The Royal Society

During the summer they open their doors to the public for talks and lectures and exhibits. Their website gives you details of when they’re open and what’s coming up.
Went for a lecture about primates and language development. They held it in their canopied tea room outside. Was a very pretty space to host a scientific lecture. Loved it. Really interesting and free!
Definitely going to keep checking their website for more events.

One of the hidden germs behind the Mall, beyond the highness, lies the society of science, a Fellowship of the world’s most eminent scientists and the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.
The Kohn Centre in the Society recently hosted a talk with Douglas Melton, the Head of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. The set up matched perfectly with the event, from the reception hall exhibition to the paintings on the Centre Walls. This led me to explore the venue hires… Surprisingly such a luxurious place, with 1500 fellows including 70+ Nobel Laureates, it has a modest cost for public venue hire, esp. those with charity status, compared with those of the Royal Institution of Great Britain.
Although a membership only working place, the Society opens to public with limited guided tours and a serious of interesting public lectures. These are the last days of the Exhibition: «The Royal Society: 350 Years of Science» featuring a number of treasures from the Royal Society’s extensive collections of archives, rare books, artefacts, and portraits. I particularly liked the women scientists section.
It is a fortune that the society offers library facilities (70,000+titles) free to public (registration required) and the reading rooms have wireless internet. Imagine one works there with full inspiration from the greatest minds :-)
«To expand the frontiers of knowledge by championing the development and use of science, mathematics, engineering and medicine for the benefit of humanity and the good of the planet.» (RS’ Mission)

In a beautiful building overlooking The Mall and St James lies the home of British Science. For 350 years a society of esteemed scientists have been meeting to share visions and learn from one another and you can visit their prestigous address to learn from them too.
So…does this society have anyone you’ve ever heard of?
Hooke, Newton, Pepys, Wren, Darwin, Huxley, Faraday, Babbage…
Basically all the minds that shaped the path our country and world have taken… the minds behind the engineers of the industrial revolution. And right now The Royal Society is funding research, meetings and outreach to shape the 21^st and 22^nd centuries too.
You can’t join without first being nominated as like one of the best scientists ever or something. But you CAN visit the society for wonderful public talks, presentations from young scientists from around the country and for historical exhibitions in the disgustingly gorgeous libary.
Have a look on their website for event schedules. I know I’m a geeky scientist, but trust me… I’ve only ever enjoyed my visits and so will you. Last time it was a Bill Bryson talk about his books, followed by getting pissed in the ICA bar below (although that wasn’t with him).