The Physical Society of London, England, was a scientific society which was founded in 1874. In 1921, it was renamed the Physical Society, and in 1960 it merged with the Institute of Physics (IOP), the combined organisation eventually adopting the name of the latter society. The society was founded due to the efforts of Frederick Guthrie, Professor of Physics at the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, and his assistant, William Fletcher Barrett. They canvassed support for a 'Society for physical research' and on 14 February 1874, the Physical Society of London was formed with an initial membership of 29 people. The Society's first president was John Hall Gladstone. Meetings were held every two weeks, mainly at Imperial College London. From its beginning, the society held open meetings and demonstrations and published Proceedings of the Physical Society of London. The first Guthrie lecture, now known as the Faraday Medal and Prize, was delivered in 1914. In 1921 the society became the Physical Society, and in 1932 absorbed the Optical Society (of London). The Optical Society published Transactions of the Optical Society from 1899 to 1932. In 1960, the merger with the Institute of Physics took place, creating the Institute of Physics and the Physical Society, which combined the learned society tradition of the Physical Society with the professional body tradition of the Institute of Physics. Upon being granted a royal charter in 1970, the organisation renamed itself as the Institute of Physics. Presidents of the Physical Society 1874–1876 John H. Gladstone 1876–1878 George C. Foster 1878–1880 William G Adams 1880–1882 The Lord Kelvin of Largs 1882–1884 Robert B. Clifton 1884–1886 Frederick Guthrie 1886–1888 Balfour Stewart 1888–1890 Arnold W. Reinold 1890–1892 William E. Ayrton 1892–1893 George F. FitzGerald 1893–1895 Arthur W. Rucker 1895–1897 William de W. Abney 1897–1899 Shelford Bidwell 1899–1901 Oliver J. Lodge 1901–1903 Silvanus P. Thompson 1903–1905 Richard T. Glazebrook 1905–1906 John H. Poynting 1906–1908 John Perry 1908–1910 Charles Chree 1910–1912 Hugh Longbourne Callendar 1912–1914 Arthur Schuster 1914–1916 Sir Joseph Thomson 1916–1918 Charles V Boys 1918–1920 Charles Herbert Lees 1920–1922 Sir William Bragg 1922–1924 Alexander Russell 1924–1926 Frank Edward Smith 1926–1928 Owen W. Richardson 1928–1930 William H. Eccles 1930–1932 Sir Arthur Eddington 1932–1934 Alexander O. Rankine 1934–1936 Lord Rayleigh 1936–1938 Thomas Smith 1938–1941 Sir Allan Ferguson 1941–1943 Sir Charles Darwin 1943–1945 Edward N de Costa Andrade 1945–1947 David Brunt 1947–1949 George Ingle Finch 1949–1950 Sydney Chapman 1950–1952 Leslie Fleetwood