National Academy of Sciences

National Academy of Sciences
Name	National Academy of Sciences
Formation	1863
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Type	Learned society
Purpose	Scientific advisory
Region served	United States

Contents

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, established in 1863 during the American Civil War and chartered by President Abraham Lincoln. It provides independent advice on matters of science, technology, and health to the United States Congress, the President of the United States, and other federal agencies, drawing on expertise from institutions such as Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins University.

History

The academy was created by an Act of Congress signed by Abraham Lincoln and influenced by contemporaries including Alexander Dallas Bache, Louis Agassiz, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Joseph Henry, and advisors from institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Naval Observatory. Early activities connected the academy with projects from the Transcontinental Railroad era, collaborations with Library of Congress, and advisory roles during crises like the Spanish–American War and the Influenza pandemic of 1918–1919. Throughout the 20th century the academy interacted with agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Defense, and researchers from Bell Labs, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory during periods spanning the Manhattan Project, the Cold War, and the Space Race. In recent decades the academy has responded to events such as the Hurricane Katrina recovery, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the COVID-19 pandemic, and policy debates involving the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol.

The academy operates alongside sister organizations such as the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine), and the National Research Council, with governance mechanisms influenced by precedents at Royal Society, Académie des Sciences, and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Its governing council includes officers and committees comparable to boards at American Association for the Advancement of Science, with oversight responsibilities that echo structures at Carnegie Institution for Science and Rockefeller University. Funding and administrative relationships connect the academy to congressional appropriations, private foundations such as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Gates Foundation, and corporate partners historically similar to engagements with General Electric and IBM.

Membership comprises elected scientists, engineers, and medical researchers nominated by current members, akin to selection processes used by Royal Society and Académie des Sciences; notable election cycles have included scholars from Princeton University, Yale University, Caltech, University of Chicago, and Columbia University. Elections recognize contributions in fields represented by members affiliated with institutions such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Broad Institute, CERN, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and European Molecular Biology Laboratory. The academy confers distinctions that interact with awards like the Nobel Prize, the Lasker Award, the National Medal of Science, and honors previously associated with bodies such as the MacArthur Foundation. Membership categories and foreign associate designations mirror practices at American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Academy of Engineering.

The academy conducts studies, consensus reports, and ad hoc committees addressing issues from climate change to biomedical research, often coordinating with institutions like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Programs include consensus studies similar to those commissioned by the National Science Foundation, conferences modeled after symposia at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and workshops akin to meetings at American Geophysical Union and Society for Neuroscience. Educational and outreach efforts engage universities such as University of Michigan and museums like the National Museum of Natural History, while international collaborations involve partners such as the Royal Society and the European Commission.

The academy issues authoritative reports and publications comparable in influence to white papers from National Research Council committees, major reviews used by Congressional Research Service, and consensus statements that inform policy debates on topics including genomics, energy, and public health. Well-known reports have affected legislation, litigation, and program design in settings related to Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, Food and Drug Administration, and international protocols like the Montreal Protocol. Its publishing activities resemble those of Science Magazine publishers and draw reviewers from journals such as Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and The Lancet.

Over its history the academy has included luminaries affiliated with Thomas Edison-era enterprises, innovators like Alexander Graham Bell, physicists associated with Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi, biologists linked to James Watson and Francis Crick, and medical leaders comparable to William Osler and Florence Nightingale in stature; its roster overlaps with laureates of the Nobel Prize, recipients of the National Medal of Science, and leaders from National Institutes of Health and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Presidents, secretaries, and chairs have come from institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, San Francisco, and Princeton University, interacting with policymakers including senators and cabinet officials during administrations marked by leaders like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Category:Scientific organizations based in the United States