Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, popularly known as the Lit. & Phil., is a learned society in Manchester, England.
History
Established in 1781 as the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester by Thomas Percival, Thomas Barnes and Thomas Henry, other prominent members have included Robert Owen, John Dalton, James Prescott Joule, Tom Kilburn, Peter Mark Roget, Ernest Rutherford and Joseph Whitworth. The first formal meeting of the society took place on 14 March 1781. Meetings were held in a back room of the Cross Street Chapel until December 1799, after which the society moved into its own premises in George Street.From the outset it was an exclusive organisation, with membership being costly and determined by ballot. Its influence was considerable despite, for example, having only 178 members in 1842. Around that time, the membership included around a dozen people who were also involved with running the Anti-Corn Law League.
The Society's original premises were destroyed during the Manchester Blitz, at which time its library comprised more than 50,000 volumes as well as historic artefacts and portraits. Its replacement was constructed using high alumina cement and was demolished in the 1980s.
The 'Lit. & Phil.' now usually meets in one of three hired lecture theatres at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Manchester Conference Centre, or Manchester Dental Education Centre, all of which are within a short distance of each other. The society operates from an office situated in Church House, on Deansgate, Manchester, and has two permanent staff.
Activities
The 'Lit. & Phil.' offers more than 30 lectures or similar events each year. It became a registered charity in 1964, and is a private members' society, and has more than 400 members.As a charitable institution the society encourages the public to attend most of its lectures to improve the further education of those living in Greater Manchester. The most prestigious lectures are the Percival and Manchester Lectures, and in some years the most distinguished speakers are presented with the Dalton Medal. The Society also holds three lectures annually specifically for Young People. Since the local universities ceased offering extra-curricular courses the Lit & Phil has seen an increase in both membership and in the attendance of non-members at lectures.
''Memoirs''
The society's Memoirs and Proceedings was, at the time of its launch, the only regular scientific journal in the United Kingdom except for the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The Manchester Memoirs has been published continuously since the first edition. It contains the transactions of the society and is distributed to members and to similar institutions and libraries throughout the world by subscription. Copies are also available for purchase by non-members.Dalton Medal
The Dalton Medal of the Society is a distinction rarely bestowed and is the Society’s highest award. It is given to those who have made a distinguished contribution to science. Since 1898 the medal has been awarded on only fifteen occasions: all recipients have been Fellows of the Royal Society and many have been Nobel Laureates. Several medallists have had Manchester and University of Manchester/Owens College connections with the Departments of Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Engineering. So far, only one woman has been a recipient of this medal.| No. | Year | Name | Notes |
| 1 | 1898 | Henry Edward Schunck | English chemist and expert on natural dyestuffs. He was born in Manchester and lived in Kersal, Salford where he died. He started his studies in Manchester with William Henry. He bequeathed his laboratory to Owens College and it was moved to Burlington Street where it is still known as the Schunck Building. The Schunck Library is in the Chemistry Department. |
| 2 | 1900 | Henry Enfield Roscoe | English chemist noted for his work on the element vanadium and for photochemical studies. He was the grandson of the famous William Roscoe of Liverpool. Educated at the Liverpool Institute for Boys and with Robert Bunsen in Heidelberg. Appointed 2nd Professor of Chemistry at Owens College, Manchester, and MP for Manchester South. |
| 3 | 1903 | Osborne Reynolds | British engineer, physicist and educator. He was Professor of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at Owens College, Manchester. |
| 4 | 1919 | Ernest Rutherford | New Zealand physicist and is consider to be the father of nuclear physics. He was the Professor of Physics at the University of Manchester where he split the atom in a building on Coupland Street. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. |
| 5 | 1931 | Joseph J Thomson | English experimental physicist born in Cheetham Hill in Manchester who enrolled at Owens College. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. His son, Professor Sir George Paget Thomson, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. |
| 6 | 1942 | William Lawrence Bragg | Australian-born British physicist and X-ray crystallographer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, with his father, and became its youngest ever recipient. He was the Langworthy Professor of Physics at the University of Manchester. |
| 7 | 1948 | Patrick Blackett | English experimental physicist and cosmologist. He was the Langworthy Professor of Physics at the University of Manchester. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. |
| 8 | 1966 | Cyril Norman Hinshelwood | English physical chemist awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. |
| 9 | 1981 | Dorothy Hodgkin | British biochemist who developed protein crystallography and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. |
| 10 | 1997 | Harold Kroto | English chemist famous for his discovery of fullerenes and is most famously associated with buckminsterfullerene C60. Educated at the University of Sheffield, he was a great promoter of science education and an ambassador for the public's engagement with science. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. |
| 11 | 2002 | Walter Fred Bodmer | German-born British human geneticist who was educated at Manchester Grammar School. |
| 12 | 2005 | Roger Penrose | English mathematical physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science. |
| 13 | 2009 | Bernard Lovell | English physicist and radio astronomer who established the Jodrell Bank Observatory |
| 14 | 2012 | Martin, Lord Rees of Ludlow | British cosmologist and astrophysicist. Born in Shropshire, he has been Astronomer Royal since 1995. |
| 15 | 2016 | Konstantin Novoselov | Russian-British physicist, and Langworthy Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. |