LONDON: Planes, organ transplants and even scratch-and-sniff paper are among a remarkable set of predictions made in the 17th century by one of Britain's forefathers of science, it has been revealed.

Robert Boyle, a chemist, made the ''wish list'' in London in the 1660s as he helped found the Royal Society, now Britain's national academy of sciences.

Robert Boyle

The predictions, which include submarines, genetically modified crops and psychedelic drugs, were unveiled as the centrepiece of an exhibition celebrating the society's 350th anniversary.

The predictions are extraordinary because all but a few of the 24 have come true. They were written at a time dominated by magic and religious superstitions and before the word ''science'' was even coined.