Which prestigious position did Faraday twice decline?

Michael Faraday twice declined the position of President of the Royal Society.

The Royal Society was—and remains—Britain’s leading learned society for the sciences, so its presidency was one of the country’s most prestigious scientific positions. Faraday had been elected a Fellow of the Society in 1824, yet he twice refused the opportunity to become its president.

His decision is sometimes confused with his refusal of a knighthood, which was a separate honour that he also turned down. The Nobel Prize is another tempting but impossible option: the prizes were first awarded in 1901, decades after Faraday’s death in 1867.

Faraday did accept important scientific responsibilities. In 1833 he became the first Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, a lifetime appointment. He also continued public lecturing and research, including work on electromagnetism, electrochemistry, gases and optical glass.