Curated category
British fellows of the Royal Society
- James Clerk MaxwellOn the 13th of June 1831, a boy named James Clerk Maxwell was born at 14 India Street in Edinburgh. His mother Frances Cay died when he was eight years old…
- J. J. ThomsonJoseph John Thomson entered the world on the 18th of December 1856 in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. His mother Emma Swindells came from a local textile family…
- James ChadwickJames Chadwick was born on the 20th of October 1891 in Cheshire, England. His father John Joseph Chadwick worked as a cotton spinner while his mother Anne…
- Charles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin was born on the 12th of February 1809 at his family's home, The Mount, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. He was the fifth of six children of…
- Winston ChurchillOn the 30th of November 1874, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born at his family's ancestral home, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
- Lord ByronGeorge Gordon Byron entered the world on the 22nd of January 1788 on Holles Street in London. His birthplace now sits beneath a branch of the department…
- John RoebuckJohn Roebuck was born in Sheffield, where his father ran a prosperous manufacturing business. He attended Sheffield Grammar School before studying at Dr.
- Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Roberts was born on the 13th of October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Her father Alfred Roberts owned a tobacconist and grocery shop that…
- James CookJames Cook was born on the 7th of November 1728 in the village of Marton, located in the North Riding of Yorkshire. His father worked as a Scottish farm…
- James Prescott JouleJames Prescott Joule was born on the 24th of December 1818 in Salford. His father Benjamin owned a brewery that provided wealth and stability for the family.
- Francis CrickFrancis Harry Compton Crick was born on the 8th of June 1916 in Weston Favell, a small village near the English town of Northampton.
- Ernest RutherfordErnest Rutherford was born on the 30th of August 1871 in Brightwater, New Zealand. He was the fourth child among twelve siblings born to James Rutherford and…
- John LockeOn the 29th of August in the year of our Lord 1632, a boy named John Locke was born in the village of Wrington, Somerset.
- Benjamin DisraeliBenjamin D'Israeli was born on the 21st of December 1804 at 6 King's Road, Bedford Row, Bloomsbury. His family carried a Sephardic Jewish mercantile…
- Joseph PriestleyJoseph Priestley was born in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on the 24th of March 1733. He grew up as the oldest of six children to Mary Swift and Jonas Priestley…
- Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton was born on Christmas Day, the 25th of December 1642 at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire. His father had died three months before the birth.
- Clement AttleeClement Richard Attlee was born on the 3rd of January 1883 in Putney, Surrey. He grew up in a two-storey villa with a large garden and tennis court.
- James WattJames Watt was born on the 19th of January 1736 in Greenock, Renfrewshire. He entered the world as the eldest of five surviving children to Agnes Muirhead…
- Marc Isambard BrunelMarc Isambard Brunel arrived into the world on the 25th of April 1769. He was born on a family farm in Hacqueville, Normandy.
- Matthew BoultonMatthew Boulton was born on the 3rd of September 1728 in Birmingham, England. His father, also named Matthew, ran a small workshop specializing in buckles…
- Robert StephensonRobert Stephenson was born on the 16th of October 1803 at Willington Quay, east of Newcastle upon Tyne. His father George worked as a brakesman on a…
- Paul DiracPaul Adrien Maurice Dirac was born on the 8th of August 1902 at his parents' home in Bristol, England. His father Charles Adrien Ladislas Dirac came from…
- Robert HookeRobert Hooke was born on the 18th of July 1635 in Freshwater, Isle of Wight. His father John Hooke served as a curate at All Saints' Church and his mother…
- Alan TuringAlan Mathison Turing was born on the 23rd of June 1912 in Maida Vale, London. His father served with the Indian Civil Service while his mother came from a…
- Stephen HawkingStephen William Hawking was born on the 8th of January 1942 in Oxford to Frank and Isobel Eileen Hawking. His mother came from a family of doctors in Glasgow…
- Demis HassabisDemis Hassabis was born on the 27th of July 1976 in North London. He began playing chess at the age of four and reached a master standard by thirteen.
- Josiah WedgwoodOn the 12th of July 1730, Josiah Wedgwood was born into a family of potters in Burslem. The village had several related families working clay near St John's…
- Humphry DavyHumphry Davy was born on the 17th of December 1778 in Penzance, Cornwall. He grew up as the eldest of five children to Robert Davy and Grace Millett.
- James ThornhillJames Thornhill arrived in the world on the 25th of July 1675 or perhaps 1676 within the Dorset town of Melcombe Regis. His father Walter worked as a…
- Joseph LockeJoseph Locke was born in Attercliffe, Sheffield on the 9th of August 1805. He moved to Barnsley when he was five years old.
- Max BornMax Born entered the University of Göttingen in April 1904, stepping into a world dominated by three renowned mathematicians.
- Christopher WrenChristopher Wren was born in East Knoyle, Wiltshire, on the 18th of November 1632. He was the only surviving son of Christopher Wren the Elder and Mary Cox.
- David AttenboroughDavid Frederick Attenborough was born on the 8th of May 1926 in Isleworth, Middlesex. He grew up in College House on the campus of University College…
- Michael FaradayOn the 21st of September 1791, a boy named Michael Faraday opened his eyes in Newington Butts, Surrey. His father James worked as a blacksmith before moving…
- Edward GibbonEdward Gibbon was born on the 8th of May 1737 in the town of Putney, Surrey. He entered the world as a sickly infant who described himself later as "a puny…
- Arthur EvansArthur Evans entered the world on the 8th of July 1851 at Nash Mills in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. His father John Evans ran a paper mill business…
- Henry BessemerHenry Bessemer entered the world on the 19th of January 1813 in London. His father Anthony was a member of a Huguenot family that had fled Paris during the…
- Edmund CartwrightEdmund Cartwright entered the world on the 24th of April 1743 at Marnham in Nottinghamshire. He was the fourth son born to William Cartwright and his wife…
- John Harris (writer)John Harris entered the world around 1666 in Shropshire. He carried a quiet ambition that led him to Trinity College, Oxford.
- Bertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell was born at Ravenscroft, a country house in Trellech, Monmouthshire, on the 18th of May 1872.
- Arthur EddingtonOn the 28th of December 1882, Arthur Stanley Eddington was born in Kendal, Westmorland. His parents were Quakers who valued education and quiet reflection.
- John Stewart BellJohn Stewart Bell was born on the 28th of July 1928 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He grew up in a working class family where financial hardship defined daily…
- Edmond HalleyEdmond Halley was born in Haggerston, Middlesex, during the year 1656. His father Edmond Halley Sr. worked as a wealthy soap-maker in London and came from a…
- John TyndallJohn Tyndall was born on the 2nd of August 1820 in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow. His father worked as a local police constable and descended from emigrants…
- Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron HollandHenry Richard Vassall-Fox entered the world at Winterslow House in Wiltshire on the 21st of November 1773. His father Stephen Fox, the 2nd Baron Holland…
- John SmeatonJohn Smeaton was born on the 8th of June 1724 in Austhorpe, Leeds. He initially joined his father's law firm after attending Leeds Grammar School.
- Joseph ChamberlainOn the 8th of July 1836, Joseph Chamberlain was born on Camberwell Grove in London. His father ran a shoe business that had occupied the same warehouse at…