Select Prizes and Awards to Members

Over the past eighteen months, the Academy has partnered with the Northeast Document Conservation Center to repair, clean, and digitize six bound volumes of letters and other documents related to early Academy member and donor Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) and his daughter, Sarah.

As a member of the Academy, you received the official announcement about the 261 individuals elected in 2022. Here are a few reactions on Twitter to the big news.

The Rumford Prize, which recognizes contributions to the fields of heat and light, broadly interpreted, was first awarded in 1839 and is one of the oldest scientific prizes in the United States. Previous prize recipients include Thomas Edison in 1895, Edwin Land in 1945, and Enrico Fermi in 1953.

The American Academy awarded the 2021 Rumford Prize to astrophysicist Charles L. Bennett for his contributions to the field of cosmology. The virtual award ceremony included remarks by Academy President David Oxtoby, an introduction from theoretical physicist Marc Kamionkowski, a reading of the Rumford Prize citation by astronaut and scientist Kathryn Sullivan, and a presentation from Charles Bennett. An edited version of the speakers’ remarks follows.

“A Night at the Museums” was conceived of and hosted by Academy members and Gainesville Representatives Pamela Soltis and Douglas Soltis (both, University of Florida). They wanted an event that would highlight the utility of the modern museum collection while connecting members from across the country. This program gave a behind-the-scenes look at museums in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, California, and Oregon – all of which are associated with universities in the Academy’s network of Affiliate institutions. An edited version of select portions of the presentations and Q&A session follows.

The newest issue of the Academy journal is dedicated to “The Humanities in American Life: Transforming the Relationship with the Public.” The issue is guest edited by Carin Berkowitz, Norman Bradburn & Robert B. Townsend. All the essays are online.

L. A. Times columnist Nicholas Goldberg includes the work of the Academy’s Commission on the Arts in his column supporting public spending on the arts in California.

Danielle Allen writes about how Facebook is weakening our democratic institutions and what can be done to rebuild them. For solutions, she draws on recommendations in the Our Common Purpose report issued by the Academy Commission she cochaired.

Select Upcoming Events

Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has ushered in a new era of uncertainty and instability for the global order. What does the conflict mean for the
future of nuclear arms control? What role does corruption play in the erosion of constraints against aggression? And what will the conflict mean for democratic institutions, both abroad and here at home?

By Jessica Taylor, Louis W. Cabot Fellow in Humanities Policy at the Academy, and Robert B. Townsend, Director of Humanities, Arts, and Culture Programs at the Academy and Codirector of the Humanities Indicators

By Poul Erik Christiansen, former Raymond Frankel Nuclear Security Policy Fellow at the Academy

By Kathryn Moffat, Senior Program Officer for Global Security and International Affairs at the Academy

By Kimberlee Eberle-Sudré, Program Director of Education and the Development of Knowledge at the Academy

Peter Michael Nicholas, elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999, died two days before his 81st birthday at his home in Boca Grande, Florida.

Select Prizes and Awards to Members

By Maggie Boyd, Associate Archivist at the Academy

As shared via social media, a delegation to Boston from Belgium celebrated the election of Belgian scientist and physician Peter Carmeliet to the Academy in 2021. A professor at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Dr. Carmeliet specializes in angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels.

On April 1, 2022, the Academy presented Henry Louis Gates, Jr. with the Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies in recognition of his groundbreaking work as a scholar and public intellectual. The program, which was the Annual David M. Rubenstein Lecture, included remarks by Academy President David Oxtoby, the presentation of the award by Chair of the Academy’s Board Nancy C. Andrews, and a conversation between Gates and David M. Rubenstein. An edited version of the presentations and conversation follows.