Royal Society of Edinburgh

Royal Society of Edinburgh
Established1737 – diverged from the Royal Medical Society
1783 – received royal charter
FounderColin Maclaurin and Alexander Monro, primus (instrumental in founding the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh)
William Cullen, Alexander Monro, secundus and William Robertson (instrumental in obtaining the royal charter)
FocusScience and technology
Arts
Humanities
Social science
Business
Public service
Headquarters22–26 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PQ
Location
Members
Over 1,800 Fellows
OwnerRegistered charity No. SC000470
President
John Ball
CEO
Sarah Skerratt
Key people
Michael Keating, General Secretary
SubsidiariesRSE Scotland Foundation
RSE Young Academy of Scotland
Budget
£5.9 million
Staff34
Websitewww.rse.org.uk
Formerly called
Philosophical Society of Edinburgh
The cover of a 1788 volume of the journal Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This is the issue where James Hutton published his Theory of the Earth.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established in 1783. As of 2021, there are around 1,800 Fellows.[1]

The Society covers a broader range of fields than the Royal Society of London, including literature and history.[2][3] The Fellowship includes people from a wide range of disciplines: science and technology, arts, humanities, medicine, social science, business, and public service.

  1. ^ "Fellows". 21 June 2016.
  2. ^ List of RSE material held at the National Library of Scotland
  3. ^ Notes on the Royal Society of Edinburgh from the Scholarly Societies project, University of Waterloo Library (includes information on the journals of the society)