From the webpage of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Cambridge, MA, April 30, 2004 –The American Academy of Arts and Sciences today announced the election of 178 new Fellows and 24 new Foreign Honorary Members to Academy membership. The 202 men and women are world-renowned leaders in scholarship, business, the arts, and public affairs. "I am honored to welcome these outstanding and influential individuals to the nation's oldest and most illustrious learned society," said Academy President Patricia Meyer Spacks. "These new members have made extraordinary contributions to their fields and disciplines through their commitment to the advancement of scholarly and creative work in every field and profession."

Election to the Academy has always been one of the highest honors in the United States. The Academy has elected as Fellows and Foreign Honorary Members the finest minds and most influential leaders from each generation, including George Washington and Ben Franklin in the eighteenth century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the nineteenth, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the twentieth. "The American Academy is unique among academies for its breadth and scope," said Leslie C. Berlowitz, the Academy's Executive Officer. "Throughout its history, the Academy has gathered individuals with diverse perspectives to participate in studies and projects focusing on advancing intellectual thought and constructive action. We know that this year's members will continue the Academy's tradition of cherishing knowledge in service to society."

The Academy was founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and other scholar-patriots "to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people." The unique structure of the American Academy allows the Academy to conduct interdisciplinary studies on international security, social policy, education, and the humanities that draw on the range of academic and intellectual disciplines of its members. The current membership of over 4,500 includes more than 150 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners.

The Academy will welcome this year's new Fellows and Foreign Honorary Members at its annual Induction Ceremony in October at the Academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.