CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Two of the world’s oldest and most prestigious learned societies – the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1780) and the Royal Society (1660) – are launching a nationwide lecture series to celebrate scientific ties between the United States and the United Kingdom.
Internet visionaries Sir Tim Berners-Lee and David D. Clark will speak at the inaugural lecture on The Evolution of the Internet: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities. The program, to take place Wednesday, June 6 at the Academy’s Cambridge headquarters, will be followed by additional lectures in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. featuring American Academy and Royal Society members. The series will conclude with a joint meeting in London.
“We are pleased to partner with the Royal Society to examine critical issues in science that are shaping our world in profound ways,” said American Academy President Leslie C. Berlowitz. “It is fitting that we launch our collaboration with the participation of these distinguished Academy Fellows who are architects of the Internet, one of the most important and transformative technologies of our time, and a subject of ongoing Academy work.”
Royal Society President Sir Paul Nurse, also a Fellow of the American Academy, said “There is no better subject to kick off this series of joint lectures than the technology that has done so much to open up science internationally in the last decade. The overlapping expertise of our academies represents the cutting edge of global research, and bringing them together is a unique and exciting opportunity.”
The joint lecture series is the centerpiece launch of the GREAT Science Campaign, organized by the UK government’s Science and Innovation Network to profile international science excellence, according to Britain's Consul General to New England, Dr. Phil Budden.
“In 2012, all eyes will be on Britain – and a huge part of that is the result of the UK’s excellence in science and technology,” said Consul General Budden. “The lecture series provides a British-American platform to discuss important scientific issues in modern society with experts from the UK and U.S., giving rise to opportunities for future collaboration and transatlantic innovation.”
As part of the GREAT Science Campaign, the Royal Society will also sponsor lectures in Ottawa and Vancouver in partnership with the Canadian Royal Society.
About the June 6 Lecture
Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the World Wide Web. He serves as Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, which oversees the Web's continued development, is the founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, and holds the 3Com Founders Chair at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). In 2004, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his pioneering work. Berners-Lee is an advocate of the concept of Net Neutrality, and has expressed the view that Internet Service Providers should neither control nor monitor customers' browsing activities without their expressed consent. He is a member of both the Royal Society and the American Academy
David D. Clark is a Senior Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Since the mid-1970s, he has been leading the development of the Internet; from 1981-1989 he acted as Chief Protocol Architect in this development, and chaired the Internet Activities Board. In 2011 he received the Oxford Internet Institute Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his intellectual and institutional contributions to the advancement of the Internet. His current research looks at re-definition of the architectural underpinnings of the Internet, and the relation of technology and architecture to economic, societal and policy considerations. A Fellow of the American Academy, Clark served as guest editor of the Fall 2011 issue of the Academy’s journal Dædalus on “Protecting the Internet as a Public Commons.”
The lecture will be moderated by Tom Leighton, Founder and Chief Scientist of Akamai Technologies and Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A Fellow of the Academy, Leighton serves on its governing board.
About the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an international learned society composed of 4,000 Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members representing the academic disciplines as well as the arts, business, and government. The Academy is a leading center for independent policy research. Its multidisciplinary projects focus on science and technology policy, energy and global security, the humanities, and education and it publishes Dædalus, a quarterly journal of ideas.
About the Royal Society
The Royal Society, founded in 1660, includes 1,500 of the world’s most distinguished figures drawn from science, engineering, and medicine. Its mission is to recognize, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.
Internet visionaries Sir Tim Berners-Lee and David D. Clark will speak at the inaugural lecture on The Evolution of the Internet: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities. The program, to take place Wednesday, June 6 at the Academy’s Cambridge headquarters, will be followed by additional lectures in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. featuring American Academy and Royal Society members. The series will conclude with a joint meeting in London.
“We are pleased to partner with the Royal Society to examine critical issues in science that are shaping our world in profound ways,” said American Academy President Leslie C. Berlowitz. “It is fitting that we launch our collaboration with the participation of these distinguished Academy Fellows who are architects of the Internet, one of the most important and transformative technologies of our time, and a subject of ongoing Academy work.”
Royal Society President Sir Paul Nurse, also a Fellow of the American Academy, said “There is no better subject to kick off this series of joint lectures than the technology that has done so much to open up science internationally in the last decade. The overlapping expertise of our academies represents the cutting edge of global research, and bringing them together is a unique and exciting opportunity.”
The joint lecture series is the centerpiece launch of the GREAT Science Campaign, organized by the UK government’s Science and Innovation Network to profile international science excellence, according to Britain's Consul General to New England, Dr. Phil Budden.
“In 2012, all eyes will be on Britain – and a huge part of that is the result of the UK’s excellence in science and technology,” said Consul General Budden. “The lecture series provides a British-American platform to discuss important scientific issues in modern society with experts from the UK and U.S., giving rise to opportunities for future collaboration and transatlantic innovation.”
As part of the GREAT Science Campaign, the Royal Society will also sponsor lectures in Ottawa and Vancouver in partnership with the Canadian Royal Society.
About the June 6 Lecture
Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the World Wide Web. He serves as Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, which oversees the Web's continued development, is the founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, and holds the 3Com Founders Chair at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). In 2004, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his pioneering work. Berners-Lee is an advocate of the concept of Net Neutrality, and has expressed the view that Internet Service Providers should neither control nor monitor customers' browsing activities without their expressed consent. He is a member of both the Royal Society and the American Academy
David D. Clark is a Senior Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Since the mid-1970s, he has been leading the development of the Internet; from 1981-1989 he acted as Chief Protocol Architect in this development, and chaired the Internet Activities Board. In 2011 he received the Oxford Internet Institute Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his intellectual and institutional contributions to the advancement of the Internet. His current research looks at re-definition of the architectural underpinnings of the Internet, and the relation of technology and architecture to economic, societal and policy considerations. A Fellow of the American Academy, Clark served as guest editor of the Fall 2011 issue of the Academy’s journal Dædalus on “Protecting the Internet as a Public Commons.”
The lecture will be moderated by Tom Leighton, Founder and Chief Scientist of Akamai Technologies and Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A Fellow of the Academy, Leighton serves on its governing board.
About the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an international learned society composed of 4,000 Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members representing the academic disciplines as well as the arts, business, and government. The Academy is a leading center for independent policy research. Its multidisciplinary projects focus on science and technology policy, energy and global security, the humanities, and education and it publishes Dædalus, a quarterly journal of ideas.
About the Royal Society
The Royal Society, founded in 1660, includes 1,500 of the world’s most distinguished figures drawn from science, engineering, and medicine. Its mission is to recognize, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.