Years President Profession 1662 -- 1677 The Viscount Brouncker Mathematician 1677 -- 1680 Sir Joseph Williamson Civil servant and politician 1680 -- 1682 Sir Christopher Wren Architect, astronomer and physicist 1682 -- 1683 Sir John Hoskyns, Bt Lawyer 1683 -- 1684 Cyril Wyche Lawyer and politician 1684 -- 1686 Samuel Pepys Naval administrator and Member of Parliament 1686 -- 1689 The Earl of Carbery Politician 1689 -- 1690 The Earl of Pembroke Politician 1690 -- 1695 Sir Robert Southwell Diplomat 1695 -- 1698 Charles Montagu Poet and statesman 1698 -- 1703 The Lord Somers Jurist and statesman 1703 -- 1727 Sir Isaac Newton Physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian 1727 -- 1741 Sir Hans Sloane, Bt Physician and collector 1741 -- 1752 Martin Folkes Antiquarian 1752 -- 1764 The Earl of Macclesfield Astronomer 1764 -- 1768 The Earl of Morton Astronomer and representative peer 1768 - 1768 James Burrow Legal reporter 1768 -- 1772 James West Politician and antiquarian 1772 - 1772 James Burrow Legal reporter 1772 -- 1778 Sir John Pringle Physician 1778 -- 1820 Sir Joseph Banks Naturalist and botanist 1820 - 1820 William Hyde Wollaston Chemist 1820 -- 1827 Sir Humphry Davy, Bt Chemist and inventor 1827 -- 1830 Davies Gilbert Engineer, author and politician 1830 -- 1838 HRH The Duke of Sussex Sixth son of George III of the United Kingdom 1838 -- 1848 The Marquess of Northampton Nobleman 1848 -- 1854 The Earl of Rosse Astronomer 1854 -- 1858 The Lord Wrottesley Astronomer 1858 -- 1861 Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bt Physiologist and surgeon 1861 -- 1871 Sir Edward Sabine Astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist and explorer 1871 -- 1873 Sir George Biddell Airy Mathematician and astronomer 1873 -- 1878 Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker Botanist and explorer 1878 -- 1883 William H. Spottiswoode Mathematician and physicist 1883 -- 1885 Thomas Henry Huxley Biologist 1885 -- 1890 Sir George Stokes Mathematician and physicist 1890 -- 1895 Sir William Thomson Mathematical physicist 1895 -- 1900 The Lord Lister Surgeon 1900 -- 1905 Sir William Huggins Astronomer 1905 -- 1908 The Lord Rayleigh Physicist 1908 -- 1913 Sir Archibald Geikie Geologist and writer 1913 -- 1915 Sir William Crookes Chemist and physicist 1915 -- 1920 Sir Joseph John Thomson Physicist 1920 -- 1925 Sir Charles Scott Sherrington Neurophysiologist, histologist, bacteriologist, and pathologist 1925 -- 1930 The Lord Rutherford of Nelson Physicist and chemist 1930 -- 1935 Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins Biophysicist 1935 -- 1940 Sir William Henry Bragg Physicist, chemist and mathematician 1940 -- 1945 Sir Henry Hallett Dale Pharmacologist and physiologist 1945 -- 1950 Sir Robert Robinson Organic chemist 1950 -- 1955 The Lord Adrian Electrophysiologist 1955 -- 1960 Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood Physical chemist 1960 -- 1965 Sir Howard Florey Pharmacologist and pathologist 1965 -- 1970 The Lord Patrick Blackett Physicist 1970 -- 1975 Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin Physiologist and Biophysicist 1975 -- 1980 The Lord Todd Biochemist 1980 -- 1985 Sir Andrew Huxley Physiologist and biophysicist 1985 -- 1990 Sir George Porter Chemist 1990 -- 1995 Sir Michael Atiyah Mathematician 1995 -- 2000 Sir Aaron Klug Chemist and biophysicist 2000 -- 2005 Sir Robert May Mathematical Biologist 2005 -- 2010 The Lord Rees of Ludlow Cosmologist and astrophysicist 2010 -- 2015 Sir Paul Nurse Geneticist and cell biologist 2015 -- present Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan Biophysicist
who is the current president of the royal society
Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan