Membership of the National Academy of Sciences is an award granted to scientists that the National Academy of Sciences of the United States judges to have made “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research”. Membership is a mark of excellence in science and one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.
Richard Feynman resigned his NAS membership because of what he perceived as the Academy's elitism and in-group favoritism. Feynman outlines the reasons for his resignation in his published correspondence Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track.
In 1989, the academy had just 57 female members and 1,516 male members
In 2010, there were 14 newly elected women from 72 new members
In 2011, there were only 9 women from 72 newly elected members.
In 2012, the Academy elected 84 new members, with a record high of 26 women
In 2019, 50 women out of 125 new members were female, another record high although the proportion of women in the academy as a whole is much lower than 40%
New members and foreign associates have been elected annually since 1863. Membership can not be applied for as only voting academicians can submit formal nominations for newly elected members, for preferential voting in an annual ballot of members every March. Candidates for membership are considered by peer review and voted for again through several rounds of balloting and a final annual ballot in April at the annual general meeting of the academy with results announced shortly after, usually early May. Each nomination includes a curriculum vitae with a 250 word summary of the nominee's scientific archievements, the basis for election and a list of no more than 12 of their most important papers published in scientific journals. The publication limit of 12 aims to focus assessment on the quality of a nominee's work, rather than the quantity of publications. , a maximum of 100 members may be elected annually. Non-citizens of the USA are elected as foreign associates, with a maximum of 25 elected annually. Both members and foreign associates are affiliated with one of six scientific disciplines:
On election, members are invited to an annual awards ceremony.
Member biographies
Since 1966, newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences have been invited to contribute an inaugural year article to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America which is accompanied by a brief biography of the author. Biographies of deceased members are published in the Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, for example see David Arnett's biography of Alastair G. W. Cameron.
Members gallery
A small sample of example members and their portraits is shown below, taken from the list of members of the National Academy of Sciences.
