There are roughly 104 Universities in the UK. The two smaller universities that I knew well had about 100 scientists each (including published doctoral students here), but Oxford and Cambridge are huge. Got to be over ~ 10000 scientists just in Universities, never mind all the colleges and university wannabes.
Public sector and other non-University scientists: no idea. Plenty of people working for Glaxo, Pfizer etc.
So 1700 guys sign up - it’s just sad. You have to assume everybody in East Anglia who knew the first four figures of pi had to sign this cr*p.
I know Pi to 30 digits. Do I get 7 1/2 votes?