UNITED STATES NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921

The 'National Academy of Sciences (NAS)' is a corporation in the United States whose members serve ''pro bono'' as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine."

Overview

Origin

Recent history

Presidents of the National Academy of Sciences

List of presidents

Highlights

Joint declaration on global warming

Awards

Overview

Origin

National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, D.C.

The National Academies' Beckman Conference Center, Irvine, California

The Civil War caused a need for a national academy. The Act of Incorporation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1863, created the National Academy of Sciences and named 50 charter members. Many of these men were the former ''American Scientific Lazzaroni'' or just "Lazzaroni" as they called themselves.
In 1863 enlisting the support of Alexander Dallas Bache and Charles Henry Davis, a professional astronomer recently recalled from the Navy to Washington to head the Bureau of Navigation, Louis Agassiz and Benjamin Peirce planned the steps whereby the National Academy of Sciences was to be established. Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts was to name Agassiz to the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian.
On the pretext of desiring to discuss his new duties, Agassiz was to come to Washington at government expense to plan the organization with the others. So it was done, bypassing Joseph Henry, who had already made known his reluctance to have a bill for such an academy presented to Congress in the belief that such a resolution would be “opposed as something at variance with our democratic institutions.” Agassiz, Davis, Peirce, Benjamin Gould, and Senator Wilson met at Bache's house and ''hurriedly wrote the bill incorporating the Academy, including in it the name of fifty incorporators''.
During the last hours of the session, when the Senate was immersed in the rush of last minute business before its adjournment, Senator Wilson introduced the bill. Without examining it or debating its provisions, both the Senate and House approved it, and President Lincoln signed it'.[1]'
Although hailed as a great step forward in government recognition of the role of science in American civilization, the National Academy of Sciences at the time created enormous ill-feelings among scientists, whether or not they were named as incorporators. Later, Agassiz admitted that they had “started on the wrong track.”
'
★ [1]' The Lazzaroni: science and scientists in midnineteenth-century America. Miller, Lillian B. Q149.U5M55 509′.2′2 [B] 72-10737
The Act states
The National Academy did not solve the problems facing a nation in Civil War as the Lazzaroni had hoped, nor did it centralize American scientific efforts.
Many of the original NAS came from the so-called American 'Scientific Lazzaroni', an informal network of mostly physical scientists working in the vicinity of Cambridge, Massachusetts (circa 1850s)^[1].

Recent history

The National Academy of Sciences as of spring 2003 included about 1,922 members, 93 members emeritus, 341 foreign associates, and employed about 1,100 staff. The current members annually elect new members for life. Election to membership is one of the highest honors that can be accorded to a scientist and recognizes scientists who have made distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. There are more than 170 members who have won a Nobel Prize. The National Academy of Sciences is an institutional member of the International Council for Science (ICSU). The ICSU Advisory Committee, which is in the Research Council's Office of International Affairs, facilitates participation of members in international scientific unions and is a liaison for U.S. national committees for the individual scientific unions. Although there is no formal relationship with state and local academies of science, there often is informal dialogue.
The National Academy of Sciences has an annual meeting in Washington, D.C.. The ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' is the scholarly journal of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academies Press is the publisher for the National Academies, and makes 3600+ publications available for free reading on its website.
The National Academy of Sciences is part of the United States National Academies, which also includes:

★ National Academy of Engineering (NAE)

★ Institute of Medicine (IOM)

★ National Research Council (NRC)

Presidents of the National Academy of Sciences

The President is the elected head of the Academy. An Academy member is elected by a majority vote of the membership to serve in this position for a term to be determined by the governing Council, not to exceed six years, and may be re-elected for a second term. Since the Academy was created on March 3, 1863, 21 members have served as its President. The office is currently held by atmospheric chemist Ralph J. Cicerone of the University of California, Irvine.

List of presidents

# Alexander Dallas Bache (1863-1867)
# Joseph Henry (1868-1878)
# William Barton Rogers (1879-1882)
# Othniel Charles Marsh (1883-1895)
# Wolcott Gibbs (1895-1900)
# Alexander Agassiz (1901-1907)
# Ira Remsen (1907-1913)
# William Henry Welch (1913-1917)
# Charles Doolittle Walcott (1917-1923)
# Albert Abraham Michelson (1923-1927)
# Thomas Hunt Morgan (1927-1931)
# William Wallace Campbell (1931-1935)
# Frank Rattray Lillie (1935-1939)
# Frank Baldwin Jewett (1939-1947)
# Alfred Newton Richards (1947-1950)
# Detlev Wulf Bronk (1950-1962)
# Frederick Seitz (1962-1969)
# Philip Handler (1969-1981)
# Frank Press (1981-1993)
# Bruce Alberts (1993-2005)
# Ralph J. Cicerone (2005-)

Highlights

★ David Blackwell was the first African-American elected (1965).

★ Edward C. Pickering (1846-1919) was the youngest scientist elected.

Joint declaration on global warming

In 2005 the national science academies of the G8 nations (including the 'United States National Academy of Sciences') plus science academies of Brazil, China and India (three of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the developing world) signed a statement on the global response to climate change. The statement stresses that the scientific understanding of climate change had become sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action.^[2]^[3]

Awards

References

★ [1] The Lazzaroni: science and scientists in midnineteenth-century America. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Miller, Lillian B.

Notes

1. Founding of the National Academy of Sciences
2. Joint academies statement on climate change
3. Joint science academies’ statement: Global response to climate change (Adobe PDF File)

External links

★ ''National Academy of Sciences''

★ LC 21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress

★ The Library of Congress, Digital Collections and Programs

★ The Library of Congress, Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program

★ ''Native American Rights Fund grievances''

★ "Boxer And Feinstein Concerned About Impartiality Of National Academy Of Sciences Perchlorate Committee", 14 May 2004

★ Freeview Video Interview 2006 Sherwood Rowland, NL, discusses Climate Change. This and other programmes on members of the National Academy of Sciences can be found on the Vega Science Trust's website.

★ Criticism on the National Academy of Sciences over medical recommendations

★ National Academy of Sciences' Office of Exhibitions and Cultural Programs

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UNITED STATES NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Overview

Origin

Recent history

Presidents of the National Academy of Sciences

List of presidents

Highlights

Joint declaration on global warming

Awards

See also

References

Notes

External links

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