Anniversary Dinner 1966

Abstract

I am indeed honoured to have been given the opportunity of proposing the toast of the Royal Society on occasion of its 306th anniversary, and of being here tonight to celebrate the most ancient and famous scientific society of the world. It is for me a great pleasure to find here so many old friends among the members of the Royal as well as among the guests that came from many countries of the European continent and from various parts of the world, and in particular to have been invited by you, Mr President, to whom I am bound by long admiration and friendship. I have still vivid in my memory the recollection, of when, shortly after the end of my university studies, I attended the international conference on nuclear physics that was held in Rome, in 1931. Among the participants to the conference there were famous scientists such as Bohr, Bothe, Compton, Millikan and Mme M. Curie; among those coming from the U.K. there were Aston, Ellis, Fowler, Richardson and Townsend, all Fellows of the Royal Society. You were there, Mr President, and so was Nevill Mott; both of you, together with Fermi, Heisenberg and Pauli also present there, represented the new forces already fully established and still in their most productive and promising phase.