In the words of the Academy's charter, enacted in 1780, the "end and design of the institution is...to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honour, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people."

For over 230 years, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has been honoring excellence and providing service to the nation and the world. The Academy was founded during the American Revolution by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and other leaders who contributed prominently to the establishment of the new nation, its government, and its Constitution. Its purpose was to provide a forum for a select group of scholars, members of the learned professions, and government and business leaders to work together on behalf of the democratic interests of the republic. Today the Academy is an international learned society with a dual function: to elect to membership men and women of exceptional achievement, drawn from science, scholarship, business, public affairs, and the arts, and to conduct a varied program of projects and studies responsive to the needs and problems of society. Recent Academy projects have focused on the changing nature and needs of higher education and research, the well-being of the humanities in the United States and their central role in assuring the vitality of our cultural life, the emerging challenges of scientific and technological advances, geoglobal politics, population and the environment, and the welfare of children.

Science and Global Security
Social Policy & American Institutions
Humanities and Culture
Education