American Philosophical Society

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American Philosophical Society

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

American Philosophical Society first scientific society in America, founded (1743) in Philadelphia. It was an outgrowth of the Junto formed (1727) by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was the first secretary of the society, and Thomas Hopkinson the first president. In 1769 it merged with the American Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge. The combined organization elected Franklin its first president, an office he held until his death. David Rittenhouse and Thomas Jefferson were his immediate successors. The society, which has a notable library located in Philadelphia, confers membership upon people of distinction in all fields of intellectual and scientific study.

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American Philosophical Society

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | | © The Oxford Companion to American Literature 1995, originally published by Oxford University Press 1995. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

American Philosophical Society, first scientific society in America, founded at Philadelphia (1743) by Franklin, its first president. His successors were Rittenhouse and Jefferson. The Society issues Transactions, Proceedings (since 1838) and Memoirs (since 1900) and makes research grants. It has some 600 elected members.

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "American Philosophical Society." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 27 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "American Philosophical Society." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (November 27, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-AmericanPhilosophicalScty.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "American Philosophical Society." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Retrieved November 27, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-AmericanPhilosophicalScty.html

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American Philosophical Society

The Oxford Companion to United States History | 2001 | | © The Oxford Companion to United States History 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

American Philosophical Society. Benjamin Franklin organized the American Philosophical Society (APS) in 1743, but failure to attract wider support led to its collapse in 1745. Throughout the 1750s and 1760s, a small group of Philadelphians met intermittently to discuss science, and in 1766 they organized themselves into the American Society for Promoting and Propagating Useful Knowledge. Led by Charles Thomson, the membership consisted principally of liberal members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) who supported the Assembly party in Pennsylvania politics. In 1767 a rival group, mostly Anglicans and Presbyterians, aligned with Pennsylvania's Proprietary party, organized an American Philosophical Society. Franklin, elected President of the latter body in 1768, oversaw the merger of the two groups and on 2 January 1769 presided over the first meeting of the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge. Later that year the APS, with the financial support of the Provincial Assembly, made eleven sets of observations of the Transit of Venus. These were published in 1771 in the society's Transactions, winning international recognition for American science. From the society's inception, it usually recruited its officers from the University of Pennsylvania faculty and its active members from the city of Philadelphia; yet until the 1840s, the APS served as a national scientific society, acting as a resource for the federal government and disseminating the research of American scientists through its Transactions.

With the emergence of specialized scientific societies and the creation of official national organizations for American science, the APS lost its national role and transformed itself into a general learned society. In 1917 the society helped organize the American Council of Learned Societies. Since the 1950s the APS has been a major archival repository of collections in early American history and the history of science; it awards approximately $600,000 each year in research grants.
See also Science: Colonial Era; Science: Revolutionary War to World War I.

Bibliography

Brooke Hindle , The Pursuit of Science in Revolutionary America, 1735–1789, 1956.
Edward C. Carter II , “One Grand Pursuit”: A Brief History of the American Philosophical Society's First 250 Years, 1743–1993, 1993.

Simon Baatz

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Paul S. Boyer. "American Philosophical Society." The Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Paul S. Boyer. "American Philosophical Society." The Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (November 27, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-AmericanPhilosophicalScty.html

Paul S. Boyer. "American Philosophical Society." The Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. 2001. Retrieved November 27, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-AmericanPhilosophicalScty.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article The long route to the invention of the telescope.(Transactions of the American Philosophical Society held at Philadelphia for promoting useful knowledge)(Brief article)(Book review)
Magazine article from: SciTech Book News; 3/1/2009
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Magazine article from: National Review; 6/19/1987
Free Article Bills highlight philosophical differences.(Legislature)
Newspaper article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR); 2/26/2007

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