May 1959

The Annual Meeting has always been the principal and best known activity of the Association and is the largest scientific gathering of its kind. The general form of the meeting has varied little with the passage of time. The number of sections, each representing a branch or branches of science, has increased with the breadth and wealth of science; and in recent years the tendency has been to emphasize that sectional proceedings are not only an opportunity for specialists to discuss their speciality among themselves, but a chance for them to present recent achievements in their speciality to an informed but non-specialist audience.

The history of the annual meeting is a distinguished record of achievement. The list of Presidents includes most of the great names of British science, with the notable exception of Charles Darwin, who was unable, for reasons of health, to accept office. The presidential addresses have gradually become the chief scientific pronouncement of the year and are given the widest publicity. Often the meetings have witnessed the announcement of some great new discovery ; for instance, Sir William Crooke's first demonstration in 1879 of the properties of a stream of electrons in a vacuum tube (now known as a cathode ray tube), Sir William Ramsay's announcement of the discovery of argon in 1894, and Sir J. J. Thomson's address "On the existence of masses smaller than atoms" in 1899. The applications of science have always been of particular interest to the Association.

In 1856 Sir Henry Bessemer first described at the meeting his researches which were to revolutionise the steel industry; and in 1894 Sir Oliver Lodge gave the first public demonstration of "wireless" over a distance of a few hundred yards. There is also plenty of history of heated discussion; one need refer only to the Battle at Oxford in 1860 between Bishop Wilberforce, of Oxford, representing orthodoxy and Huxley and Hooker representing science.

When the annual meetings were resumed after the Second World War, it became clear that, owing to the very rapid advance of science, new thought was necessary on the future of the Association and the part it should play. An important additional aim is to promote a better understanding of the significance of scientific research and its impact upon society. Proposals included (1) the organisation throughout the year, in suitable centres, of special lectures, exhibitions, and discussions and (2) the formation of a "Junior British Association" with special lectures, demonstrations and exhibitions designed to stimulate the imagination of young people and to stress the adventure of scientific discovery. In January, 1958, on taking office as President, Sir Alexander Fleck, F.R.S. (who opened our Science Exhibition in 1955) announced the creation of a panel of lecturers, and as a result over 200 scientists interested in the presentation of science to the public have offered their services. At the Glasgow meeting in 1958 there were programmes specially for young people of scientific films and lectures and, at a very successful "Open Forum", a panel of eminent scientists answered questions from senior pupils. A similar 21