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Posted: May 2, 2008 Susan Solomon Elected To American Philosophical SocietyCIRES Fellow Susan Solomon is among 38 new members recently elected to the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States. The society, founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin, promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications, library resources and community outreach. The society today has 975 elected members, 809 resident members and 166 international members from more than two dozen foreign countries. Since 1900, more than 260 members have received the Nobel Prize. In addition to many professors from prestigious universities around the world, other new members announced April 26 include Mark Morris, founder and director of the Mark Morris Dance Group, whose West Coast home is Cal Performances; former U.S. Vice President Albert Gore Jr.; David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker; filmmaker Martin Scorsese; Google Vice President Vinton T. Cerf; and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens. The American Philosophical Society honors and engages leading scholars, scientists and professionals through elected membership and opportunities for multidisciplinary, intellectual fellowship. It supports research, discovery and education through grants and fellowships, lectures, publications, prizes and exhibitions, and serves scholars through a research library of manuscripts and other collections internationally recognized for their enduring historic value. Early members of the society included George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, James Madison and John Marshall. In the 19th century, John James Audubon, Robert Fulton, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison and Louis Pasteur became members. Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, and George Marshall were elected to the society in the 20th century. In 1789, at Benjamin Franklin's invitation, Russian Princess Ekaterina Dashkova became the first woman elected to the society, and it was another 80 years before another woman received membership. Dashkova was the first woman in the world to head a national academy of sciences - the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Russia. |
