The U. S. National Academies are a consortium of four organizations. They are composed of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council.

History and Structure

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) was founded in 1863 to provide scientific and technical advice to the government. It is a membership organization of leading scientists, and new members are selected by the current membership. The membership decides how many total members to admit, and the number as of 2004 was about 1,800. In 1916 NAS realized that it could not meet the demand for advice from its members alone and therefore organized the National Research Council (NRC) to make it possible to enlist the larger scientific and technical community in its mission of providing expert advice to government. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) was formed in 1964, and the Institute of...