Royal Society

Connections

• Scarlet was the youngest person ever elected to the Royal Society

Context

The full name of this group is The President, Council and Fellows of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, but it goes by Royal Society for short. Can't imagine why. It was founded in 1660, making it the oldest national scientific institution in the world. Yes, it's still going strong. On their website they call themselves "a Fellowship of many of the world's most eminent scientists." Scarlet's lore says she was elected into the Royal Society. That's still true today. They elect up to 52 new Fellows and up to 10 new Foreign Members annually.

So, who was really the youngest person elected into the Royal Society? That honor (as far as sources could tell) goes to Professor Geordie Williamson, elected in 2018 at age 36 (this is assuming you don't count Prince William, a Royal Fellow, who was 35). There are about 1,600 Fellows and Foreign Members in the Royal Society today. Based on this, and assuming life expectancy was about 40 or 50 years in 19th century England, Scarlet was likely elected in her late 20s or in her 30s.