Richard Waller, S.R.S.: ‘In the pursuit of nature`

There is no puzzle more tantalizing than the fragments of a forgotten A life. Richard Waller (1660?—1715), linguist, artist, and amateur scientist, offers multiple challenges. A member of the Royal Society from 1681 and its Secretary from 1687-1709, 1710-1714, under the presidencies of Samuel Pepys and Sir Isaac Newton, Waller was a man of considerable standing during an important era in the history of science. His associates included Robert Hooke, Edmond Halley, James Pettiver, and Sir Hans Sloane. He conducted correspondence with some of the leading scientific figures and personalities abroad, such as van Leeuwenhoek, Malpighi, and Cotton Mather. History, however, has turned Waller into a footnote in the biographies of his more illustrious, or notorious, contemporaries.