Martha Nussbaum accepts the Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies and speaks about a philosophical approach to anger and fear.

Barbara J. Meyer accepts the Francis Amory Prize and gives a brief presentation about the fundamentals of sex and death.

In 2015, the American Musicological Society gave the Noah Greenberg Award to musicologist Jessie Ann Owens and the vocal ensemble Blue Heron, directed by Scott Metcalfe, for their project to produce the world premiere recording of Cipriano de Rore’s landmark I madrigali a cinque voci (Venice, 1542). On May 3, 2018, Owens spoke at the Academy about Cipriano’s music; following her presentation, Blue Heron performed a selection of madrigals drawn from his 1542 publication.

Eric Liu, cochair of the Academy's Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, speaks about how to prepare citizens in a democracy.

In Memoriam: Francis M. Bator

"I remember Steven Marcus as a wonderful talker: superb conversationalist, superb public speaker. In both roles, he often articulated unexpected truths. He could talk about anything, and he knew about everything, as a result of his constant, omnivorous, intense reading."

Jerrold Meinwald will long be remembered for his consummate curiosity, his infectious smile, his love of music, and his passion for all things wondrous. With his passing on April 23, 2018, we grieve the loss of this wonderful, kind, and generous man who made our lives much richer in so many ways.

Select Prizes and Awards to Members, New Appointments, and Publications

The Academy’s larger projects, like the Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education and The Public Face of Science, are designed to help influence the intellectual life of the country – by providing new ideas, recommending new ways to address challenges, and calling attention to new knowledge.

Arts and sciences faculty sticks with a three-course-sequence foreign language requirement, even as other institutions shrink their language requirements.

In his keynote address, Academy President Jonathan Fanton emphasized the need for colleges and universities to do more to spread awareness about the positive impact of language and area studies.

A big boost to college completion would pay off for students and the economy, a new paper finds, but would substantially increase the federal deficit. Academy report cited in coverage.

The two-day forum, part of a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, led by the Freeman Spogli Institute’s Karl Eikenberry and Stephen Krasner, gathered experts to examine trends in civil wars and solutions moving forward.

At the 302nd Meeting of the Academy on December 7, 1847, an Academy committee submitted its opinions on the proposed plan for the Smithsonian Institution...

On November 22, 1788, the General Court of Massachusetts approved the Academy’s petition to hold a public lottery. Proceeds would go toward the purchase of a unique, grand model of the solar system for Harvard College.

Academy Vice President John Thornton Kirkland delivered “A Discourse in Commemoration of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson” before the society on October 30, 1826. Adams was a charter member of the Academy and served as its second President; Jefferson was elected in 1787...

On May 4, 1780, Massachusetts's legislative body the General Court of Massachusetts approved the Academy's charter by passing an Act incorporating the Academy...

William Henry Pickering, a Member of the Academy and an instructor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, photographed a total eclipse of the sun...

At the 860th Meeting of the Academy held June 14, 1893 in the Physiological Lecture Room of the Harvard Medical School in Boston, physician and Member Harold C. Ernst, using diagrams, lantern slides, and live samples, explained the methods of investigation...

On September 19, 1919, the Academy hosted a conference of ten scholarly associations that resulted in the establishment of the American Council of Learned Societies. The purpose of the conference was to decide how American organizations could most effectively participate...