Forty three years ago, on this day, September 23rd, 1983,
Forty-four members of the Royal Society, the world’s oldest scientific academy, have protested the election of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as a fellow, claiming her cost-cutting government has damaged science in Britain.
A spokesman for the 968-member academy confirmed press reports Friday that 44 fellows, including six Nobel laureates, wrote the society’s president, Sir Andrew Huxley, saying the Conservative prime minister’s election to the academy implied “support of a political position.”
Anon, 1983. Royal Society Members Protest Thatcher’s Admission. The Associated Press, September 23,
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 343ppm. As of 2026, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was the Royal Society has been around for literally centuries.
The specific context was was that Margaret Thatcher had some training as a chemist, and it was politically astute in the context of trying to keep the science budget protected to offer her membership of, or fellowship, or whatever you want to call it, of the Royal Society, not on the basis of any great scientific accomplishment, but just from straightforward emotional bribe around politics viewpoint.
What I think we can learn from this is that honorary fellowship membership, whatever, of these organisations is contested.
What happened next Thatcher got the bribe. In 1988 gave a speech about the science budget, but also about climate change at Fishmongers Hall.
In 2006 the Royal Society wrote an unusual public letter telling Exxon to knock it off with the climate denial.
Of late the controversy has been around Elon Musk and whether his fellowship of the Royal Society should be removed for, well, countless reasons.
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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You can see the chronological list of All Our Yesterdays “on this day” posts here.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
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Also on this day:
September 23, 1986 -Joe Biden suggests urgent #climate action…
September 23, 2007 – “Climate “clever” fools no-one…
September 23, 2013 – Media Watch versus climate denialists …
September 23, 2014 – Obama gives a wonderful speech about climate change. We are saved.
September 23, 2022 – Ad company says no to fossil fuels (spoilers -no, it doesn’t)