Invisible College

Not to be confused with Collegium Invisibile of Warsaw, founded 1995.

Emblematic image of a Rosicrucian College; illustration from Speculum sophicum Rhodo-stauroticum, a 1618 work by Theophilus Schweighardt. Frances Yates identifies this as the "Invisible College of the Rosy Cross".[1]

Invisible College is the term used for a small community of interacting scholars who often met face-to-face, exchanged ideas and encouraged each other. One group that has been described as a precursor group to the Royal Society of London consisted of a number of natural philosophers around Robert Boyle, such as Christopher Wren.[2] It has been suggested that other members included prominent figures later closely concerned with the Royal Society;[3] but several groups preceded the formation of the Royal Society, and who the other members of this one were is still debated by scholars.

  1. ^ Detailed discussion in The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, pp. 94–95.
  2. ^ Higgitt, Rebekah (20 October 2014). "Google Doodle forgets to celebrate Christopher Wren the man of science". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  3. ^ Such as John Wilkins, John Wallis, John Evelyn, Robert Hooke, Francis Glisson, Christopher Wren and William Petty.