It does this through promoting collaborations between scientists and industrialists, running technical and innovation conferences, building communities across academia and industry and publishing scientific content through its journals and digital platforms.

Held at the offices of the Chemical Society, now the headquarters of the Royal Society of Chemistry, in Burlington House, this meeting was presided over by Henry Roscoe, appointed first president of SCI,[4] and attended by Eustace Carey, Ludwig Mond, FA Abel, Lowthian Bell, William H Perkin, Walter Weldon, Edward Rider Cook, Thomas Tyrer and George E Davis; all prominent scientists, industrialists and MPs of the time.

[5] Prominent early members included William Lever, George Matthey, Ludwig Mond, Henry Armstrong, Leo Baekeland, Rudolph Messel, Charles Tennant, Richard Seligman, Ferdinand Hurter and Marie Stopes.

An Extraordinary General Meeting was held on 27 March 1906, under the direction of president Edward Divers and secretary C. G. Cresswell, to discuss a motion to apply for incorporation under a royal charter.

Owned by the Duke of Westminster, along with the rest of Belgravia, the building was and still is part of the Grosvenor Estate and had recently been commandeered by the Ministry of Defence during World War II.

The society has an extensive awards programmes designed to raise awareness of the benefits of the practical application of chemistry and related sciences across scientific disciplines and industrial sectors.

The SCI also confers scholarships and travel bursaries to student members, and celebrates accomplished scientists, educators and business people through a number of international awards, medals, and lectureships.

The Honours programme was established in 1996 and is designed to raise awareness of the benefits of the practical application of chemistry and related sciences across scientific disciplines and industrial sectors and to celebrate accomplished scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs through a number of international awards, medals, and lectureships.