The Royal Society was established after a group of scientists met at Gresham College after a lecture by Christopher Wren on the 28 November 1660, and decided to found a college for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning. The group was given its first Royal Charter in 1662 by King Charles II and by the second Royal Charter it would be known as 'The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge'.
The early years of the Society saw revolutionary advancements in the conduct and communication of science. Hooke’s Micrographia and the first issue of Philosophical Transactions were published in 1665. Following the Great Fire of London, in 1666, the society moved to Arundel House. Under the Presidency of Isaac Newton, the Society acquired its own home, two houses in Crane Court, off the Strand. In 1731 a new rule was established which said that each candidate for election had to be proposed in writing and had that written certificate signed by those who supported his candidature.
The society moved premises to Somerset House in 1780, Burlington House in Piccadilly in 1857, Carlton House Terrace, London in 1967 and the Society acquired Chicheley Hall, Buckinghamshire in 2010. Chicheley Hall was transformed into Kavli Royal Society International Centre which will provide a prestigious residential centre for holding internationally significant scientific conferences and offering opportunities for concentrated academic reflection.
Over time, the criteria for, and transparency of election to the Fellowship became stricter, and Fellows were elected solely on the merit of their scientific work from 1847. The government granted the Society £1,000 to assist scientists in their research and to buy equipment in 1850. The Society now allocates nearly £42 million each year from government grants and donations and legacies from organisations and individuals.
The Society has 8,000 Fellows elected to the Society to date.
A research facility and foundation decdicated to the research and training used for the advancement of genetics in the environment, particulaly within the study of genetic modification to plants and crops. The facility was one of the leading centres in research at the time of the genetically modified crops debate and so their trial farm land was often targeted by protestors and many of the scientists who worked at the centre were interviewed by press along with sending correspondence to other scienctists regarding the debate.
The centre was the biggest supporter of the farm-scale trials and subsequent debate, however, once the growing and selling of gm crops was banned in the Uk and Europe funding to the Research centre was cut dramatically. Despite this research is still ongoing at the centre through funding from donations and the foundation.
Leader of the Genetic Modification and Biosafety Research Group at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. He worked in agriculture for several years before graduating in Agricultural Botany and obtaining a doctorate in Plant Genetics.
Following a period of plant breeding and genetics research at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station (1972-85), he became Research Group Leader at the Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge during the mid-late 1980's, where he was involved in the first field experiments with GM crops and led several research programmes on biosafety assessment. Professor Dale moved to the John Innes Centre in Norwich in 1990 and currently leads several research programmes studying the behaviour and stability of GM crops.
From 1993 to 1999, he was a member of the UK Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) and during 1998 he became a member of the UK Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes. He was appointed Deputy Chair of the committee in 2002. In 2000 he was asked to join the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission, which provided the Government with advice on developments in biotechnology and their implications for agriculture and the environment.
In August 2002 Dale was awarded an honorary professorship at the University of East Anglia and became a Fellow of the Institute of Biology.
