Location:

Washington, DC

Event Dates:

April 2007

Nearly 1,000 of the nation's leaders in the fields of science, the arts, education, government, business and the law gathered in Washington April 27-29 for a historic event: The first-ever convocation of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the National Academies.

The theme of the gathering, "The Public Good: Knowledge as the Foundation for a Democratic Society," was drawn from the founding documents of the American Philosophical Society, established in 1743, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1780. Joining those two venerable institutions at the weekend meetings were members of the National Academies - the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.

In a greeting to those attending, Emilio Bizzi, president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Baruch S. Blumberg, president of the American Philosophical Society, wrote the following:

When our organizations were created in the eighteenth century, our founders, among the nation's leading ‘scholar-patriots,' dedicated our academies to the promotion of ‘useful knowledge.' Today this role is as vital as it was then. At a time of ever more rapid change and global inter-dependence, we remain committed to our founders' vision and ideals.

More than 40 speakers participated in discussions on subjects including religion and the enlightenment, independence of the courts, media and society, the global economy, science, health and an aging society, and energy choices and global warming. On Saturday evening, at a banquet at the Library of Congress, three distinguished Americans were honored with the Public Good Award, recognizing them for sharing the Founding Fathers' vision of engagement and service. The honorees were James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress; former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and John Hope Franklin, the James B. Duke professor of history emeritus at Duke University. Each of the award-winners are members of both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

"Public Good: Knowledge as the Foundation for a Democratic Society" was supported by the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands (http://www.sunnylands.org/) and was administered with the assistance of The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.  Special recognition was given to Leonore Annenberg, a member of both societies.