United States National Academy of Sciences

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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

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 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).

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.

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.”

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.

Recent history

As of spring 2003, the National Academy of Sciences 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:

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. The Academy has had twenty-one presidents since its foundation. The current president is atmospheric chemist, Ralph J. Cicerone of the University of California, Irvine.

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

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.