Motto: Naturae Discere Mores ("To Learn the Ways of Nature")
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collections, and publishes academic journals and books on plant and animal biology. The society also awards a number of prestigious medals and prizes.
A product of the 18th-century enlightenment, the society is the oldest extant biological society in the world and is historically important as the venue for the first public presentation of the theory of evolution by natural selection on 1 July 1858.
Burlington House: the Linnean Society occupies the range to the left of, and above, the entrance arch.The society's premises in Burlington House seen from within the courtyard.The first admission of women as fellows of the society in 1905, Emma Louisa Turner is on the far left, Lilian J. Veley is shown signing the membership book, whilst Lady Crisp receives the 'hand of Fellowship' from the president, William Abbott Herdman, behind Lilian J. Veley and standing is Constance Sladen – from a painting by James Sant (1820–1916)The library of the Linnean Society, Burlington HouseA display of Alfred Russel Wallace notebooks in the Linnean Society libraryMuscicapa malachura (the Southern emu-wren), a new species from New South Wales, by Thomas Davies, 1798, Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Volume 4, facing page 242
The Linnean Society was founded in 1788 by botanist Sir James Edward Smith. The society takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, the 'father of taxonomy', who systematised biological classification through his binomial nomenclature. (He was known as Carl von Linné after his ennoblement, hence the spelling 'Linnean', rather than 'Linnaean'.) The society had a number of minor name variations before it gained its Royal Charter on 26 March 1802, when the name became fixed as "The Linnean Society of London". As a newly incorporated society, it comprised 228 fellows. It is the oldest extant natural history society in the world.[3]:2,19 Throughout its history the society has been a non-political and non-sectarian institution, existing solely for the furtherance of natural history.[3]:148
The inception of the society was the direct result of the purchase by Sir James Edward Smith of the specimen, book and correspondence collections of Carl Linnaeus. When the collection was offered for sale by Linnaeus's heirs, Smith was urged to acquire it by Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent botanist and president of the Royal Society. Five years after this purchase Banks gave Smith his full support in founding the Linnean Society, and became one of its first Honorary Members.[4][5]
Prominent members
The society has numbered many prominent scientists amongst its fellows. One such was the botanist Robert Brown, who was librarian, and later president (1849–1853); he named the cell nucleus and discovered Brownian motion.[6] In 1854, Charles Darwin was elected a fellow; he is undoubtedly the most illustrious scientist ever to appear on the membership rolls of the society.[3]:53 Another famous fellow was biologist Thomas Huxley, who would later gain the nickname "Darwin's bulldog" for his outspoken defence of Darwin and evolution. Men notable in other walks of life have also been fellows of the society, including the physician Edward Jenner, pioneer of vaccination, the Arctic explorers Sir John Franklin and Sir James Clark Ross, colonial administrator and founder of Singapore, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord Aberdeen.[3]:50,53 197–198
Biological evolution and the society
The first public exposition of the 'Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection', arguably the greatest single leap of progress made in biology, was presented to a meeting of the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858. At this meeting a joint presentation of papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace was made, sponsored by Joseph Hooker and Charles Lyell, as neither author could be present.[7]:288–289
The society's connection with evolution remained strong into the 20th century. Sir Edward Poulton, who was president in 1912–1916, was a great defender of natural selection, and was the first biologist to recognise the importance of frequency-dependent selection.[3]:95[8]
Also numbered in the first cohort of women to be elected in 1904 were: the paleobotanist, and later pioneer of family planning, Marie Stopes, the philanthropist Constance Sladen, founder of the Percy Sladen Memorial Trust and Alice Laura Embleton (1876–1960), biologist, zoologist and suffragist, who had been one of the earliest women to deliver a paper to the society on 4 Jun 1903.[10][11][12][13] Overall, 15 out of 16 women nominated in 1904 were elected to the society. Marian Farquharson was not admitted, having been "shamefully blackballed" as the society now states, although she was finally admitted in 1908.[14]
The painting "Admission of Lady Fellows" by James Sant R.A., which hangs on the upper staircase, shows the eleven women signing the society's Book of Admission and Obligation on 19 January 1905. The painting was altered to remove the figures of T R R Stebbing, the Zoological Secretary, and his wife, Mary Anne, from the right hand side sometime before the painting was presented to the society in 1919.[15]
The first female president of the society was Irene Manton (1973 to 1976), who pioneered the biological use of electron microscopy. Her work revealed the structure of the flagellum and cilia, which are central to many systems of cellular motility.[16][17]
Present interests
Recent years have seen an increased interest within the society in issues of biodiversity conservation. This was highlighted by the inception in 2015 of an annual award, the John Spedan Lewis Medal, specifically honouring persons making significant and innovative contributions to conservation.[18]
In April 1939 the threat of war obliged the society to relocate the Linnean collections out of London to Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, where they remained for the duration of World War II. This move was facilitated by the 12th Duke of Bedford, a Fellow of the Linnean Society himself. Three thousand of the most precious items from the library collections were packed up and evacuated to Oxford; the country house of librarian Warren Royal Dawson provided a refuge for the society's records.[3]:110
Membership
Fellowship is open to both professional scientists and to amateur naturalists who have shown active interest in natural history and allied disciplines. Having authored relevant publications is an advantage, but not a necessity, for election. Prior to November 2024, fellowship required nomination by at least one fellow, and election by a minimum of two-thirds of those electors voting. Following election, new fellows had be formally admitted, in person at a meeting of the society, before they were able to vote in society elections. Admission took the form of signing the membership book, and thereby agreeing to an obligation to abide by the statutes of the society. Following this the new fellow was taken by the hand by the president, who recited a formula of admission to the fellowship.[3]:195,198–202[20]
As of November of 2024, applications for fellowship will be considered by a newly instigated 'Fellowship Committee'. Existing fellows may make a formal objection to the admittance of any prospective fellow. Election to fellowship is via an application supported by named referees. The fellowship committee reports to the council of the society on the suitability of applicants. After approval at a society meeting, applicants will be deemed elected as fellows.[21] Fellows may employ the post-nominal letters 'FLS'.[22]
Other forms of membership exist: 'Associate' (or 'ALS'), for supporters of the society who do not wish to submit to the formal election process for fellowship, and 'Student Associate', for those registered as students at a place of tertiary education. Associate members may apply for election to the fellowship at any time.[3]:195,198–202[20]
Finally, there are three types of membership that are prestigious and strictly limited in number: 'Fellow honoris causa', 'Foreign', and lastly, 'Honorary'. These forms of membership are bestowed following election by the fellowship at the annual Anniversary Meeting in May.[3]:195,198–202[20]
Meetings
Meetings have historically been, and continue to be, the main justification for the society's existence. Meetings are venues for people of like interests to exchange information, talk about scientific and literary concerns, exhibit specimens, and listen to lectures. Today, meetings are held in the evening and also at lunchtime. Most are open to the general public as well as to members, and the majority are offered without charge for admission.[3]:149–152
On or near 24 May, traditionally regarded as the birthday of Carl Linnaeus, the Anniversary Meeting is held. This is for fellows and guests only, it includes ballots for membership of the council of the society and the awarding of medals.[3]:149–152 On 22 May 2020, for the first time in its history, the Anniversary Meeting was held online via videotelephony. This was due to restrictions on public gatherings imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Medals and prizes
The Linnean Society of London aims to promote the study of all aspects of the biological sciences, with particular emphasis on evolution, taxonomy, biodiversity, and sustainability. Through awarding medals and grants, the society acknowledges and encourages excellence in all of these fields.[23][3]:165–174
The following medals and prizes are awarded by the Linnean Society:
Linnean Medal, established 1888, awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year.
Darwin-Wallace Medal, first awarded in 1908, for major advances in evolutionary biology.
H. H. Bloomer Award, established 1963 from a legacy by the amateur naturalist Harry Howard Bloomer, awarded to "an amateur naturalist who has made an important contribution to biological knowledge"
Trail-Crisp Award, established in 1966 from the amalgamation of two previous awards – both dating to 1910 – awarded "in recognition of an outstanding contribution to biological microscopy that has been published in the UK".
Bicentenary Medal, established 1978, on the 200th anniversary of the death of Linnaeus, "in recognition of work done by a person under the age of 40 years".
Linnaeus' botanical and zoological collections were purchased in 1783 by Sir James Edward Smith, the first president of the society, and are now held in London by the society.[24] The collections include 14,000 plants, 158 fish, 1,564 shells, 3,198 insects, 1,600 books and 3,000 letters and documents. They may be viewed by appointment and there is a monthly tour of the collections.[25]
Smith's own plant collection of 27,185 dried specimens, together with his correspondence and book collection, is also held by the society.[26]
In December 2014, the society's specimen, library, and archive collections were granted designated status by the Arts Council England, recognising collections of national and international importance (one of only 152 institutions so recognised as of 2020).[28]
Publications
The Linnean Society began its extensive series of publications on 13 August 1791, when Volume I of Transactions of the Linnean Society of London was produced. Over the following centuries the society published a number of different journals, some of which specialised in more specific subject areas, whilst earlier publications were discontinued.[3]:153–164
Those still in publication include: the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, which covers the evolutionary biology of all organisms, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, which focuses on plant sciences, and Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society focusing on animal systematics and evolution. In 2022, the society launched the Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society, its first fully open access scholarly publication.[29]The Linnean is a biannual newsletter. It contains commentary on recent activities and events, articles on history and science, and occasional biographies/obituaries of people connected to the Linnean Society; it also includes book reviews, reference material and correspondence. The society also publishes books and Synopses of the British Fauna, a series of field-guides.[3]:153–164
Previously, an electronic magazine for Fellows, Pulse, was produced quarterly. This ceased publication in 2021.[30]
On a wreath of the colours behind a mount in which vegetates the linnaea-borealis the sun rising in splendour all Proper.
Escutcheon
Per fesse the chief per pale Gules and Vert the base Sable on a fesse Argent a hurt charged with an egg erect Proper.
Supporters
On the dexter side a lion Or gorged with a linnaea-borealis Proper therefrom a shield pendent per pale wavy Argent and Ermine charged with a rose slipped Gules and a thistle fesseways Proper and on the sinister side an eagle rising Proper gorged as the dexter therefrom a shield pendent Argent charged with a trefoil slipped Vert.
Alfred Newton FRS HFRSE was an English zoologist and ornithologist. Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907. Among his numerous publications were a four-volume Dictionary of Birds (1893–6), entries on ornithology in the Encyclopædia Britannica while also an editor of the journal Ibis from 1865 to 1870. In 1900 he was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society and the Gold Medal of the Linnaean Society. He founded the British Ornithologists Union.
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Zoo.
Sir James Edward Smith was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.
John Obadiah Westwood was an English entomologist and archaeologist also noted for his artistic talents. He published several illustrated works on insects and antiquities. He was among the first entomologists with an academic position at Oxford University. He was a natural theologian, staunchly anti-Darwinian, and sometimes adopted a quinarian viewpoint. Although he never travelled widely, he described species from around the world on the basis of specimens, especially of the larger, curious, and colourful species, obtained by naturalists and collectors in England.
"On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection" is the title of a journal article, comprising and resulting from the joint presentation of two scientific papers to the Linnean Society of London on 1 July 1858: On The Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type by Alfred Russel Wallace and an Extract from an unpublished Work on Species from Charles Darwin's Essay of 1844. The article also includes an Abstract of a Letter from Darwin to Asa Gray, and an introductory letter by Joseph Dalton Hooker and Charles Lyell. The article was the first announcement of the Darwin–Wallace theory of evolution by natural selection; and appeared in print on 20 August 1858. The presentation of the papers spurred Darwin to write a condensed "abstract" of his "big book", Natural Selection. This was published in November 1859 as On the Origin of Species.
William Kirby was an English entomologist, an original member of the Linnean Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society, as well as a country rector, so that he was an eminent example of the "parson-naturalist". The four-volume Introduction to Entomology, co-written with William Spence, was widely influential.
Erik Acharius was a Swedish botanist who pioneered the taxonomy of lichens and is known as the "father of lichenology". Acharius was famously the last pupil of Carl Linnaeus.
Octavius Pickard-Cambridge FRS was an English clergyman and zoologist. He was a keen arachnologist who described and named more than 900 species of spider from a large collection that he made with contributions sent to him by correspondents from around the world.
The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and is for the preceding years often referred to as "the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society", not to be confused with the official Linnean Gold Medal which is seldom awarded.
Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Carolus Linnaeus the Younger, Carl von Linné den yngre, or Linnaeus filius was a Swedish naturalist. His names distinguish him from his father, the pioneering taxonomist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778).
Frederick William Hope was an English clergyman, naturalist, collector, and entomologist, who founded a professorship at the University of Oxford to which he gave his entire collections of insects in 1849. He described numerous species and was a founder of the Entomological Society of London in 1833 along with John Obadiah Westwood.
Prof David Meredith Seares Watson FRS FGS HFRSE LLD was the Jodrell Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at University College, London from 1921 to 1951.
Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton, FRS HFRSE FLS was a British evolutionary biologist, a lifelong advocate of natural selection through a period in which many scientists such as Reginald Punnett doubted its importance. He invented the term sympatric for evolution of species in the same place, and in his book The Colours of Animals (1890) was the first to recognise frequency-dependent selection. He is remembered for his pioneering work on animal coloration and camouflage, and in particular for inventing the term aposematism for warning coloration. He became Hope Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford in 1893.
Sir Arthur Smith Woodward, FRS was an English palaeontologist, known as a world expert in fossil fish. He also described the Piltdown Man fossils, which were later determined to be fraudulent. He is not related to Henry Woodward, whom he replaced as curator of the Geology Department of the British Museum of Natural History.
John Stackhouse was an English botanist, primarily interested in spermatophytes, algae and mycology. He was born in Probus, Cornwall, and built Acton Castle, above Stackhouse Cove, Cornwall, in order to further his studies about the propagation of algae from their spores. He was the author of Nereis Britannica; or a Botanical Description of British Marine Plants, in Latin and English, accompanied with Drawings from Nature (1797).
Irene Manton, FRS FLS was a British botanist who was Professor of Botany at the University of Leeds. She was noted for study of ferns and algae.
"On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae", also published as "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu", was a paper written by Robert Brown on the taxonomy of the plant family Proteaceae. It was read to the Linnean Society of London in the first quarter of 1809, and published in March 1810. It is significant for its contribution to the systematics of Proteaceae, and to the floristics of Australia, and also for its application of palynology to systematics.
Sidnie Milana MantonFLS FRS was an influential British zoologist. She is known for making advances in the field of functional morphology. She is regarded as being one of the most outstanding zoologists of the twentieth century.
Marian Sarah Ogilvie Farquharson, FLS, FRMS was a British naturalist and women's rights activist. The first female Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society, Farquharson is best remembered for her campaign of women rights to full fellowship of learned societies.
The Irene Manton Prize of the Linnean Society of London is awarded annually for the "best thesis in botany examined for a doctorate of philosophy during a single academic year" in the United Kingdom.
↑ Cohen, I.B. (1985). Revolution in Science. Harvard University Press.
↑ Poulton, E. B. 1884. Notes upon, or suggested by, the colours, markings and protective attitudes of certain lepidopterous larvae and pupae, and of a phytophagous hymenopterous larva. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1884: 27–60.
↑ Gage A. T. and Stearn W. T. (1988) A Bicentenary History of the Linnean Society of London, Linnean Society of London, pp. 175–181 (specimen collections) 183–188 (manuscript, illustration and publication collections)
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