American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Institutional History

Abstract

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers in the United States. Its publications include the journal Daedalus; a magazine, the Bulletin; and books, research papers, and other special reports. The Academy also sponsors two fellowship programs: the Visiting Scholars Program and the Hellman Fellowship in Science and Technology Policy.

Past Presidents

1791-1814, J. Adams

1814-1820, E. Holyoke

1820-1829, J. Q. Adams

1829-1838, N. Bowditch

1838-1839, J. Jackson

1839-1846, J. Pickering

1846-1863, J. Bigelow

1863-1873, A. Gray

1873-1880, C. Adams

1880-1892, J. Lovering

1892-1894, J. Cooke

1894-1903, A. Agassiz

1903-1908, W. Goodwin

1908-1915, J. Trowbridge

1915-1917, H. Walcott

1917-1919, C. Bowditch

1919-1921, T. Richards

1921-1924, G. Moore

1924-1927, T. Lyman

1927-1931, E. Wilson

1931-1933, J. Ford

1933-1935, G. Parker

1935-1937, R. Pound

1937-1939, D. Jackson

1939-1944, H. Shapley

1944-1951, H. Jones

1951-1954, E. Land

1954-1957, J. Burchard

1957-1961, K. Mather

1961-1964, H. Hoagland

1964-1967, P. Freund

1967-1971, T. Parsons

1971-1976, H. Brooks

1976-1979, V. Weisskopf

1979-1982, M. Katz

1982-1986, H. Feshbach

1986-1989, E. Levi

1989-1994, L. Beranek

1994-1997, J. Pelikan

1997-2000, D. Tosteson

2000-2001, J. Freedman

2001-2006, P. Spacks

2006-2009, E. Bizzi

2010-2013, L. Berlowitz

2014-present, J. Fanton

Important Dates

May 4, 1780Massachusetts legislature establishes the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge (Mass.).

1785"Memoirs " debuts.

1839Rumford Prize established.

1846"Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences" debuts.

1940Amory Prize established.

1948"Bulletin" debuts.

1955"Daedalus" debuts as a replacement for the "Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.".

1958First Emerson-Thoreau Medal is awarded.

1974Talcott Parsons Prize established.

1975Award for Humanistic Studies established.

1981The Academy's first permanent home, the House of the Academy, was constructed at 136 Irving Street, Cambridge (Mass.).

2000Scholar-Patriot Award established.

2005Founders Award established.

2008Poetry Prize in Honor of May Sarton established.

2011The American Academy of Arts and Sciences created the Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Places

Formation

Cambridge (Mass.)

Headquarters

Cambridge (Mass.)

Subjects

Public policy.

Science -- Periodicals.

Science -- Societies, etc.

Relationships

People

Employees & Officers

Adams, Charles Francis, 1835-1915

President.

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848

President.

Adams, John, 1735-1826

President.

Agassiz, Alexander, 1835-1910

President.

Beranek, Leo L. (Leo Leroy), 1914-2016

President.

Berlowitz, Leslie

President.

Bigelow, Jacob, 1786-1879

President.

Bizzi, Emilio

President.

Bowditch, Charles P. (Charles Pickering), 1842-1921

President.

Bowditch, Nathaniel

President.

Brooks, Harvey

President.

Burchard, John E. (John Ely)

President.

Cooke, Josiah P., Jr. (Josiah Parsons), 1827-1894

President.

Fanton, Jonathan F., 1943-

President.

Feshbach, Herman

Vice President Class I and President.

Ford, J. D. M. (Jeremiah Denis Matthias), 1873-1958

President.

Freedman, James O.

President.

Freund, Paul A. (Paul Abraham), 1908-1992

President.

Goodwin, William Watson, 1831-1912

President.

Gray, Asa, 1810-1888

President.

Hoagland, Hudson

President.

Holdren, John P.

Kistiakowsky Visiting Scholar; Vice Chair, Energy and Resources Group.

Holyoke, Edward Augustus, 1728-1829

President.

Jackson, Dugald C. (Dugald Caleb), 1865-1951

President.

Jackson, James, 1777-1867

President.

Jones, Howard Mumford, 1892-1980

President.

Katz, M. S. (Milton S.), 1926-

President.

Land, Edwin Herbert, 1909-1991

President.

Levi, Edward

President.

Lovering, Joseph, 1813-1892

President.

Lyman, Theodore, 1874-1954

President.

Martin, Paul Cecil, 1931-

Chair, Physics Section.

Mather, Kirtley F. (Kirtley Fletcher), 1888-1978

President.

Moore, George Foot, 1851-1931

President.

Parker, George Howard, 1864-1955

President.

Parsons, Talcott, 1902-1979

President.

Pelikan, Jaroslav, 1923-2006

President.

Pickering, John, 1777-1846

President.

Pines, David, 1924-2018

Chair, Physics Section.

Pound, Roscoe, 1870-1964

President.

Richards, Theodore W. (Theodore William), 1868-1928

President.

Richmond, Geraldine (Geraldine L.), 1953-

Fellow; Assistant Secretary for the Sciences; and Chair, Membership Committee, Chemistry Section.

Shapley, Harlow, 1885-1972

President.

Spacks, Patricia Meyer

President.

Tosteson, D. C., 1925-2009

President.

Trowbridge, John, 1843-1923

President.

Walcott, Henry Pickering

President.

Weisskopf, Victor Frederick, 1908-2002

President.

Wilson, Edwin Bidwell, 1879-1964

President.

Associates & Members

Acrivos, A.

Adams, Roger, 1889-1971

Adelberger, Eric G.

Adler, Stephen L.

Ahlers, G. (Günter)

Alder, B. J.

Alivisatos, P.

Al'tshuler, B. L.

Alvarez, Luis W., 1911-1988

Anderson, Carl D. (Carl David), 1905-1991

Fellow.

Anderson, P. W. (Philip W.), 1923-

Awschalom, D. (David)

Balluffi, R. W.

Barish, B. C. (Barry Clark), 1936-

Bean, Charles P., 1923-1996

Beasley, Malcolm

Benedek, George Bernard, 1928-

Fellow.

Bennett, Charles L. (Charles Leonard), 1956-

Berkner, Lloyd V. (Lloyd Viel), 1905-1967

Bird, R. Byron (Robert Byron), 1924-

Felow.

Bitter, Francis, 1902-1967

Blake, Francis, 1850-1913

Bleakney, Walker, 1901-1992

Blume, Martin, 1932-

Bode, Hendrik W. (Hendrik Wade), 1905-1982

Fellow.

Brattain, Walter H. (Walter Houser), 1902-1987

Brenner, Howard

Bridgman, P. W. (Percy Williams), 1882-1961

1917 Rumford Prize recipient.

Brode, Robert B. (Robert Bigham), 1900-1986

Brown, G. E. (Gerald Edward), 1926-

Brueckner, Keith A.

Bucksbaum, Philip H.

Cahn, John W., 1928-

Carmichael, Leonard, 1898-1973

Ceperley, David

Chaikin, Paul M.

Fellow.

Chalmers, Bruce

Chan, Moses Hung-Wai

Charney, Jule G.

Fellow.

Chaudhari, Praveen, 1937-

Chew, Geoffrey F.

Chu, Ching-wu, 1941-

Clemence, Gerald M. (Gerald Maurice), 1908-

Coleman, Sidney, 1937-2007

Commins, Eugene D.

Compton, Arthur Holly, 1892-1962

Conwell, Esther M. (Esther Marley), 1922-2014

Cooper, Leon N. (Leon Neil), 1930-

Coppersmith, Susan Nan

Coppi, B.

Cronin, James W., 1931-2016

Crutzen, Paul J., 1933-

Foreign Honorary Member.

Darrow, Karl K. (Karl Kelchner), 1891-

Deser, S. (Stanley)

Dynes, Robert C.

Eastman, Dean E. (Dean Eric)

Fellow.

Elsasser, Walter M., 1904-

Emery, V. J. (Victor J.)

Fellow.

Ertl, G. (Gerhard)

Fano, Ugo

Fellow.

Feher, George, 1924-

Feigenbaum, Mitchell, 1944-2019

Feld, Bernard Taub, 1919-

Fleury, Paul A.

Friedman, Herbert, 1916-2000

Fellow.

Gates, S. James

Fellow.

Gehrels, Neil

Fellow.

Geller, Margaret J.

Gell-Mann, Murray

Fellow.

Georgi, Howard

Gibbons, John H., 1929-2015

Glashow, Sheldon L.

Gold, Thomas

Goldberger, Marvin L.

Goldenfeld, Nigel

Fellow.

Goldman, Allen M.

Fellow.

Goldstone, Jeff Alan

Greene, Laura H.

Fellow.

Gross, David J. (David Jonathan)

Fellow.

Gutzwiller, M. C. (Martin C.)

Fellow.

Haeberli, W. (Willy)

Fellow.

Haldane, F. Duncan M.

Halperin, Bertrand I.

Haxton, Wick C.

Fellow.

Herring, William Conyers, 1914-

Herzberg, Gerhard, 1904-1999

Foreign Honorary Member.

Herzfeld, Karl F. (Karl Ferdinand), 1892-

Fellow.

Hirth, John Price, 1930-

Fellow.

Hohenberg, Pierre C.

Fellow.

Hooft, G. 't

Foreign Honorary Member.

Hopfield, John J.

Jackson, John David, 1925-2016

Javan, Ali, 1926-

Jin, Deborah S.

Fellow.

Joseph, Daniel D.

Fellow.

Josephson, B. D. (Brian David), 1940-

Honorary Member.

Kapitsa, P. L. (Petr Leonidovich), 1894-1984

Kemble, Edwin C. (Edwin Crawford), 1889-

Ketterle, Wolfgang

Fellow.

Kohn, Walter, 1923-2016

Fellow.

Laughlin, Robert B.

Fellow.

Lee, T. D., 1926-

Lee, Yuan Tseh, 1936-

Fellow.

Libchaber, Albert J.

Lin, C. C. (Chia-Chʻiao), 1916-2013

Lust, Reimar, 1923-

Mandelbrot, Benoît B.

Fellow.

Marshak, Robert E. (Robert Eugene), 1916-1992

Matthias, Bernd T., 1918-1980

Maxworthy, T. (Tony)

Fellow.

McMillan, Edwin M. (Edwin Mattison), 1907-

McMillan, William L.

Mitchell, Maria, 1818-1889

Morse, Philip M. (Philip McCord), 1903-1985

Murnane, Margaret

Néel, Louis, 1904-

Foreign Member.

Nelson, Ann E. (Ann Elizabeth)

Page, Lyman A.

Patel, C. Kumar N.

Peirce, Benjamin, 1809-1880

Perlmutter, Saul

Phillips, Julia M.

Pinczuk, Aron

Piore, Emanuel Ruben, 1908-2000

Poinsett, Joel Roberts

Polanyi, J. C., 1929-

Polchinski, Joseph Gerard

Fellow.

Prigogine, I. (Ilya)

Honorary Foreign Member.

Prokhorov, A. M. (Aleksandr Mikhaĭlovich), 1916-2002

Foreign Member.

Quinn, Helen R.

Fellow.

Rabi, I. I. (Isidor Isaac), 1898-1988

Ramsey, Norman, 1915-2011

Randall, Lisa

Fellow.

Reines, Frederick, 1918-1998

Fellow.

Richards, Paul L. (Paul Linford)

Richardson, Robert C. (Robert Coleman), 1937-2013

Fellow.

Richter, Burton, 1931-2018

Fellow.

Richtmyer, F. K. (Floyd Karker), 1881-1939

Rieser, Leonard M.

Riess, Adam, 1969-

Fellow.

Rivlin, John

Fellow.

Robertson, R. G. Hamish, 1943-

Fellow.

Rosner, Robert

Fellow.

Rotblat, Joseph, 1908-2005

Honorary Foreign Member.

Rumford, Benjamin, Graf von, 1753-1814

Ryle, Martin, 1918-1984

Foreign Member.

Sachs, Robert Green, 1916-

Scalapino, Douglas J.

Fellow.

Schawlow, Arthur L., 1921-1999

Schiffer, John P.

Fellow.

Schowalter, William Raymond, 1929-

Fellow.

Seiberg, Nathan

Fellow.

Serber, R. (Robert)

Shirane, G.

Fellow.

Shochet, Melvyn J.

Fellow.

Simpson, Joanne

Fellow.

Slichter, Charles P.

Smalley, Richard E.

Fellow.

Smyth, Henry De Wolf, 1898-1986

Strominger, Andrew Eben

Fellow.

Swinney, H. L., 1939-

Fellow.

Tank, David William, 1953-

Teller, Edward, 1908-2003

Thorne, Kip S.

Townes, Charles H.

Trilling, George H.

Vafa, Cumrun

Fellow.

Van der Meer, Simon, 1925-2011

Foreign Honorary Member.

Van Harlingen, Dale J.

Van Vleck, J. H. (John Hasbrouck), 1899-1980

Von Bekesy, Georg, 1899-1972

Fellow.

Wald, Robert M.

Fellow.

Warner, John, -1873

Washington, Warren M.

Fellow.

Webster, David Locke, 1888-1976

Weinberg, Steven, 1933-

Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911-2008

Wieman, C. E. (Carl Edwin)

Fellow.

Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-1995

Wilczek, Frank

Will, Clifford M., 1946-

Fellow.

Williams, Ellen D.

Fellow.

Wilson, Robert R., 1914-2000

Wilson, Robert Woodrow, 1936-

Winstein, Bruce

Fellow.

Witten, E.

Fellow.

Woosley, Stanford E.

Fellow.

Yalow, Rosalyn S. (Rosalyn Sussman), 1921-2011

Fellow.

Zewail, Ahmed H.

Fellow.

Zimm, Bruno Hasbrouck, 1920-2005

Fellow.

Institutions

Collaborators

American Institute of Physics

Partners in The Nuclear Physics Project.

Harvard University. Mahindra Humanities Center

Mahindra Humanities Center provides library privileges to Visiting Scholars Program fellows.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority

Co-hosts "Applying Behavioral Strategies to Energy Decisions and Behaviors" Conference.

Associates

American Philosophical Society

Joint meetings.

Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences

Commission created by members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

National Humanities Center (U.S.)

The National Humanities Center was planned under the auspices of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Exploring the history of nuclear physics [sound recording] : the role of theory in the development of nuclear physics; Joint Conference of the American Institute of Physics and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1969 May 18, 19.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

Benjamin Peirce papers, 1835-1880.

Houghton Library

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Bernard Feld papers, 1943-1990.

Institute Archives and Special Collections

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

M.I.T. Libraries, Rm. 14N-118, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Bruce Chalmers papers, 1953-1966.

Archives. Pusey Library

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Edwin C. Kemble papers [microform], 1919-1937.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Emanuel Ruben Piore papers, circa 1918-1986.

Library

American Philosophical Society

105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

Francis Bitter papers, 1925-1967.

Institute Archives and Special Collections

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

M.I.T. Libraries, Rm. 14N-118, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Francis Blake papers, 1866-1913.

Massachusetts Historical Society

1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Gerhard Ertl papers, 1961-2004.

Archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Boltzmannstrasse 14, D-14195 Berlin-Dahlem, Germany

Harvey Brooks papers, 1930s-2001.

Archives. Pusey Library

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Joel R. Poinsett papers, 1806-1847.

South Carolina Historical Society

Charleston, SC 29401, USA

John Warner letters and papers, 1850-1864.

Library

American Philosophical Society

105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

Leonard Carmichael papers, circa 1917-1973.

Library

American Philosophical Society

105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

Maria Mitchell papers, 1853-2007 (bulk 1853-1889).

Libraries. Archives and Special Collections

Vassar College

Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, USA

Nuclear Physics Project records, 1965-1971.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Nuclear Physics Project records, 1965-1971.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Harlow Shapley, 1966 June 8 and August 25.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Leo Beranek, 1989 September 30 and October 28.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Leo Beranek, 2009 August 10.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Phillip M. Morse autobiographical data, circa 1962.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Reimar Lüst papers additions, 1994-2005.

Archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Boltzmannstrasse 14, D-14195 Berlin-Dahlem, Germany

Robert Green Sachs papers, 1947-1999.

The Joseph Regenstein Library. Department of Special Collections

University of Chicago

1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Robert Marshak papers, 1947-1992.

Carol M. Newman Library. Special Collections Department.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

P. O. Box 90001, Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001, USA

Roger Adams papers, 1900-1971.

University Archives

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1408 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Smithsonian Institution Office of the Secretary records of Charles D. Walcott, 1907-1924.

Archives

Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institution

Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507, 600 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20024-2520, USA

Thomas Gold papers, 1944-2004.

Royal Society

6 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG, England UK

Victor Weisskopf papers, 1922-2002.

Institute Archives and Special Collections

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

M.I.T. Libraries, Rm. 14N-118, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Published Resources

Author

ATBMs and Western security : missile defenses for Europe / edited by Donald L. Hafner and John Roper.

Crisis stability and nuclear war / by Desmond Ball ... [et al.].

Daedalus : proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Exploring the history of nuclear physics; proceedings of the American Institute of Physics-American Academy of Arts and Sciences Conferences on the History of Nuclear Physics, 1967 and 1969. Edited by Charles Weiner, assisted by Elspeth Hart.

Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Niels Bohr, physics and the world : proceedings of the Niels Bohr Centennial Symposium, Boston, MA, USA, November 12-14, 1985, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts / edited by Herman Feshbach, Tetsuo Matsui, Alexandra Oleson.

Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Proceedings of the Conference on the History of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Rumfordiana, 1775-[ongoing].

Science and the educated American : a core component of liberal education / edited by Jerrold Meinwald and John G. Hildebrand.

The future of the sea-based deterrent. Kosta Tsipis, Anne H. Cahn [and] Bernard T. Feld, editors.

The public good : knowledge as the foundation for a democratic society.

The Pursuit of knowledge in the early American Republic : American scientific and learned societies from colonial times to the Civil War / edited by Alexandra Oleson and Sanborn C. Brown.

The technique of high pressure experimenting / by P.W. Bridgman.

The Tritium factor : tritium's impact on nuclear arms reductions : a workshop co-sponsored by Nuclear Control Institute and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, December 1988.

Subject

The mechanism of speech : lectures delivered before the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, to which is appended a paper, Vowel theories, read before the National Academy of Arts and Sciences ; illustrated with charts and diagrams / by Alexander Graham Bell.