List of fellows of the Royal Society J, K, L facts for kids

About 8,000 amazing scientists and thinkers have joined the Royal Society of London since it started in 1660. Being a Fellow or a Foreign Member of the Royal Society is a huge honor. It means you are recognized for your important discoveries and contributions to science.

This list shares some of the incredible people who have been part of the Royal Society. The date next to their name is when they were elected. Dates in brackets show when they received an award or when something important happened in their life.

Incredible Minds: Royal Society Fellows

Pioneering People Starting with 'J'

• Sir David Jack (elected 1992): He was a pharmacologist. He worked for Glaxo, a big medicine company.
• Alec John Jeffreys (elected 1986): He is famous for inventing DNA fingerprinting. This method helps identify people using their unique DNA.
• Harold Jeffreys (elected 1925): He was a brilliant scientist who studied the Earth and its physics. He also worked on mathematics.
• Edward Jenner (elected 1789): He was a doctor who created the world's first vaccine. This vaccine protected people from smallpox, a deadly disease.
• James Hopwood Jeans (elected 1906): He was a physicist and astronomer. He studied how stars and planets are formed.
• Anthony Trafford James (elected 1983): He was a scientist who helped develop gas-liquid chromatography. This is a way to separate and identify different chemicals.
• James II, King of Great Britain and Ireland (elected 1665): He was a king who supported the Royal Society.
• Patricia Ann Jacobs (elected 1993): She is a geneticist. She studies genes and how they affect living things.
• Brian David Josephson (elected 1970): He is a physicist who won the Nobel Prize in 1973. He discovered the "Josephson effect" in superconductors.
• James Prescott Joule (elected 1850): He was a physicist who studied heat and energy. He helped us understand how energy changes form.

Key Contributors Starting with 'K'

• Alejandro Kacelnik (elected 2011): He is a scientist who studies animal behavior. He looks at how animals make decisions.
• Charles Kuen Kao (elected 1997): He was a pioneer in fiber optics. His work made it possible to send information using light through thin glass fibers.
• Piotr Leonidovich Kapitza (elected 1929): He was a Russian physicist. He studied very low temperatures and strong magnetic fields.
• Bernard Katz (elected 1952): He won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1970. He discovered how nerves send signals to muscles.
• Arthur Keith (elected 1913): He was a famous anatomist and anthropologist. He studied human evolution and bones.
• Andrew Keller (elected 1972): He was a mathematician from the U.S. He made important discoveries in the field of polymers.
• Olga Kennard (elected 1987): She is a crystallographer. She studies the structure of crystals and molecules.
• John Kerr (elected 1890): He was a physicist who discovered the "Kerr effect." This effect describes how light changes when it passes through certain materials in an electric field.
• Richard Darwin Keynes (elected 1959): He was a physiologist. He studied how nerves work and send electrical signals.
• Thomas Walter Bannerman Kibble (elected 1980): He was a theoretical physicist. He studied the very early universe and fundamental particles.
• Andrew King (elected 2018): He is a neurophysiologist. He studies how the brain processes sounds.
• Aaron Klug (elected 1969): He was a chemist who won the Nobel Prize in 1982. He developed methods to understand the structure of viruses and other biological molecules. He was also President of the Royal Society.
• Jeremy Randall Knowles (elected 1977): He was a chemist who studied how enzymes work.
• Hans Leo Kornberg (elected 1965): He was a biochemist. He studied how living things use energy.
• Hans Adolf Krebs (elected 1947): He discovered the Krebs cycle. This is a key process in living cells that produces energy.
• Harold Walter Kroto (elected 1990): He was a chemist who won the Nobel Prize in 1996. He discovered buckminsterfullerene, a new form of carbon.
• Nicholas Kurti (elected 1956): He was a physicist. He studied very low temperatures and was a Vice-President of the Royal Society.

Leading Lights Starting with 'L'

• Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (elected 1760): He was a French astronomer. He mapped the stars in the Southern Hemisphere.
• Joseph Louis Lagrange (elected 1791): He was a famous mathematician and astronomer. He made important contributions to many areas of mathematics.
• Horace Lamb (elected 1884): He was a mathematician. He studied fluid dynamics and waves.
• Michael Francis Land (elected 1982): He is a neurobiologist. He studies how animals see and move their eyes.
• Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (elected 1788): He was a French chemist. He is often called the "father of modern chemistry." He helped name oxygen and hydrogen.
• John Bennet Lawes (elected 1854): He was an agricultural scientist. He developed artificial fertilizers.
• Peter Anthony Lawrence (elected 1983): He is a biologist. He studies how animals develop and grow.
• Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (elected 1680): He was a Dutch scientist. He is known for his work on microscopes and discovering microorganisms.
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (elected 1673): He was a German mathematician and philosopher. He invented calculus independently of Isaac Newton.
• Anthony James Leggett (elected 1980): He is a physicist. He won the Nobel Prize for his work on superconductors and superfluids.
• Hermann Lehmann (elected 1972): He was a biochemist. He studied different types of hemoglobin in blood.
• John Edward Lennard-Jones (elected 1933): He was a mathematician and physicist. He studied how atoms bond together.
• Leopold I, King of the Belgians (elected 1816): A king who was also a member of the Royal Society.
• Thomas Lewis (elected 1918): He was a cardiologist. He studied the heart and how it works.
• Steven Victor Ley (elected 1990): He is a chemist. He works on making complex organic molecules.
• John Locke (elected 1668): He was a famous philosopher. He is known for his ideas about government and human rights.
• Joseph Norman Lockyer (elected 1869): He was an astronomer. He discovered the element helium on the Sun.
• Oliver Joseph Lodge (elected 1887): He was a physicist. He worked on radio waves and electricity.
• Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale (elected 1945): She was a crystallographer. She was one of the first two women elected as Fellows of the Royal Society.
• James Ephraim Lovelock (elected 1974): He is an independent scientist. He is known for developing the Gaia hypothesis, which views Earth as a self-regulating system.
• Richard Lower (elected 1667): He was a physician. He made important discoveries about the heart and blood circulation.
• John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury (elected 1858): He was a banker, politician, and scientist. He studied insects and ancient human history.
• Mary Frances Lyon (elected 1973): She was a geneticist. She discovered X-chromosome inactivation, a key process in genetics.
• Charles Lyell (elected 1826): He was a geologist. He proposed that Earth's geological features were formed by slow processes over long periods.
• Raymond Arthur Lyttleton (elected 1955): He was a theoretical astronomer. He studied the formation of planets and stars.

Notable Foreign Members Starting with 'J'

• François Jacob (elected 1973): A French biologist who won the Nobel Prize in 1965. He studied how genes are controlled in cells.
• Karl Gustav Jacob Jacobi (elected 1833): A German mathematician. He made important contributions to many areas of mathematics.
• Pierre Jules César Janssen (elected 1875): A French astronomer. He was one of the discoverers of helium.
• Marie Ennemond Camille Jordan (elected 1919): A French mathematician. He worked on group theory and topology.
• Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (elected 1829): A French botanist. He developed a system for classifying plants.

Key Foreign Members Starting with 'K'

• Fotis Constantine Kafatos (elected 2003): A Greek biologist. He studied insect development and genetics.
• Eric Kandel (elected 2013): An American neuroscientist. He won the Nobel Prize for his work on memory and learning.
• Theodore von Kármán (elected 1946): A Hungarian-born American engineer. He was a leader in aeronautics and space science.
• Martin Karplus (elected 2000): An Austrian-born American chemist. He won the Nobel Prize for developing computer models for chemical reactions.
• Ephraim Katchalski-Katzir (elected 1977): An Israeli chemist and the fourth President of Israel.
• August Kekulé (elected 1875): A German chemist. He discovered the structure of benzene.
• Har Gobind Khorana (elected 1978): An Indian-American biochemist. He won the Nobel Prize for his work on genetic code.
• Motoo Kimura (elected 1993): A Japanese geneticist. He developed the neutral theory of molecular evolution.
• Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (elected 1875): A German physicist. He made important discoveries in electricity and spectroscopy.
• Klaus von Klitzing (elected 2003): A German physicist. He won the Nobel Prize for discovering the quantum Hall effect.
• Andrew Herbert Knoll (elected 2015): An American professor of natural history. He studies early life on Earth.
• Donald Ervin Knuth (elected 2003): An American computer scientist. He is known for his important books on computer programming.
• Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch (elected 1897): A German doctor. He is famous for identifying the bacteria that cause diseases like tuberculosis.
• Walter Kohn (elected 1998): An Austrian-born American chemist. He won the Nobel Prize for his work on density functional theory.
• Arthur Kornberg (elected 1970): An American chemist. He won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering how DNA is made.
• Roger Kornberg (elected 2009): An American biochemist. He won the Nobel Prize for his studies of how genes are copied to make proteins.
• Leopold Kronecker (elected 1884): A German mathematician. He made important contributions to algebra and number theory.

Leading Foreign Members Starting with 'L'

• Johann Lamont (elected 1852): A Scottish-German astronomer. He studied Earth's magnetism.
• Edwin Herbert Land (elected 1986): An American inventor. He invented Polaroid instant cameras.
• Lev Davydovitch Landau (elected 1960): An Azerbaijani-born Russian physicist. He won the Nobel Prize in 1962 for his theories on condensed matter.
• Karl Landsteiner (elected 1941): An Austrian-born American biologist. He won the Nobel Prize in 1930 for discovering human blood groups.
• Paul Langevin (elected 1928): A French physicist. He worked on magnetism and relativity.
• Irving Langmuir (elected 1935): An American chemist and physicist. He won the Nobel Prize for his work on surface chemistry.
• Max Theodor Felix von Laue (elected 1949): A German physicist. He won the Nobel Prize for discovering X-ray diffraction by crystals.
• Henri Léon Lebesgue (elected 1934): A French mathematician. He made important contributions to the theory of integration.
• Joshua Lederberg (elected 1979): An American scientist. He won the Nobel Prize in 1958 for his work on bacterial genetics.
• Inge Lehmann (elected 1969): A Danish seismologist. She discovered that Earth has a solid inner core.
• Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn (elected 1993): A French chemist. He won the Nobel Prize for his work on supramolecular chemistry.
• Luis Federico Leloir (elected 1972): An Argentine biochemist. He won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of sugar nucleotides.
• Jean Leray (elected 1983): A French mathematician. He worked on partial differential equations and topology.
• Rita Levi-Montalcini (elected 1995): An Italian-born American scientist. She won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1986 for discovering nerve growth factor.
• Gilbert Newton Lewis (elected 1940): An American physical chemist. He is known for his work on chemical bonding.
• Justus Liebig (elected 1840): A German chemist. He made major contributions to agricultural and organic chemistry.
• Evgenii Mikhailovich Lifshitz (elected 1982): A Russian physicist and astronomer. He worked on theoretical physics.
• Joseph Liouville (elected 1850): A French mathematician. He worked on complex analysis and differential equations.
• Fritz Albert Lipmann (elected 1962): A German-born American physicist. He won the Nobel Prize in 1962 for his work on coenzyme A.
• Gabriel Jonas Lippmann (elected 1896): A Luxembourg-born French physicist. He won the Nobel Prize in 1908 for his method of reproducing colors photographically.
• Otto Loewi (elected 1954): A German-born American biochemist and pharmacologist. He won the Nobel Prize in 1936 for discovering how nerves communicate.
• Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (elected 1905): A Dutch physicist. He won the Nobel Prize for his work on the influence of magnetism on radiation.
• Konrad Zacharias Lorenz (elected 1964): An Austrian zoologist. He won the Nobel Prize for his studies of animal behavior.
• Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig (elected 1875): A German physiologist. He made important discoveries about blood pressure and kidney function.
• André Michel Lwoff (elected 1958): A French scientist. He won the Nobel Prize in 1965 for his work on viruses.
• Feodor Lynen (elected 1975): A German biochemist. He won the Nobel Prize for his discoveries about cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism.