The society has one of the best autograph books in the world, and this is Keith Moore, who's our librarian, who is going to introduce me to the book and show me the most interesting signatures you go.

Here's the Royal Society's charter book on If we open it, you'll see immediately what's going on here.

It opens with the royal coat of arms because, of course, where the royal society on.

Then you'll find they're all society's own coat of arms with the motto.

Tullius and Verba take nobody's word for it.

And then reason it's called the charter book is because they're all societies.

Charters are reproduced in the text or develop here.

This is not on paper.

This is animal skin.

They're rather stiffer than paper, the slightly slick to the touch.

I'm wearing gloves, so it's harder to feel that.

But you can actually, if you run your fingers over, you can feel the nap of the the animal.

But you'll see this is really where the book gets very interesting indeed.

First page of the signatures on tthe e head of the list here is Charles the second he was there.

All studies first patron, the man who put the royal into the royal society.

The other Royals here, the one you've probably heard of his Prince Rupert, who was interested in science, is that report from Prince Rupert's drop.

It is indeed so.

He did do experiments at the royal Society and elsewhere to the glass drops that he produced are quite famous.

Each successive monarch on therefore, each successive patron of the royal society, gets their own highly decorated royal page on dhe.

Bet on the page here.

This is the first page where you get the fellowship, Proper said.

These are the leading scientists from 16 60 onwards on the book is a continuous record off all of the fellows of the Royal Society, with water to notable exceptions.

And if you examine this page, you'll immediately begin to see the great scientists off the 17th century.

Here we got there.

He was Robert, hooked and squeezed into the foot of the page.

Yes, John Wallace, here on John Wilkins, Christopher Wren's on this page as well.

Christopher Wren, who built some polls Cathedral in London.

That's absolutely right.

Well, Then let's turn the page and see if we can see Newton.

And here is quite quite a small signature, and you can see immediately.

The man under Isaac Newton is being gradually a raised because Newton's so popular people who was point to his signature and run their fingers along it on.

Therefore, it's just raising the ink from the surface of the vellum people.

Is that really Isaac Newton on or about the poor guy underneath his John flame?

Misty, the astronomer royal who?

One of the people that you argued with, and it's interesting that he didn't put his name in the columns, he's put it slightly to one side and just above you is that it could be a coincidence, but it's it's Ah, it's a nice idea that he just might have decided to get one upon the great man.

This is Edmund Halley, three astronomer, Sea captain, mathematician and many of the things besides, we know how many signatures.

Aaron.

I don't think we've ever counted thumb on DDE.

It's interesting that some of them you can see have actually been crossed out.

That's probably nonpayment of subscriptions to the royal society.

Ugo is another royal page since one of the Georgia's again.

Not terribly colorful, but we'll come to some really highly decorated pages, quite suit.

It is in its way on almost complete history of science.

It's stored in a controlled environmental vaults.

So it's brought out when fellows sign the book.

Once your new fellows, in terms of its its value, nothing like this has been sold at auction.

So it's anybody's guess how much this would cost you.

But I can see here Well, he is young Davey just being elected a fellow of the Royal Society.

Humphry Davy there.

So he signed the book.

This is John Dalton who first propounded the theory of atoms in its modern form.

Yeah, this is a royal page, a role pages created Winner.

A new monarch is put on the throne.

They become patron of the royal Society as a serving monarch.

Therefore, new pages created for them This is William.

This is Charles doing.

Are these scientists already famous when they sign the book?

No, necessarily.

Darwin is elected in 18 39 eso 20 years before on the Origin of Species is written and published.

Attn.

This stage he's just returned from his beagle voyage on He's sorting out specimens are beginning to lecture and talk about what he's seen on his voyages.

So he's not really a the point where he is, uh, leading scientists.

So he's still quite, ah, young figure.

But what they're our society is very good at is recognizing potential on backing winners.

What is Queen Victoria?

It is a whole swathe of scientific endeavour.

In one volume, here we have a signature of one of most famous American scientists.

This is Benjamin Franklin because he lived in London on he was on counsel of the royal Society.

Every time I look at it, I find new signatures on this is really is closest.

One could get too many of these scientists to see something that's actually been written by them.

This one is one of my favorite signatures.

This is the signature of mental age.

Every time there are Russian visitors, I showed them the signature just in the interests of balance.

Here we have Alfred Russel Wallace.

We saw Darwin signature here is the other big figure in the evolution story because our bench 90 no.

One and you have the four corners of empire here.

So you have the ostrich kangaroo.

Wallaby is an elephant here and beaver for Canada presumably writhe Thetis swords with future King Edward the eighth, who was only King for a short time before he implicated were coming increasingly up to date.

This is the 20th century and too good signatures at the top of this page is Sigmund Freud on the charter book was taken to him one of the very rare instances where that's happened.

Freud had gotten out of the continent.

So this is the period when the Nazis were coming to power.

He had to escape from his home.

Long time home in Vienna.

Aunt, he ended up in London in Hampstead s O.

The charter book was taken to Hampstead for him to sign.

He was quite infirm at that time on.

There are some nice photographs of Freud in the garden of his hamster at home with the chart and look underneath.

We got Julian Huxley, their great great scientific family, actually, of course, a fantastic zoologist and a great figure in popularizing science.

Kids Max born the Max, born, of course, is Feinstein's great correspondent, a fantastic physicist.

Einstein is one of those signatures we wish we had in the book on.

We don't know why the Royal Society didn't manage to get him, but he was a He was a fellow.

He was elected after his his great works in the Nobel Prize in 1921.

He was certainly in London during the 19 thirties and 1933.

But for some reason we didn't manage to get him for the charter book.

And then off he went thio the U.

S.

Of course, this is Neil's board, the first person to play quantum ideas to the structure of the atom.

So this is 1945.

The first women were elected to the Royal Society.

There were two of them.

Kathleen Lansdale on Dhe.

Marjorie Stevenson Lansdale is one.

People have really heard off eso.

Here's Kathleen Lawn Stones.

Marjorie Stevenson's Who else do we have here?

Well, here's his bonds.

Wallace of bouncing Bomb of Fame on the same page.

And here we have Glenn Seaborg, after whom the elements see Bogan was named and also discovered.

A lot of the trans uranium elements is Frank Whittle, the inventor of the jet engine is the Linus Pauling down here?

Yes, And here's Dorsey ball needed.

This is much for lower.

Who was one of the people who was very important in the development of crystallography?

He would go.

No, this is the current royal page.

So the queen is our current patron.

He's head of the list there.

But many of the Royals are on that page.

So Prince Charles is on that Prince William, what's all this?

Here s So this is the Japanese emperor who's very good marine biologist.

So he gets to sign on.

Uh, I think we have Gustav of Sweden on there as well.

This is Lisa.

Might know the woman scientist after whom Element 109 was named Peter Higgs.

His signature gives mass to the booth, and it's almost next door toe.

Margaret Thatcher, who is prime minister, was elected.

She caused a big row, and no prime minister has been elected since things he's under it.

And underneath is David at Broad, the world famous naturalist.

Get pages where you get four or five fantastically big figures on, you know, it's it's one's better than the next.

Almost So you do get very, very excited when you're looking at it.

If here's another famous name, what was experienced like of actually signing the book?

Well, I Well, I must say I was quite nervous, and you can see it's not a very elegant signature, but I didn't at least blocked it, even though my name's in the same book as Charles Darwin.

Will some of these other people one couldn't possibly imagine that I'm on the same level as them, but it's still quite nice to be recognized.

This is the end of the book.

Well, not quite the end of the book.

So this is the last input intake of fellows of the royal society from from last year from 2013.

Now you can see they're all blank spaces here.

There's a blank space for the obligation.

What has to be written in on columns and columns of vellum waiting to be filled up on this, we hope, will be the great scientists of the future.

So if you're looking at this movie, is that you?

Are you one day going to be in the pages of the Royal Society as a signature in its charter book?