In 1964 Impalco decided to offer Fulmer for sale.
At that time Dr (later Sir) James Taylor, who was Chairman of Imperial Metal Industries (IMI), was also the Honorary Treasurer of the Institute of Physics and the Physical Society (IOP). He proposed that IOP should acquire Fulmer and thus become the first Learned Society to own a commercial research company. The Council of the IOP, in recommending the purchase of Fulmer to its membership, expressed the intention that, after providing for equipment needs, income from the investment in Fulmer was to be used to support the scientific and educational work of the IOP. The purchase was made possible by a grant from ICI, to be repaid over ten years from Fulmer profits. Thus, in 1965, IOP became the owner of Fulmer.