The man in the middle — protected by one regime, purged by the next, founded the institution anyway
This is Jonathan Hare's account, with its provenance shown. The person or organization named has not yet claimed or corrected it.
Natural philosopher, and Oliver Cromwell's brother-in-law by his marriage to Robina Cromwell in 1656. Appointed Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, where he convened the experimental club that became the nucleus of the Royal Society.
Stripped of his position at the Restoration, he moved to London with his colleagues, helped formalize the group, and became the Royal Society's first secretary.
Each entry below carries its own provenance — the source, and how it was processed. That is the condition on which this graph can be extended by anyone without degrading.
The trail exists so that people who were there can reconstruct their own memories, recognize what they helped incubate, and add to or correct the record — or forward the few pages that belong to someone they know.
Cromwell supplied the protection; Wilkins supplied the convening. He is the operator rather than the patron — the person who used a temporary political shelter to assemble a network of people who did not otherwise have a safe room to argue in, and then rebuilt it under an opposing regime when the shelter was removed.
The network survived the change of sponsor because it had never actually been the sponsor's. That is the property the Catalyst Network is designed for.
There is no single root. This is one view of the graph, from this node — what you see depends on where you enter and what you are looking for.
Temporary authority, used to incubate something meant to outlive it
Open →first secretaryAssembled under one regime, chartered by its successor, outlived both
Open →built the institution he would later runUnified the physical laws, then went and fixed the money
Open →Everything above is a distillation. The primary source is published in full, so that any claim on this page can be walked back to what was actually said — and where the two differ, the source governs.
This entry is deliberately incomplete. The gaps below are the things only certain people can settle — and settling one is a contribution like any other: recorded, timestamped and attributed to whoever made it.
Correct anything wrong, add what only you know, or claim this entry as your own. Write to evidence@qpncatalyst.io and Jonathan directly (both are on the button) — a timestamped confirmation comes back with your submission attached, as your own independent record. No account, no permission, no institutional standing required.
Public contributions earn Publicity Premium; bringing others who were there earns Cascade Premium. Everything is valued retrospectively as outcomes verify, so nothing has to be priced up front.
Correct this entry → Add a story, photo or link → Browse the graph →