April 2025

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Meetings of the American Philosophical Society are held each April and November for elected Members, their families, and distinguished guests. Most sessions are live streamed. 

This schedule is tentative and subject to change.

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Benjamin Franklin Hall

1:00 p.m. 
Opening Remarks

Induction of Members attending their first Meeting

New Bio-inspired Materials: When Biology Meets Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, and Design
Joanna Aizenberg
Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science and Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University

The Case for Curiosity-Driven Research: New Treatments for Cancer and Anemia Emerging from Studies of an Obscure Hereditary Cancer Syndrome
William Kaelin, Jr.
Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine
Harvard University

Intermission

Seeing Others: How Recognition Works and How it Can Help Heal a Divided World
Michèle Lamont 
Professor of Sociology and African and African American Studies and Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies
Harvard University 

The APS and the Pursuit of Happiness
Jeffrey Rosen
President and CEO
National Constitution Center

4:45 p.m. 
Philosophical Hall
Meeting of the Society’s Council

4:45 p.m. 
Library Hall
Tour of the Library Collections


Thursday, April 24, 2025

Benjamin Franklin Hall

9:00 a.m.

Induction of Members attending their first Meeting

Report on the Society

Individual Specialization in a Generalist Apex Predator: The Leopard Seal
Emily S. Sperou
Baylor University
Lewis and Clark Fund Recipient

Postcolonial Provenance Research, Transcultural Cooperation and Restitution Practices: Lessons Learnt from the Humboldt Forum
Hermann Parzinger
President
Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation

Intermission

Do Children Have Ideas? 
Susan Engel
Senior Lecturer in Psychology; Senior Faculty Fellow, Rice Center for Teaching; The Class of 1959 Director of Program in Teaching
Williams College 

Behind Their Screens: Reframing the Current Conversation on Teens and Tech 
Carrie James
Co-Director, Center for Digital Thriving & Project Zero
Harvard Graduate School of Education

Lunch

We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For
Eddie Glaude
James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor
Princeton University

Award Ceremony

From Chasing My Cure to Every Cure: Unlocking Solutions Hiding in Plain Sight
David Fajgenbaum
Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Co-Founder & President, Every Cure

Title to be announced
Barbara Wold
Bren Professor of Molecular Biology and Merkin Institute Professor
Caltech

Intermission

Concert
Raman Ramakrishnan (cellist) and 
Benjamin Hochman (pianist) 

  • Beethoven: Seven Variations on “Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen,” WoO 46
  • Britten: Sonata in C Major, Op. 65
  • Beethoven: Sonata in A Major, Op. 69

4:45 p.m.
Philosophical Hall
Members' Business Meeting


Friday, April 25, 2025

Benjamin Franklin Hall

9:00 a.m.

Induction of Members attending their first Meeting

Reflections: A Conversation on Higher Education and Its Future
Ben Vinson
President, Howard University 
and
Beverly Tatum
President Emerita, Spelman College

What Scientists and Policymakers Can Learn from the Input that Meteorologists Gave General Eisenhower
Paul Romer
University Professor
Boston College

Intermission

Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution
Mary Sarah Bilder
Founders Professor of Law
Boston College

Following Faraday's Hint: The Search for Quantum Gravity
Jim Gates
Clark Leadership Chair in Science and Distinguished University Professor and Regents Professor
University of Maryland

Lunch

Philosophical Hall
Museum Gallery Viewing and Conversation with Museum Staff

Benjamin Franklin Hall
Bus departures at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. for Philadelphia International Airport