New York Academy of Sciences

The New York Academy of Sciences was founded in downtown Manhattan in 1817 by a group of physicians. It is the third-oldest scientific society in the US and its membership has featured leaders in science, business, academia and government, including US Presidents Jefferson and Monroe, Thomas Edison, Louis Pasteur, Charles Darwin, Margaret Mead, and Albert Einstein. Its President's Council includes 26 Nobel Laureates, and chief executive officers, philanthropists and leaders of national science funding agencies. It has 24,000 members in 140 countries.