Royal Institution

A London institution founded in 1799 to promote scientific education and research and to disseminate scientific knowledge to the public. It received a Royal Charter in 1800 and has occupied 21 Albemarle Street since its foundation. Its programme of public lectures and experimental demonstrations became particularly associated with Sir Humphry Davy, Professor of Chemistry from 1802, and Michael Faraday, who began the Institution’s famous Christmas Lectures in 1825. It remains an important centre for public engagement with science.