Scientific activities of the Royal Society in the 1670s

Timeline

1. 1671–1676Royal Society (Gresham College and other locations) · LondonRobert Hooke, as curator of experiments, organized weekly experimental demonstrations covering microscope observations, barometer readings, astronomical observations, and mechanical devices, advancing a methodology of verifying natural phenomena through repeatable experiments.
2. 1672–1676London · LondonIn 1672 Newton read a report on experiments with refraction and color before the Society and published it in the Philosophical Transactions, sparking a long dispute with Hooke and other members over the nature of light and the interpretation of experiments, reflecting the Society's role as an academic arbiter and dissemination platform.
3. 1677–1680London · LondonAt the end of the 1670s the Society refined its systems for member election and experimental reports, maintaining regular meetings under the framework of Charles II's royal charter, laying the foundation for the academic network before the publication of Newton's Principia Mathematica in the 1680s.