Stamping your mark on science

One of 10 Royal Mail stamps celebrating 350 years of the Royal Society

By Michael Banks

Physicist Ernest Rutherford – famous for his model of the atom in 1911 — once said that “All science is either physics or stamp collecting.”

But for all you stamp-collecting physicists out there you can now get your hands on 10 stamps launched today by the Royal Mail to celebrate 350 years of the Royal Society.

Featuring luminaries such as Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Boyle, the first-class stamps are apparently the first to contain a “split-stamp” design (could it be a reference to Rutherford’s “splitting the atom” experiments in 1917?) — the portraits of the 10 fellows are each paired with a colourful image representing their achievements.

Royal Mail selected the 10 pioneering scientists with the help of the Royal Society and you can get your hands on the stamps by visiting any Post Office in the UK or online at www.royalmail.com/stamps