Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, elected to the Academy in 2022, have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2023. They shared insights into their pioneering work on mRNA vaccines in an Academy conversation earlier this year.

William H. Gates, Sr., Frank Thomson Leighton, Carolyn R. Bertozzi, and Michael Wood Speak at Induction Ceremony Sherrill Milnes Performs

On April 18, 2024, Kwame Anthony Appiah received the Academy’s Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies. Established in 1975 as the Award for Humanistic Studies and renamed in 2017 in honor of musicologist Don M. Randel, the award recognizes outstanding contributions to humanistic scholarship. The award ceremony included opening remarks from Academy President David W. Oxtoby, a reading of the prize citation by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., acceptance remarks from Professor Appiah, and a conversation between Professor Appiah and journalist Margaret Sullivan. An edited transcript of the program follows.

Patrick C. Walsh, a renowned urologist who pioneered work in the understanding and treatment of prostate cancer, was honored with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ prestigious Francis Amory Prize here on March 14. Given by the Academy since 1940, the prize recognizes major advances in reproductive biology and medical care.

Select Prizes and Awards to Members

Five emerging poets of exceptional promise and distinguished achievement to receive Academy prize in honor of May Sarton.

The 2015 class includes Pulitzer Prize-winner Holland Cotter, singer-songwriter Judy Collins, Nike co-founder Philip Knight, Nobel Prize-winner Brian Kobilka, Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and novelist Tom Wolfe.

Frank Wilczek discussed the modern concept of substance and the nature of the Higgs particle following an introduction given by Jerome Friedman.

For a full and up-to-date listing of upcoming events, please visit amacad.org/events. Click on Past Events to find and view recordings of programs you missed.

Highlights Include Readings by Academy Award-winning Actor Sally Field and Emmy Award-winning Filmmaker Ken Burns and a Performance by Internationally Renowned Jazz Musician Herbie Hancock

Research funding is not unlike food production; it is not the amount, but the distribution of research funds that matters.

The Academy holds in-person and virtual events that bring members, Affiliates, and others in their communities together to explore topics of national and global concern. Academy President David W. Oxtoby provided opening remarks for most of the meetings in 2021 and 2022.

Margaret Atwood is receiving the Emerson-Thoreau Medal from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for her distinguished achievement in the field of literature.

One of the great strengths of the Academy is its ability to bring together members with other experts from many disciplines and professions to explore contemporary challenges, identify solutions, and offer ways forward to advance the public good.