A Fascinating Visit To The Royal Institution In Mayfair

I was recently invited to have a look around the Royal Institution in Mayfair.

Now having visited, I am rather ashamed to say that I previously knew fairly little about it, bar their famous Christmas lectures! It is a really fascinating spot and a must for history and science lovers alike. 

The Origins Of The Royal Institution

Today the Royal Institution can be found on Albemarle Street in Mayfair, but its origins lay in Soho.

On the 7th March 1799 in the Soho Square townhouse of Joseph Banks, the President of the Royal Society, the Royal Institution was founded. It was the idea of soldier and scientist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford.

He was part of a group of philanthropists snappily named the ‘Society for Bettering the Conditions and Improving the Comforts of the Poor’ and it was this group that supplied much of the initial funding. 

Banks became interested and allowed the first meetings to take place in his house, which he then chaired. In June the group elected George Finch as their President before purchasing the property on Albemarle Street. 

They received their Royal Charter in 1800, became a member’s organisation in 1810 and today is a charity.

The Building

When the society purchased 21 Albemarle Street it was a simple Georgian terraced house, built in 1756. The house was up for sale in 1799 as its previous owner had apparently been killed by a highwayman. 

It was altered significantly after the Institution purchased it by Thomas Webster. Laboratories, libraries, meeting rooms and its famous lecture hall were all added. 

In 1837 the very grand frontage onto Albemarle Street was added and today the whole building is Grade I listed. 

Lectures, Labs and Discoveries 

In 1800 Thomas Garnett, the first professor of Chemistry at the Institution, delivered the inaugural lecture and it has borne witness to many amazing discoveries and incredible scientists over the years. 

For example, Humphry Davy joined the Royal Institution in 1801 and went on to invent the Davy lamp (a miner’s safety lamp) and isolated many elements such as potassium and sodium for the first time.

Davy was very charismatic and his lectures at the Institution were so popular that a one way system had to be introduced on Albemarle Street for all the carriages. Albemarle Street therefore became the first one-way street in London. 

A Keen Young Upstart

In 1812 a young and enthusiastic Michael Faraday started attending Davy’s lectures at the Institution. Faraday sent Davy a 300-page book of notes he had taken during those lectures and Davy subsequently hired him as his assistant.

Faraday went on to become the Professor of Chemistry at the Institution, discover and announce his theory of electromagnetism in 1831 and invent the Faraday Cage in 1836. 

From 1862 research was formally adopted as part of the Institution’s activities, up until this point it had been informally carried out by the members. 

In 1892 James Dewar invented the Dewar flask here, the first vacuum flask, in 1897 JJ Thomson announced the discovery of what would become known as the electron and Dewar first liquified hydrogen in 1898. 

15 of the scientists attached to the Royal Institution have won Nobel Prizes. 

Christmas Lectures

In 1825 Faraday introduced the Ri’s famous Christmas lectures to children and families and they have subsequently been on every year since bar two during World War Two.

The lectures are delivered by a well-known scientist on a different topic, generally involving lots of props, explosions and drama. 

The first televised lecture was in 1936 on the BBC, making it the oldest science TV programme and it was regularly broadcast from 1966. 

In a corridor inside the Institution today are various props used in Christmas lectures over the years. 

2023’s lecture is by Professor Mike Woolridge on the truth about AI and will be on BBC Four at 8pm on the 26th, 27th and 28th of December. 

An Explosion

On the 19th December 1927, there was a huge explosion at the Royal Institution. This one however was not a deliberate stunt as part of a demonstration.

An electricity substation at 21 Albemarle Street exploded, totally destroying the lecture theatre, just two hours after that year’s Christmas lecture had finished and the lecture hall been filled with children and families. The theatre was subsequently rebuilt to the exact same design.

The Institution Today and How To Visit

On the lower floors of the building today they have the Faraday Museum: totally free to visit and full of interesting artefacts.

These fairly ordinary looking objects below, made from odds and ends in 1831, include Faraday’s first electric generator and first ever transformer.

Without these we would not be able to create and control electricity and have therefore totally transformed human life.

You can also see Faraday’s lab. He took over some of the servant’s quarters in 1820s and it was here that he made some of his most important discoveries.

These are Faraday’s safety glasses: some of the earliest purpose made safety goggles for science. They have a hinged section on each side which fold out in order to protect the eyes.

Below is Humphry Davy’s first safety lamp from 1815. Once invented it drastically reduced the numbers of deaths from explosions in mines.

There is also this interactive game around the periodic table. 

The Faraday Museum is open during weekdays Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and there is a cafe open Monday-Thursday 9am-3pm. 

They also have various talks and courses, see their website for what is currently on. 

Thank you for reading, more of London’s amazing historical spots below!