The American Philosophical Society was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin. The society honors distinguished scientists, social scientists, humanities scholars, artists, and societal leaders with membership in the society. More than 240 members of the APS have won Nobel prizes. Members have included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Frost, Thomas Edison, Sandra Day O’Connor, Charles Darwin, Toni Morrison, and Albert Einstein.
This year 35 new members were elected to the society. Of these, 27 are Americans and eight new members are from foreign countries. Of the 27 new American members, 10 are women. Jill Abramson, the executive editor of The New York Times was elected to membership. The other nine women selected have current ties to the academic world.
Andrea M. Ghez is the Lauren B. Leichtman and Arthur E. Levine Professor and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California at Los Angeles. Professor Ghez is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds a Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology.
Cornelia I. Bargmann is the Torsten N. Wiesel Professor and director of the Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior at Rockefeller University. Dr. Bargmann is a graduate of the University of Georgia and holds a Ph.D. from MIT.
Bonnie L. Bassler is the Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology at Princeton University. Dr. Bassler has been on the Princeton faculty since 1994. She is a graduate of the University of California at Davis and holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Mary-Claire King is professor of genome sciences and professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. King is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She earned a Ph.D. in genetics at the University of California at Berkeley.
Renee Claire Fox is the Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Dr. Fox earned a Ph.D. in sociology at Harvard University.
Alice Kessler-Harris is the R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of American History in Honor of Dwight D. Eisenhower at Columbia University. She is a graduate of Goucher College in Baltimore and holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University. Her most recent book is A Difficult Woman: The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman.
Marjorie Garber is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Yale University.
Rosalind Krauss is University Professor in the department of art history at Columbia University. Professor Krauss is a graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She earned a Ph.D. at Harvard University.
Marjorie Perloff is professor emerita of English at Stanford University and the Florence R. Scott Professor Emerita of English at the University of Southern California. Dr. Perloff is a magna cum laude graduate of Barnard College in New York City. She earned a Ph.D. at the Catholic University of American in Washington, D.C.