Charles II Chartered Royal Society

In 1660, scientists and thinkers began meeting in London to test ideas through observation and experiment rather than accepting dogma, and English King Charles II gave them royal patronage. In 1662, Charles personally signed the charter that formally established the Royal Society of London and later attended its meetings. Members included English physicist Isaac Newton and English architect Christopher Wren, while the Society published Newton's Principia Mathematica. Now considered the world's oldest scientific institution, it adopted the motto Nullius in verba, meaning "Take nobody's word for it."

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