The National Academy of Sciences; The First Hundred Years, 1863-1963
Washington, D.C. National Academy of Sciences, 1978. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. xv, [1], 694 pages. Includes Foreword, Table of Contents, a Name Index, and a Subject Index. Contains black and white illustrations. Includes The Academy's Antecedents; Scientists and Scientific Organizations in Mid-Century America; The Incorporation and Organization of the Academy; The Government Calls Upon the Academy; Postbellum Years & the Crisis Within the Academy; The End of the Nineteenth Century; The Academy Marks Its Semicentennial; World War I & the Creation of the National Research Council; The Research Council's Permanent Status & the Academy's New Home; The Twenties: New Horizons in Science; The Academy During the Great Depression; The New Deal and the Science Advisory Board; The Academy in World War II; The Postwar Organization of Science; The Years between the Wars; The Academy in the Fifties--Beginnings of the Space Age; Academy Centennial. Also contains nine appendixes, with information on Act of Incorporation: Minutes of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences at the Meeting Held for Organization, 1863; Constitution and By-Laws of the National Academy of Sciences, Adopted 1864; Members and Foreign Associates of the National Academy of Sciences, 1863-1963; Officers and Members of the Council of the National Academy of Sciences, 1863-1963; Executive Orders Defining the Duties and Functions of the National Research Council; Chairmen of the National Research Council; Officers of the National Academy of Sciences & the National Research Council; and Executive Orders Relating to the Science Advisory Board. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Election to the National Academy is one of the highest honors in the scientific field. Members of the National Academy of Sciences serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation" on science, engineering, and medicine. The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code.
Founded in 1863 as a result of an Act of Congress that was approved by Abraham Lincoln, the NAS is charged with "providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. … to provide scientific advice to the government 'whenever called upon' by any government department." The Academy receives no compensation from the government for its services.
As of 2016, the National Academy of Sciences includes about 2,350 NAS members and 450 foreign associates. It employed about 1,100 staff in 2005. The current members annually elect new members for life. Up to 84 members who are US citizens are elected every year; up to 21 foreign citizens may be elected as foreign associates annually. Approximately 190 members have won a Nobel Prize. By its own admission in 1989, the addition of women to the Academy "continues at a dismal trickle", at which time there were 1,516 male members and 57 female members.
The National Academy of Sciences is a member of the International Council for Science (ICSU). The ICSU Advisory Committee, which is in the Research Council's Office of International Affairs, facilitates the participation of members in international scientific unions and serves as a liaison for U.S. national committees for individual scientific unions. Although there is no formal relationship with state and local academies of science, there often is informal dialogue. The National Academy is governed by a 17-member Council, made up of five officers (president, vice president, home secretary, foreign secretary, and treasurer) and 12 Councilors, all of whom are elected from among the Academy membership. Agencies of the United States government fund about 85 percent of the Academy's activities. Further funding comes from state governments, private foundations, and industrial organizations.
The Council has the ability ad-hoc to delegate certain tasks to committees. For example, the Committee on Animal Nutrition has produced a series of Nutrient requirements of domestic animals reports since at least 1944, each one being initiated by a different subcommittee of experts in the field for example on dairy cattle.
The National Academy of Sciences meets annually in Washington, D.C., which is documented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, its scholarly journal. The National Academies Press is the publisher for the National Academies, and makes more than 5,000 publications freely available on its website. Condition: Good.
Keywords: National Academy of Sciences, Joseph Henry, William Henry Welch, Frank Jewett, Frederick Seitz, National Research Council, Science Advisory Board
ISBN: 0309025184
[Book #80178]
Price: $55.00