Cambridge scientists feature on The Royal Society’s 350th Anniversary stamps

They include Charles Babbage, Dorothy Hodgkin, Sir Isaac Newton, Ernest Rutherford, and Professor Sir Nicholas Shackleton.

The split-design stamps feature the luminaries' portraits with dramatic and colourful ‘brainstorming’ imagery representing their achievements.

Royal Mail worked closely with experts from the Royal Society to select ten illustrious individuals, drawn from more than 1,400 Fellows and Foreign Members and over 60 Nobel Laureates.

Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society and Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at Cambridge, said: “These stamps commemorate some of the best known Fellows of the Royal Society and their extraordinary achievements. As we celebrate our 350th year we hope that they will generate a sense of excitement and pride in our scientific history, and strengthen our resolve to ensure that science yields new discoveries and benefits in the 21st century.”

Julietta Edgar, Head of Special Stamps at Royal Mail, said: “For three and a half centuries the Royal Society has maintained its position at the forefront of enquiry and discovery, and at the cutting edge of scientific progress. Now its hugely valuable role will be celebrated on millions of 1st Class letters across the UK and by collectors worldwide.”

Those featured are:

Charles Babbage – devised a Difference Engine to accurately produce mathematical tables; his later Analytical Engine was the world’s first programmable computer. Babbage was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge from 1828 to 1839.

Dorothy Hodgkin – pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography to determine structure of biomolecules, paving the way for the development of new drugs and treatments. The first British woman to win a Nobel Prize, she was a graduate student at Newnham College, Cambridge.

Sir Isaac Newton – one of the greatest scientific figures of all time. Described how gravity works, laid down the three laws of motion and built the first practical reflecting telescope. Newton entered the University of Cambridge as an undergradate in 1661 and was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics between 1669 and 1702.

Ernest Rutherford – key figure who conducted experiments to unlock the structure of the atom. His model of the atom remains the symbol for atomic energy today. He came to Cambridge in 1895 as a research student to work with J.J. Thompson, and in 1919 became the Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge.

Professor Sir Nicholas Shackleton – demonstrated that Earth’s climate is controlled by variations in our orbit around the Sun by studying tiny fossil shells on ocean floors. He arrived at Cambridge as an undergraduate in 1958, and was the Director of the Godwin Institute of Quaternary Research from 1995 to 2004.

Other selected names included Sir Joseph Lister (Antiseptic Surgery), Alfred Russel Wallace (Evolution), Edward Jenner (Vaccination), Benjamin Franklin (Electricity), Robert Boyle (Chemistry).

The Royal Society is an independent academy promoting the natural and applied sciences. Founded in 1660, the Society has three roles, as the UK academy of science, as a learned Society, and as a funding agency.