Creation The American Association for the Advancement of Science was created on September 20, 1848, at the
Academy of Natural Sciences in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was a reformation of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists with the broadened mission to be the first permanent organization to promote science and engineering nationally and to represent the interests of American researchers from across all scientific fields The society chose
William Charles Redfield as their first president because he had proposed the most comprehensive plans for the organization. According to the first constitution which was agreed to at the September 20 meeting, the goal of the society was to promote scientific dialogue in order to allow for greater scientific collaboration. By doing so, the association aimed to use resources to conduct science with increased efficiency and allow for scientific progress at a greater rate. The association also sought to increase the resources available to the scientific community through active advocacy of science. There were only 78 members when the AAAS was formed. As a member of the new scientific body,
Matthew Fontaine Maury,
USN was one of those who attended the first 1848 meeting. At a meeting held on Friday afternoon, September 22, 1848, Redfield presided, and Matthew Fontaine Maury gave a full scientific report on his
Wind and Current Charts. Maury stated that hundreds of ship navigators were now sending abstract logs of their voyages to the
United States Naval Observatory. He added, "Never before was such a corps of observers known." This was scientific cooperation, and Maury went back to Washington with great hopes for the future. In 1850, the first female members were accepted:
astronomer Maria Mitchell and
entomologist Margaretta Morris. Science educator
Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps was elected in 1859.
Early growth and post-Civil War dormancy By 1860, membership increased to over 2,000. Although the AAAS became dormant during the
American Civil War (their August 1861 meeting in
Nashville, Tennessee, was postponed indefinitely after the outbreak of the first major engagement of the war at
Bull Run), the association recovered after the end of the hostilities. In 1866,
Frederick Barnard presided over the first meeting of the resurrected AAAS at a meeting in
New York City. Following the revival of the AAAS, the group had considerable growth. The AAAS permitted all people, regardless of scientific credentials, to join. The AAAS did, however, institute a policy of granting the title of "
Fellow of the AAAS" to well-respected scientists within the organization. At the same time, the recovered AAAS faced competition from several newly established
learned societies, such as
National Academy of Sciences (founded in 1863), the
American Chemical Society (1876),
Archaeological Institute of America (1879),
Modern Language Association (1883),
American Historical Association (1884),
Geological Society of America (1888),
National Geographic Society (1888),
American Physical Society (1899), which drew away some of AAAS members. Also, the reputation of the AAAS was somewhat tarnished, because its 3rd president
Alexander Dallas Bache used the Society as a lobbying tool for his agency, the
US Coast Survey. Several prominent scientists lost interest in the AAAS, and the society's influence declined.
Twentieth century The next turning point in the AAS history was the partnership with journal
Science, which became the society's official publication in 1900, and provided the AAAS with some revenue through subscription and advertising. The AAAS become the sole owner of
Science in 1946. The post–
World War II big science, driven by major scientific and technical breakthroughs (such as
space flight,
nuclear power and the
discovery of
DNA) brought in an increased public interest in science in the USA, and thus growing sales of the journal, which were further multiplied by shrewd businesses decisions by its editors
Dael Wolfle (1954-1970) and
William D. Carey (1974-1985). in 1973, which was kick-started by a US$10,000 donation from
William T. Golden. In December 2006, the AAAS adopted an official statement on
climate change, in which they stated, "The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society....The pace of change and the evidence of harm have increased markedly over the last five years. The time to control
greenhouse gas emissions is now." In February 2007, the AAAS used
satellite images to document
human rights abuses in
Burma. The next year, AAAS launched the Center for Science Diplomacy to advance both science and the broader relationships among partner countries, by promoting
science diplomacy and international scientific cooperation. In 2012, AAAS published op-eds, held events on
Capitol Hill and released analyses of the U.S. federal research-and-development budget, to warn that a budget sequestration would have severe consequences for scientific progress. ==Sciences==