The Member Directory provides the public with the list of Members elected to the American Philosophical Society from 1743 to the current year and includes general information and short biographies. The section of the Member Directory that is restricted to elected Members provides more detailed information and is accessed through the Members-Only Portal.
Elected Members
The APS is an elected body of scholars from all different disciplines. Today the Society has approximately 1,000 elected Members, about 850 of whom are Resident Members (are citizens of or live and work in the United States) and about 150 are International Members from more than two dozen countries. Only 5,605 Members have been elected since 1743. Since 1900, more than 240 Members have received the Nobel Prize.
Early Members included George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Marshall. In the 19th century, John James Audubon, Robert Fulton, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, and Louis Pasteur were among those elected. Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, and George Marshall hint at the scientific, humanistic, and public accomplishments of 20th-century Members. The first woman was elected in 1789—the Russian Princess Dashkova, president of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.
The photo above shows the diversity of the Society's Membership, with Michael Marletta (molecular biologist), Joyce Carol Oates (author), Stephen Lippard (chemist), Yve-Alain Bois (art historian), Martha Minow (legal scholar), and Elena Kagan (Justice of the US Supreme Court) all sitting in the front row waiting to be inducted into the Society.
Member Directory
Members-Only Portal
The Members-Only Portal provides a means of engagement for the elected Members of the Society. Members can update their own information in the Member Directory, find contact information for other members, register for upcoming Meetings, nominate candidates for Membership, and find documents, committee reports, and minutes of the Council and Business Meetings.
President
Linda Greenhouse is the Knight Distinguished Journalist in Residence and Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, a position she assumed in 2009 after 30 years covering the Supreme Court for The New York Times. She was elected a Member of the APS in 2001, elected a Vice President in 2012, and President on May 1, 2017. In 2005 she was awarded the APS's Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities in recognition of her paper, “‘Because We Are Final’: Judicial Review Two Hundred Years after Marbury,” delivered as part of the symposium, “The Two Hundredth Anniversary of Marbury v. Madison,” at the Society’s 2003 April Meeting and published in the March 2004 Proceedings.
She is a graduate of Radcliffe College, Harvard University, and earned the degree of Master of Studies in Law from Yale Law School, which she attended on a Ford Foundation fellowship. Among numerous awards during a 40-year career in journalism were the Pulitzer Prize (1998); the Henry Friendly Medal from the American Law Institute, of which she is an honorary member; and the Carey McWilliams Award from the American Political Science Association for “a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics.”
Classes and Subdivisions
Class I: Mathematical and Physical Sciences
- 101: Astronomy
- 102: Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry
- 103: Engineering
- 104: Mathematics
- 105: Physical Earth Sciences
- 106: Physics
Class II: Biological Sciences
- 201: Biochemistry, Pharmacology
- 202: Cellular and Developmental Biology
- 203: Integrative and Evolutionary Biology and Systematics (to include Paleontology and Paleoanthropology)
- 204: Medicine, Surgery, Pathology
- 205: Ecology, Behavioral Biology, Animal Behavior and Psychology
- 206: Structural Biology and Biophysics
- 207: Genetics and Population Genetics
- 208: Neuroscience
- 209: Microbiology and Immunology
Class III: Social Sciences
- 301: Sociology and Demography
- 302: Economics
- 303: History since 1776
- 304: Jurisprudence and Political Science
- 305: Anthropology
- 306: Psychology
Class IV: Humanities
- 401: Archaeology
- 402: Criticism: Arts and Letters
- 403: Cultural Anthropology
- 404: History of the Arts, Literature, Religion, and Sciences
- 405: History and Philology, East and West, to 1776
- 406: Linguistics
- 407: Philosophy
Class V: Professions, Arts, and Affairs
- 501: Creative Artists
- 502: Physicians, Theologians, Lawyers, Jurists, Architects, and Members of Other Professions
- 503: Administrators, Bankers, and Opinion Leaders from the Public or Private Sectors
- 504: Scholars in Business
Newly Elected Members
Class 1: Mathematical & Physical Sciences
John Clarke
Professor of the Graduate School, University of California, Berkeley
Benedict H. Gross
George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Mathematics, Harvard University
Laura Lee Kiessling
Director, Keck Center for Chemical Genomics, Laurens Anderson Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Steenbock Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Rebecca Richards-Kortum
Director of Rice 360°, Institute for Global Health, Malcolm Gillis University Professor, Department of Bioengineering, Rice University
Michael S. Turner
Bruce V. and Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor, Director, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago
Class 2: Biological Sciences
Mary C. Beckerle
Chief Executive Officer, Director, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Endowed Chair, Distinguished Professor of Biology, Associate Vice President for Cancer Affairs, University of Utah
Sean B. Carroll
Allan Wilson Professor of Molecular Biology, Genetics and Medical Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Investigator, Vice President for Science Education, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Stuart H. Orkin
David G. Nathan Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Neil H. Shubin
Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Associate Dean for Academic Strategy, University of Chicago
Marc Tessier-Lavigne
President, Bing Presidential Professor, Stanford University
International:
Leif Andersson
Professor in Functional Genomics, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University
Meave G. Leakey
Director of Plio-Pleistocene Research, Turkana Basin Institute, Research Professor, Department of Anthropology and the Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University; National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence; Research Associate, National Museums of Kenya
Class 3: Social Sciences
Orley Ashenfelter
Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics, Princeton University
Anne Catherine Case
Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Princeton University
Claude S. Fischer
Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley
David Hollinger
Preston Hotchkis Professor of History Emeritus, Professor of the Graduate School, University of California, Berkeley
Beth A. Simmons
Andrea Mitchell University Professor of Law and Political Science, Penn Law, University of Pennsylvania
Class 4: Humanities
Lorraine Jenifer Daston
Director, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin; Research Associate, Department of History, University of Chicago; Permanent Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
Edward Mendelson
Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University
Barbara Newman
Professor of English, Religious Studies, and Classics, John Evans Professor of Latin Language and Literature, Northwestern University
Sabine Schmidtke
Professor of Islamic Intellectual History, Institute for Advanced Study
Jan Ziolkowski
Director, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection; Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Medieval Latin, Harvard University
International:
Katharine Ellis
Sidney Hugh Badock Chair in Music, University of Bristol
Frantz Grenet
Professor of History and Cultures of pre-Islamic Central Asia, Collège de France, Paris, Director, French-Uzbek Archaeological Mission in Sogdiana (MAFOUZ-Sogdiane), excavating at Samarkand and other sites in Uzbekistan, Senior Fellow and Member of Advisory Committee, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University
Class 5: The Arts, Professions, Leaders in Public and Private Affairs
Margaret Marshall
Senior Counsel, Choate, Hall & Stewart
Edward A. "Ned" Montgomery
Vice-Chair, Curtis Institute of Music, Vice-Chair, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society
Barack Obama
44th President of the United States
David Skorton
13th Secretary of the Smithsonian, Smithsonian Institution
Mark Thompson
President and Chief Executive Officer, New York Times Company
Billie Tsien
Principal, Partner, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
Tod Williams
Principal, Partner, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
International:
Louise Richardson
Vice-Chancellor, University of Oxford
Class 1: Mathematical & Physical Sciences
Joanna Aizenberg
Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science, Director, Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Founding Core Faculty and Platform Leader, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University
Cynthia Dwork
Distinguished Scientist, Microsoft Research, Silicon Valley Campus
James B. Hartle
Research Professor, Professor of Physics Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara; External Professor, Santa Fe Institute
Stephen J. Lippard
Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alar Toomre
Professor of Applied Math Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
International:
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Visiting Professor, Department of Physics, Professorial Fellow, Mansfield College, University of Oxford; President, Royal Society of Edinburgh; Pro-Chancellor, Trinity College Dublin
Christopher John Pethick
Professor of Physics, Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics
Class 2: Biological Sciences
Ronald M. Fairman
Professor of Surgery, Chief of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, University of Pennsylvania
Ann Martin Graybiel
Institute Professor, Investigator, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Affiliate, Picower Center for Learning and Memory, Professor of Neuroscience, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Carol W. Greider
Daniel Nathans Professor, Director, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Eric Knudsen
Professor of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine
Michael A. Marletta
Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Biochemistry, C.H. and Annie Li Chair in the Molecular Biology of Diseases, University of California, Berkeley
Allan C. Spradling
Staff Member, Director, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Adjunct Professor of Biology, Adjunct Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University
Class 3: Social Sciences
Paul DiMaggio
Professor of Sociology, New York University; A. Barton Hepburn Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University
Thomas C. Holt
James Westfall Thompson Distinguished Service Professor of American and African American History, University of Chicago
Sara McLanahan
William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Director, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University
Rogers M. Smith
Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Chair, Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism, University of Pennsylvania
Richard White
Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Stanford University
International:
Gerd Gigerenzer
Director, Max Planck Institute for Human Development; Director, Harding Center for Risk Literacy
Class 4: Humanities
Yve-Alain Bois
Professor, School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study
Ellen T. Harris
Class of 1949 Professor of Music Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alexander Nehamas
Edmund N. Carpenter II Class of 1943 Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton University
Lothar von Falkenhausen
Professor, Department of the History of Art, Director, East Asian Archaeology, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles
Irene J. Winter
William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts Emerita, Harvard University
International:
Marilyn Strathern
William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology Emerita, University of Cambridge
Class 5: The Arts, Professions, Leaders in Public and Private Affairs
Donald M. Berwick
Fellow, Center for American Progress
Suzanne Farrell
Founder and Artistic Director, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Francis Eppes Professor of Dance, Florida State University
Roger W. Ferguson
President and Chief Executive Officer, TIAA
Jon R. Friedman
Artist
Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey
President, Chief Executive Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Jane Mayer
Staff Writer, The New Yorker
Joyce Carol Oates
Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Short Story Writer, Professor, Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Creative Writing, Emerita, Princeton University
International:
David Adjaye
Founder, Principal Architect, Adjaye Associates