<P> The scientific network which centred on Gresham College played a crucial part in the meetings which led to the formation of the Royal Society . </P> <P> These physicians and natural philosophers were influenced by the "new science", as promoted by Francis Bacon in his New Atlantis, from approximately 1645 onwards . A group known as The Philosophical Society of Oxford was run under a set of rules still retained by the Bodleian Library . </P> <P> On 28 November 1660, the 1660 committee of 12 announced the formation of a "College for the Promoting of Physico - Mathematical Experimental Learning", which would meet weekly to discuss science and run experiments . At the second meeting, Robert Moray announced that the King approved of the gatherings, and a Royal charter was signed on 15 July 1662 creating the "Royal Society of London", with Lord Brouncker serving as the first President . A second Royal Charter was signed on 23 April 1663, with the King noted as the Founder and with the name of "the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge"; Robert Hooke was appointed as Curator of Experiments in November . This initial royal favour has continued, and since then every monarch has been the patron of the Society . </P> <P> The Society's first Secretary was Henry Oldenburg . Its early meetings included experiments performed first by Robert Hooke and then by Denis Papin, who was appointed in 1684 . These experiments varied in their subject area, and were both important in some cases and trivial in others . The society began publication of Philosophical Transactions from 1665, the oldest and longest - running scientific journal in the world, which established the important principles of scientific priority and peer review . </P>

The scientific revolution is best classified as a time in which the leading thinkers believed in