Bicentenary

The Geological Society of London is the world's oldest national scientific and professional society for Earth scientists and was founded on 13 November 1807 at a dinner at the Freemasons Tavern, Great Queen Street, Covent Garden. The minutes of the meeting record that there were thirteen founder members. This meeting resolved:

'That there be forthwith instituted a Geological Society for the purpose of making geologists acquainted with each other, of stimulating their zeal, of inducing them to adopt one nomenclature, of facilitating the communications of new facts and of ascertaining what is known in their science and what remains to be discovered.'

You can still have a drink in a Freemasons Arms in Long Acre, though the original one, in which the Society was founded, stood where the nearby Connaught Rooms are now to be found. A plaque to this effect was unveiled on 12 November, by RIchard Fortey.

We would like to thank BP and Shell - our Bicentennial Year Platinum sponsors.