Space for science

Last year we were thrilled to move into the world’s most prestigious scientific building. Among other accolades, the Royal Institution in Mayfair has overseen the discovery of ten new elements and the principles of electromagnetism. As for our suite of rooms on the second floor, they were once the private living quarters of Sir Humphry Davy, Michael Faraday, and the resident professors who succeeded them, from John Tyndall to Sir George Porter.

Now we’re expanding. With ten new positions for researchers on the cards, we have taken over three more rooms at the Royal Institution, almost doubling our space.

Of our two new rooms on the second floor, one was once the drawing room of the Faradays, when they lived here in the mid-19th century. We know this because their friend Harriet Moore painted a watercolour of the scene (pictured). The room next to it, which we’ve also acquired, may have been the Faradays’ bedroom. Our third new room, on the third floor, was once a spare bedroom. This hosted the scientists visiting to give the Christmas Lectures, who have included Carl Sagan and David Attenborough.