 The Cambridge Philosophical Society Wax Seal, 1832. | |
| Formation | 1819; 207 years ago (1819) |
|---|---|
| Type | Scientific Society |
| Registration no. | 213811[1] |
| Legal status | Royal Charter, granted by King William IV in 1832 |
| Focus | for the purpose of promoting scientific inquiry |
| Headquarters | 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge,CB2 1RX United Kingdom |
| Membership | Honorary Members and Fellows |
President | Professor John Carr |
Main organ | The Council |
| Website | www |
| Remarks | keep alive the spirit of inquiry |
TheCambridge Philosophical Society (CPS) is a scientific society at theUniversity of Cambridge. It was founded in 1819. The name derives from the medieval use of the wordphilosophy to denote any research undertaken outside the fields oflaw,theology andmedicine. The society was granted a royal charter byKing William IV in 1832. The society is governed by an elected council of senior academics, which is chaired by the Society's President, according to a set of statutes.
The society has published severalscientific journals, includingBiological Reviews (established 1926) andMathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (formerly entitledProceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, published since 1843).Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society was published between 1821–1928, but was then discontinued.
The society was founded in 1819 byJohn Stevens Henslow,Adam Sedgwick andEdward Clarke, is Cambridge's oldest scientific society.[2]
Its prime purpose is to "keep alive the spirit of inquiry". For over 200 years, this spirit has been kept alive by its members and its activities. The society is independent of theUniversity of Cambridge, although its offices are located within the University of Cambridge estate in central Cambridge. The Society has provided an open forum and played a key role in raising the profile of the sciences to the public.
The society is a registered charity: 213811[3] and has 11 Trustees. It is assisted by a number of full-time and part-time paid staff. Membership of the Society is currently over 2,000.
The Society awards a number of prizes for new publications, inventions, investigations or discoveries in the fields of mathematics, physics and the natural sciences. Awards given are theWilliam Bate Hardy Prize andThe William Hopkins Prize.[4]
The William Hopkins Prize was established in 1862 and is one of the oldest scientific prizes at theUniversity of Cambridge. Past recipients of the prize includeJames Clerk Maxwell,Lord Rayleigh,Sir G. G. Stokes,Sir J. D. Cockcroft,Sir A. S. Eddington,Paul Dirac andStephen Hawking.
Members of the Society are calledFellows and are entitled to use the ‘FCPS’ post-nominals. Fellows are usually academics or graduate students involved in mathematical or scientific research within the university. A Fellow must be recommended in writing by both a Fellow of the Society who has been a member for at least three years and a person of appropriate standing, who knows the candidate in a professional capacity. Approved candidates are elected at open meetings of the Society following proposal at Council Meetings.[5]
The society publishes one of the oldest mathematical journals in history: "Mathematical Proceedings" first published in 1843 and now published for Cambridge Philosophical Society byCambridge University Press.[6][7] It has also published "Biological Reviews"[8] since 1926.
The society organizes lectures given by prominent scientists and mathematicians.[9] The lectures are free and open to all who are interested to attend.
The Society has had numerous Fellows and Honorary Fellows who have been awarded theNobel Prize. The first two recipients were Honorary FellowsHendrik A Lorentz andPieter Zeeman in 1902 for theNobel Prize in Physics. The Society's first women winner was Honorary FellowMarie Curie in 1903 for the Nobel Prize in Physics. Marie Curie was the first person to win or share two Nobel Prizes, being awarded theNobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911.
In 1964,Dorothy Hodgkin became not only the first female Fellow of the Society to win a Nobel Prize (Chemistry) but also the first female member of theUniversity of Cambridge to do so.
Currently 52 Nobel Prize winners are listed amongst its Fellows and Honorary Fellows of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.[10]
To commemorate the Society’s bicentenary, a blue plaque to the Society was erected in March 2019 on 2 All Saints Passage (the house built by the Society in 1833 to house its meeting room, library and collections). The plaque was unveiled bySir Martin Rees at opening of the Society’s exhibition atCambridge University Library.[11]
The society has built up an exceptional historical scientific record dating back to 1819. While not on public display, the archives can be viewed by prior arrangement with the Cambridge Philosophical Society.[12]
The Society archives include the following:
Charles Darwin, a student atChrist's College, University of Cambridge, came to knowJohn Stevens Henslow as his tutor and through his attendance at Henslow's scientific talks at the university. Darwin had been recommended by Henslow to take his place aboard the survey shipHMSBeagle on a two-yearvoyage to survey South America, which eventually lasted five years and circumnavigated the globe.
During the voyage, Darwin corresponded by letter with Henslow after reaching South America, and collected specimens with him in mind, particularly plants. Extracts from ten of Darwin's letters from South America to Henslow were first read out at a meeting of the Cambridge Philosophical Society on 16 November 1835, around the time that the ship reached Tahiti. Two days later,Adam Sedgwick read geological notes based on the letters to theGeological Society of London. The Council of the Cambridge Philosophical Society had the extracts printed in a pamphlet dated 1 December 1835, for private distribution among the Members of the Society,.
The pamphlet has been described as the first writing of Charles Darwin ever to be published, but earlier, while still at Cambridge University, he had his notes on insects published in a book byJames Francis Stephens.[13][14]
The readings were held and the pamphletExtracts from Letters to Henslow was printed without Darwin's knowledge. Upon learning of this pamphlet, Darwin was "a good deal horrified" at Henslow making public "what had been written without care or accuracy". The publicity helped Darwin's career, and at the end of his life acknowledged their friendship as the most important "circumstance" of his life.
The original pamphlet is now rare. According to American Book Prices Current only four copies have appeared at auction since 1975. On 19 June 2014 Christies auctioned an original copy in New York (Sale 2861) and realised $221,000.[15]
In 1960 it was reprinted privately to mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of the "Origin of Species" on 26 November 1859 and issued to Members and Associates of the Society.
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