 1900 she sent a letter addressed to the Royal Society and the Linnean Society petitioning that "duly qualified women should be eligible for ordinary Fellowship and, if elected, there should be no restriction forbidding their attendance at meetings". Both societies refused her requests to join, eventually the Linnean Society elected her as a fellow in 1908.{{cite web |last=Knapp |first=Sandra |author-link=Sandra Knapp |title=Celebrating the first women Fellows of the Linnean Society of London |url=https://blog.oup.com/2018/03/celebrating-the-first-women-fellows-of-the-linnean-society-of-london/ |website=Oxford University Press Blog |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=14 October 2018 |date=20 March 2018 |quote=But was there a specific tipping point for this change? In 1900, Mrs. Marian Farquharson, a botanist who had helped to publish a field guide to British ferns, requested that "duly qualified women should be eligible for ordinary Fellowship and, if elected, there should be no restriction forbidding their attendance at meetings". This insistence on attendance at meetings was important; other societies allowed women to be members, but they were barred from attending meetings (Farquharson had been elected as the first female Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society in 1885 but was not allowed to attend). At first she was rebuffed by the Council of the Linnean Society, but eventually won the day, through sheer persistence (the Society holds a plethora of correspondence from Farquharson) and the vocal support of some members of Council. Ironically, she was the only one of the 16 proposed Fellows who was not admitted on that day in November 1904!}}

In September 1989, Royal Mail released a set of four stamps to mark the celebration of the Society's 150th anniversary entitled "Microscopes", one of which being the snowflake, its own logo.{{cite web|title=Microscopes|url=https://rmspecialstamps.com/collections/microscopes/|website=Royal Mail Special Stamps|access-date=11 May 2018}}{{cite web|title=Queen Elizabeth II 1989 150th Anniversary of Royal Microscopical Society Stamps|url=http://www.stamp-exchange.co.uk/catalogue/queen_elizabeth_ii_1989_150th_anniversary_of_royal_microscopical_society.htm|website=Stamp-Exchange.co.uk|access-date=11 May 2018}}

In 2017, the Society appointed two patrons, Baroness Brown of Cambridge and Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, both of whom are members of the House of Lords.{{cite web |title=Report and Financial Statements (for the year ended 31 December 2017) |url=https://www.rms.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/ab191d17-648c-48b4-b85da3dc4c2adc22.pdf |website=Royal Microscopical Society |access-date=14 October 2018 |pages=2 |language=en-GB |date=31 December 2017 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}

RMS members come from a wide range of backgrounds within the biological and physical sciences, covering all areas of microscopy and cytometry.

After three years of continuous Ordinary Membership, members are invited to become a Fellow of the Society after a set number of criteria have been met, which allows for individuals to benefit from voting and election rights as well as the use of the post-nominal letters FRMS after their names.{{cite web|title=RMS – Membership Benefits|url=http://www.rms.org.uk/membership/membership-benefits.html|website=rms.org.uk|access-date=28 January 2016}}

The Society's by-laws previously limited the number of Honorary Fellowships to a maximum of 65 at any one time. However, a proposal to enable new Fellowships to be awarded beyond this figure was approved at the 2019 AGM, and subsequently by the Privy Council.{{cite web|title=Current RMS Honorary Fellows|url=http://www.rms.org.uk/membership/honorary-fellows.html|website=rms.org.uk|access-date=14 October 2018}}{{cite web|title=Honorary Fellows Past and Present|url=http://www.rms.org.uk/membership/honorary-fellows/past-honorary-fellows.html|website=rms.org.uk|access-date=20 February 2017}}

The Society has 23 Trusteeshttps://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/constituency-search/-/charity-details/241990/trustees#_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_pagination__container including: Professor Maddy Parsons, a Professor of Cell Biology in the Randall Centre for Cell & Molecular Biophysics at King's College London, Professor Michelle Peckham, President of the Society from 2016-2019 and Peter J. O'Toole, current President of the Society (from 2023).

The current President is Peter J. O'Toole.

The Society had a number of eminent scientists as President since its founding in 1839. Notable former Presidents include:https://www.rms.org.uk/about-us/history-of-the-rms/past-presidents.html.

• 2019-23 Grace Burke
• 2016-19 Michelle Peckham
• 2013-16 Peter Nellist
• 1984-5 Archibald Howie, MA, PhD, FRS
• 1966 HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
• 1930-1 R. Ruggles Gates, MA, PhD, LLD, FLS, FRS (first husband of Marie Stopes)
• 1926-7 James A. Murray, MD, BSc, FRS
• 1916-17 Edward Heron-Allen, FLS, FGS, FRS
• 1913-15 Sir German Sims Woodhead, MA, MD, LLD, FRSE
• 1911-12 Henry George Plimmer, FLS, FZS, FRS
• 1910-11 Sir J. Arthur Thomson, MA, FRSE
• 1909 Sir Edwin Ray Lankester, KCB, MA, LLD, FLS, FRS
• 1907-8 The Rt Hon. Lord Avebury, PC, DCL, LLD, FRS
• 1904-6 Dukinfield Henry Scott, MA, PhD, LLD, FLS, FRS
• 1902-3 Henry Woodward, LLD, FGS, FZS, FRS
• 1900-1 William Carruthers, FLS, FGS, FRS
• 1891-2 Robert Braithwaite, MD, MRCS
• 1888-90 Charles Thomas Hudson, MA, LLD, FRS
• 1884-7 Rev. William Henry Dallinger, MA, LLD, FRS
• 1881-3 Peter Martin Duncan, MB, FRS
• 1879-80 Lionel Smith Beale, MB, FRCP, FRS
• 1878 Henry James Slack, FGS
• 1875-7 Henry Clifton Sorby, LLD, FRS
• 1873-4 Charles Brooke, MA, FRS
• 1871-2 William Kitchen Parker, FRS
• 1869-70 Rev. Joseph Bancroft Reade, MA, FRS
• 1865-8 James Glaisher, FRS
• 1860 John Thomas Quekett, FRS
• 1858-9 Edwin Lankester, MD, LLD, FRS
• 1856-7 George Shadbolt
• 1854-5 William Benjamin Carpenter, CB, MD, LLD, FRS
• 1850-1 Arthur Farre, MD, FRS
• 1848-9 George Busk, FRS
• 1846-7 James Scott Bowerbank, LLD, FRS
• 1840-1 Sir Richard Owen, KCB, DCL, MD, LLD, FRS

File:Quarterly journal of microscopical science (1853) (14770593094).jpg

The Journal of Microscopy provides a forum for publication, discussion, and education for scientists and technologists who use any form of microscopy or image analysis.{{cite journal|title=Journal of Microscopy – All Issues – Wiley Online Library|url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291365-2818/issues|website=onlinelibrary.wiley.com|access-date=22 January 2016|doi=10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2818}} This includes technology and applications in physics, chemistry, material and biological sciences. The journal publishes review articles, original research papers, short communications, and letters to the editor, covering all aspects of microscopy.{{cite web|title=Journal of Microscopy|url=http://www.rms.org.uk/journal.shtml|website=Royal Microscopical Society|access-date=20 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512044113/http://www.rms.org.uk/journal.shtml|archive-date=12 May 2008|date=12 May 2008|location=St Clement's Street, Oxford|language=en-GB}} It is published on behalf of the Society by Wiley-Blackwell.{{cite web|title=Journal of Microscopy|url=http://www.rms.org.uk/study-read/journal-of-microscopy.html|website=rms.org.uk|access-date=20 February 2017|location=St Clement's Street, Oxford|language=en-GB}}

infocus Magazine is the Society's magazine for members. It provides a common forum for scientists and technologists from all disciplines which use any form of microscope, including all branches of microscopy and microbeam analysis. infocus features articles on microscopy related topics, techniques and developments, reports on RMS events, book reviews, news and much more. Published four times a year, infocus is free to members.

The Society is heavily involved with outreach activities, particularly those aimed at children, where the aim is to interest them in science as a whole as opposed to simply lab work.{{cite web |last=Han |first=Aisha |title=Interaction with the unknown connects scientists and artists |url=https://thetartan.org/2017/10/2/news/artist/ |website=The Tartan |date=1 October 2017 |access-date=7 October 2017 }} In late 2015, the Society was one of many "subject experts" consulted by awarding organisations as a part of a consultation by the Department for Education regarding reforms to the course content of the subject of Geology at GCE Advanced Level (A-level) in the national curriculum. Other advising parties included the British Geological Survey, the Natural History Museum and the Royal School of Mines.{{cite web |author=Department for Education |title=Further additional GCSE and A level subject content consultation – Government consultation |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/473195/Further_additional_GCSE_and_A_level_subject_content_consultation.pdf |website=Department for Education (www.gov.uk) |date=3 November 2015 |access-date=10 November 2017 |page=17}}

One such method is through the use of the Microscope Activity Kit Scheme starting in March 2011, a free scheme sending fully equipped Kits of microscopes and ready-to-go activities to Primary Schools throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland for a term at a time. By December 2014, the Kits had gone from 2 to 50 and had been used by over 20,000 children in the UK.[http://www.rms.org.uk/activitykit Microscope Activity Kits – Royal Microscopical Society website]

The RMS Diploma, launched in 2012 to replace the former RMS DipTech qualification, aims to help microscopists advance in their careers by improving and refining their skills to gain a distinguished qualification. The Diploma from the Royal Microscopical Society is attained via a flexible portfolio-based course of study that is designed by the candidate with the assistance of their line-manager, and with input from existing Fellows of the Society. This approach ensures that the study is both challenging and rewarding whilst fitting with, and complementing, the candidate's existing employment.

Each year the RMS hosts a programme of meetings, courses and conferences, including virtual (online) meetings. The Society's flagship event is the Microscience Microscopy Congress (mmc) Series, which usually takes place every two years. These events provide opportunities for keeping abreast of the latest developments and attract speakers and delegates active in all areas of science from forensics to flow cytometry, live cell imaging to SPM.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Since 2017 the RMS website has hosted a database of women working in microscopy to aid conference and meeting organisers in creating more diverse speaker line-ups for events. Scientists can either add themselves to the database or be nominated for inclusion.{{cite web|url=https://www.rms.org.uk/network-collaborate/women-in-microscopy.html|title=Microscopy Gender Equality Resource|website=rms.org.uk|access-date=2020-03-07}}

==References==

{{reflist}}

• {{official website|http://www.rms.org.uk/}}
• [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Royal+Microscopical+Society+%28Great+Britain%29%22 Publications of the Royal Microscopical Society at the Internet Archive]
• [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/7413 Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society] (1879–1922) at [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ Biodiversity Heritage Library]

{{Authority control}}

Category:1839 establishments in England

Category:International Federation of Societies for Microscopy

Category:Organisations based in Oxford with royal patronage

Microscopical

Category:Scientific organizations established in 1839