Physical Society of London

The society was founded due to the efforts of Frederick Guthrie, Professor of Physics at the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, and his assistant, William Fletcher Barrett.

[1] [2] Meetings were held every two weeks, mainly at Imperial College London.

The first Guthrie lecture, now known as the Faraday Medal and Prize, was delivered in 1914.

[3] Upon being granted a royal charter in 1970, the organisation renamed itself as the Institute of Physics.

[4] In November 2021, a number of members of the civil disobedience group Extinction Rebellion succeeded in infiltrating and briefly disrupting the Lord Mayor’s Show by appearing in the parade using a float disguised under the name of The Physical Society of London.