Having recently returned from another holiday in England, I thought I'd write a small note on one of the best things that happened to me there.
Because the Royal Society celebrate their 350th anniversary this year, for which occasion they have published commemorative issues of their journals (Philosophical Transactions A and ditto B), I thought it would be a great idea if I could add those two issues to my collection of scientific literature. With that in mind, I first visited Waterstone's on Piccadilly, but without success. So without further ado, I decided to go to Carlton House Terrace, where the Royal Society is located. (Well, I say "decided", but who am I kidding? I had planned to go there all along, of course.) It was only a short walk from Piccadilly, and the prospect of visiting this august institution made me completely oblivious about the rain. That, and my umbrella of course.
With some trepidation I walked in through the front entrance of an imposing building, straight towards the reception. A man behind a desk asked me if he could help me. He listened to what I had to say and, picking up the phone, said "Hold on, I'll call someone." He dialed a number, handed me the receiver and said: "Talk."
A woman came on the line and I repeated my request to her, whereupon she said that I could order the journals on the internet. Having done my homework, I knew this of course. But it means something to me to get my books and stuff from special places. For example, I bought my copy of a biography of Darwin in Down House, Kent. So I told her this, adding that I live in Holland and that this would mean extra costs, that I was here now anyway, and so on. She said "Wait, I'll come down to meet you."
As I waited in the lobby I picked up a free magazine about the commemorative programme. One down, I thought. Two to go. Then I heard women's shoes clicking on the marble floor, coming towards the reception hall. A woman entered, holding copies of the respective journals, which she immediately handed to me. "Here you are", she said. A bit flustered, I asked how much they were. "They're free", she answered. I did not hesitate to show her how pleased and grateful I was. This was very much in the spirit of the Society, whose goal it is to promote scientific knowledge.
There was also a small exhibition in the hall which continued in the adjacent walkways in the building. Normally, people were not allowed to walk around unguided, but the receptionist, on seeing how enthused I was about having been given the journals and, in general, just being there, decided to do me another favour and handed me a visitor's pass, saying I could walk around and take pictures if I liked. To give you an impression of what sort of exhibits there were, one of the pictures I subsequently took was of Newton's manuscript of the Principia, under glass.
All in all, this was one of the best days I ever had in England.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.
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