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  1. NAI Members Elected Into the National Academy of Sciences

    Feature Stories
    May 22, 2002 / Posted by: Shige Abe

    The NASA Astrobiology Institute extends congratulations to two new members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Dr. John P. Grotzinger of the NAI Harvard Lead Team and Dr. Gerald Schubert of the NAI University of California Los Angeles Lead Team join 13 other NAI researchers as members of the National Academy of Sciences. Only 72 new members of the NAS were selected this year. Election to membership in the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer. Those elected this year bring the total number of active NAS members to 1,907.

    Dr. John P. Grotzinger, Schrock Professor of Earth Sciences and Director of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge is Senior Project Investigator for “The Planetary Context of Biological Evolution: Neoproterozoic-Cambrian Environment Change and Evolution” and is developing digital mapping techniques which will be applicable to studies of Martian geology. Grotzinger also examines subsurface cores in Oman for paleontologic information on Cambrian ecosystem expansion.

    Dr. Gerald Schubert, Professor and Department Chair of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles addresses the physics of the Earth and the planets, their structures and evolution. He has conducted research on fundamental geophysical fluid dynamics, structure of planetary interiors, mantle convection in the Earth and planets, plate tectonics, chemistry of upper atmospheres, and planetary atmospheres, surfaces and interiors. He is co-author of the books Geodynamics and Mantle Convection in the Earth and Planets.

    It is estimated that approximately 150 Members of the NAI would be eligible for election in the NAS and a previous calculation found 13 existing Members of the NAI who are also in the National Academy of Sciences. Previously admitted NAI Members of the NAS include:

    * Dr. John Abelson, NAI Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1 Lead Team * Dr. Thomas Ahrens, NAI Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1 Lead Team * Dr. Baruch Blumberg, NAI Director * Dr. John Hayes, NAI Harvard University Lead Team * Dr. Paul Hoffman, NAI Harvard University Lead Team * Dr. Heinrich Holland, NAI Harvard University Lead Team * Dr. Andrew Knoll, NAI Harvard University Lead Team * Dr. Norman Pace, NAI University of Colorado Boulder Lead Team * Dr. Julius Rebek, NAI Scripps Research Institute Lead Team * Dr. J. William Schopf, NAI University of California Los Angeles Lead Team * Dr. Melvin Simon, NAI Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1 Lead Team * Dr. George Wetherill, NAI Carnegie Institution of Washington Lead Team * Dr. Hatten Yoder, NAI Carnegie Institution of Washington Lead Team

    In addition to the NAI Lead Team Members, 8 members of the NAI Director’s Science Council have also been elected into the NAS. They include:

    * Dr. Sidney Altman, Yale University * Dr. Walter Alvarez, University of California Berkeley * Dr. Philip W. Anderson, Princeton University * Dr. Sydney Brenner, Molecular Sciences Institute * Dr. Murray Gell-Mann, Santa Fe Insitute * Dr. Robert Laughlin, Standord University * Dr. Joshua Lederberg, The Rockerfeller University * Dr. Maxine F. Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

    The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by an act of Congress, signed by Abraham Lincoln, that calls on the Academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology. The Academy is a private organization of scientists and engineers “dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare.” For more information on the National Academy of Sciences, visit http://www.nationalacademies.org/
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