The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded during the American Revolution by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and other prominent “scholar-patriots” who contributed to the establishment of the new nation, its government, and its Constitution. The American Academy was created to provide a forum for leading scholars, members of learned professions, and leaders in government and business to work together on behalf of the democratic interests of the republic. Today, the American Academy is an international learned society that brings together men and women of exceptional achievement from every field and profession to anticipate, examine, and advance resolutions for challenges facing our global society.

Current policy research of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences explores complex contemporary problems in a broad range of areas, including global security and energy, science and technology policy, social policy and institutions of democracy, education, and the humanities and culture. The American Academy publishes books, reports, and Daedalus, a quarterly journal. Many publications as well as talks delivered at American Academy meetings and symposia are posted online at amacad.org.

In addition to research, publications, and meetings on critical issues facing society, the American Academy supports the next generation of scholars and thinkers through its Visiting Scholars Program for junior faculty and post-doctoral students in the social sciences and humanities, and the Hellman Fellowship in Science and Technology Policy. The headquarters and professional staff of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences are based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The elected Fellows and Foreign Honorary Members of the American Academy come from across the United States and around the world.