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American Chemical Society



American Chemical Society


Formation1876
HeadquartersWashington, DC
LocationUnited States
Membership160,000
Official languagesEnglish
PresidentKatie Hunt
Websitehttp://www.acs.org

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a learned society (professional association) based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has over 160,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical engineering and related fields. The ACS is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The ACS holds national meetings twice a year covering the complete field of chemistry, plus dozens of smaller conferences in specific fields. Its publications division produces several scholarly journals including the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The primary source of income of the ACS is the Chemical Abstracts Service and its publications. Chemical & Engineering News is the weekly news magazine published by the American Chemical Society and sent to all members.

The ACS membership is organized into 190 geographical Local Sections and 33 Technical Divisions.

Contents

Origins

The American Chemical Society had it origins in a small group of 35 chemists that met on April 6, 1876 at the University Building in the present day New York University.[1] Although at that time there was an American science society (American Association for the Advancement of Science), the growth of chemistry prompted those assembled, including William H. Nichols, under the direction of Professor Charles F. Chandler of the Columbia School of Mines to found the American Chemical Society. The society, Chandler said, would “prove a powerful and healthy stimulus to original research, … would awaken and develop much talent now wasting in isolation, … [bring] members of the association into closer union, and ensure a better appreciation of our science and its students on the part of the general public.”

A formal vote for organization was taken; a constitution was adopted; and officers were selected. Chandlers was an obvious choice as president since he had provided instrumental leadership in establishing the society. However, he felt that the New York University Professor John William Draper had the reputation as a scientist to lead a national organization. At the age of 65 John William Draper was elected as the first president of the American Chemical Society and the headquarters was established in New York. Draper’s presidency was important more due to his name and reputation and than his active participation in the society.

Educational Activities

The American Chemical Society also sponsors the United States National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO), a contest that selects the four-member team to represent the United States at the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO). The ACS Division of Chemical Education provides standardized tests for various subfields of chemistry. The two most commonly-used tests are the undergraduate-level tests for general and organic chemistry. Each of these tests consists of 70 multiple-choice questions, and gives students 110 minutes to complete the exam.

The American Chemical Society grants membership to undergraduates as student affiliates. Any university may start its own chapter of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS) and receive benefits which include undergraduate participation in regional conferences and discounts on ACS publications.

PubChem controversy

Since the inception of National Center for Biotechnology Information's open access PubChem chemical compound database initiative, ACS has actively lobbied NCBI and its supervising agencies to stop development of the database. ACS markets its own subscription- and pay-based Chemical Abstracts Service and expressed concerns that the publicly funded database would be directly competing with its existing service. In a May 23, 2005, press-release, the ACS stated:

The ACS believes strongly that the Federal Government should not seek to become a taxpayer supported publisher. By collecting, organizing, and disseminating small molecule information whose creation it has not funded and which duplicates CAS services, NIH has started ominously, down the path to unfettered scientific publishing...

The journal "Nature" reported that ACS hired a public relations firm, Dezenhall Resources to advocate it opposition to the publically funded PubChem database.[2] "Scientific American" later reported that ACS had spent over $200,000 to hire Wexler & Walker Public Policy Association to lobby against open access.[3]

Journals and magazines

ACS presidents

  • 2007 Catherine T. (Katie) Hunt
  • 2006 E. Ann Nalley
  • 2005 William F. Carroll, Jr.
  • 2004 Charles P. Casey
  • 2003 Elsa Reichmanis
  • 2002 Eli M. Pearce
  • 2001 Attila E. Pavlath
  • 2000 Daryle H. Busch
  • 1999 Edel Wasserman
  • 1998 Paul H. L. Walter
  • 1997 Paul S. Anderson
  • 1996 Ronald Breslow
  • 1995 Brian M. Rushton
  • 1994 Ned D. Heindel
  • 1993 Helen M. Free
  • 1992 Ernest L. Eliel
  • 1991 S. Allen Heininger
  • 1990 Paul G. Gassman
  • 1989 Clayton F. Callis
  • 1988 Gordon L. Nelson
  • 1987 Mary L. Good
  • 1986 George C. Pimentel
  • 1985 Ellis K. Fields
  • 1984 Warren D. Niederhauser
  • 1983 Fred Basolo
  • 1982 Robert W. Parry
  • 1981 Albert C. Zettlemoyer
  • 1980 James D. D`Ianni
  • 1979 Gardner W. Stacy
  • 1978 Anna J. Harrison
  • 1977 Henry A. Hill
  • 1976 Glenn T. Seaborg
  • 1975 William J. Bailey
  • 1974 Bernard S. Friedman
  • 1973 Alan C. Nixon
  • 1972 Max Tishler
  • 1971 Melvin Calvin
  • 1970 Byron Riegel
  • 1969 Wallace R. Brode
  • 1968 Robert W. Cairns
  • 1967 Charles G. Overberger
  • 1966 William J. Sparks
  • 1965 Charles C. Price
  • 1964 Maurice H. Arveson
  • 1963 Henry Eyring
  • 1962 Karl Folkers
  • 1961 Arthur C. Cope
  • 1960 Albert L. Elder
  • 1959 John C. Bailar, Jr.
  • 1958 Clifford F. Rassweiler
  • 1957 Roger J. Williams
  • 1956 John C. Warner
  • 1955 Joel H. Hildebrand
  • 1954 Harry L. Fisher
  • 1953 Farrington Daniels
  • 1952 Edgar C. Britton
  • 1951 N. Howell Funnan
  • 1950 Ernest H. Volwiler
  • 1949 Linus Pauling
  • 1948 Charles A. Thomas
  • 1947 W. Albert Noyes, Jr.
  • 1946 Bradley Dewey
  • 1945 Carl S. Marvel
  • 1944 Thomas Midgley, Jr.
  • 1943 Per K. Frolich
  • 1942 Harry N. Holmes
  • 1941 William Lloyd Evans
  • 1940 Samuel C. Lind
  • 1939 Charles A. Kraus
  • 1938 Frank C. Whitmore
  • 1937 Edward R. Weidlein
  • 1936 Edward Bartow
  • 1935 Roger Adams
  • 1934 Charles L. Reese
  • 1933 Arthur B. Lamb
  • 1932 L. V. Redman
  • 1931 Moses Gomberg
  • 1930 William McPherson
  • 1929 Irving Langmuir
  • 1928 Samuel W. Parr
  • 1927 George D. Rosengarten
  • 1926 James F. Norris
  • 1925 James F. Norris
  • 1924 Leo H. Baekeland
  • 1923 Edward C. Franklin
  • 1922 Edgar Fahs Smith
  • 1921 Edgar Fahs Smith
  • 1920 William A. Noyes
  • 1919 William H. Nichols
  • 1918 William H. Nichols
  • 1917 Julius Stieglitz
  • 1916 Charles H. Herty
  • 1915 Charles H. Herty
  • 1914 Theodore W. Richards
  • 1913 Arthur D. Little
  • 1912 Arthur D. Little
  • 1911 Alexander Smith (chemist)
  • 1910 Wilder D. Bancroft
  • 1909 Willis R. Whitney
  • 1908 Marston T. Bogert
  • 1907 Marston T. Bogert
  • 1906 William F. Hillebrand
  • 1905 Francis P. Venable
  • 1904 Arthur A. Noyes
  • 1903 John H. Long
  • 1902 Ira Remsen
  • 1901 Frank W. Clarke
  • 1900 William McMurtrie
  • 1899 Edward W. Morley
  • 1898 Charles E. Munroe
  • 1897 Charles B. Dudley
  • 1896 Charles Benjamin Dudley
  • 1895 Edgar Fahs Smith
  • 1894 Harvey W. Wiley
  • 1893 Harvey W. Wiley
  • 1892 George C. Caldwell
  • 1891 George F. Barker
  • 1890 Henry B. Nason
  • 1889 Charles F. Chandler
  • 1888 T. Sterry Hunt
  • 1887 Charles A. Goessmann
  • 1886 Albert B. Prescott
  • 1885 James C. Booth
  • 1884 James C. Booth
  • 1883 James C. Booth
  • 1882 John W. Mallet
  • 1881 Charles F. Chandler
  • 1880 Frederick A. Genth
  • 1879 T. Sterry Hunt
  • 1878 Samuel W. Johnson
  • 1877 J. Lawrence Smith
  • 1876 John W. Draper

See also

  • ACS style - the ACS citation standard.
  • Association for Learned and Professional Society Publishers

References

  1. ^ American Chemical Society Founded 1876. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
  2. ^ PR's 'pit bull' takes on open access. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
  3. ^ Open Access to Science Under Attack. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "American_Chemical_Society". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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