Anniversary Dinner 1975

Abstract

It is a very great honour for me to be invited to propose the toast of this ancient and famous Society. As one who comes from the Continent and, indeed, from Bavaria, I regard this as a particular privilege. When I received your kind invitation I tried to find out if there was any special relationship between the Royal Society and Bavaria. And indeed, if one goes back as far as 1784, one discovers that the then Elector Palantine of Bavaria, Karl Theodor, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and there is still a portrait of him in Carlton House Terrace. The election of Karl Theodor was inspired by his adviser and Minister of War, Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, who had been a member of the Royal Society since 1779. On Thompson’s proposal Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, became a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences at the same time. From Munich Benjamin Thompson contributed a number of papers to the Philosophical Transactions but the people of Munich nevertheless insist that his major contribution was the creation of the famous English garden in Munich.