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150 Years of Advancing Science: A History of AAAS
Origins: 1848-1899
Putnam often described AAAS as "the great mother organization of American
associations of learning." The Association's children, however, began
to challenge their mother. As scientific disciplines grew more and
more specialized, many first sought sections of their own within the Association,
before ultimately forming independent societies. AAAS found itself
adrift as the turn of the century approached, with stagnating membership
and meeting attendance. The Association nonetheless managed to continue
serving its aims, as it sought to renew itself yet again.
Putnam responded to the challenge posed by the Academy and the new specialized
societies in an essay on the history and accomplishments of AAAS published
in Science in 1895. James Cattell, the new editor of Science,
argued that the Association filled a unique function and was distinguished
from the National Academy of Sciences by virtue of its independence from
government.
In 1873, a gift of $1,000 from Elizabeth Thompson, a wealthy Boston
widow with an interest in science, prompted AAAS to establish a fund to
provide research grants. Part of the gift was used to publish
Samuel Scudder's Fossil Butterflies, the first in the AAAS "Memoirs"
Series. One of the first grants ($175) went to Albert A. Michelson
and Edward W. Morley, recipients of the first Nobel Prize in physics in
1907, for research on optical precision instruments. Michelson and
Morley (both of whom subsequently served as presidents of AAAS) had reported
some of their experiments at the 1887 meeting and later published their
work on the "ether drift" in Science.
Despite these accomplishments, in the words of historian Sally Gregory
Kohlstedt, "It was a bittersweet moment as the Association returned
to Boston and celebrated its fiftieth anniversary . . . commemorating a
significant record of achievement but with falling membership and attendance
signaling an uncertain future."
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