It's September 20th. 💡 On this day in 1848, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) convened its first meeting. Eighty-seven members attended. Their mission was "to promote intercourse between those who are cultivating science in different parts of the US; to give a stronger and more general impulse and a more systematic direction to scientific research in our country; and to procure for the labors of scientific men, increased facilities and a wider usefulness."
William C. Redfield, a saddle- and harness-maker, meteorologist, geologist, and promoter of railway and steamship development, was elected the association's first president. During the first dozen years of AAAS's existence, more than 2,000 people joined, including writer Henry David Thoreau and ex-US President Millard Fillmore. AAAS admitted its first female member, astronomer Maria Mitchell of Massachusetts, two years after its founding.
In 1883, thanks in part to funding from Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, AAAS published its flagship journal, "Science." Nowadays, "Science" is the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated one million readers. Its mission remains "to advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people." AAAS now has more than 120,000 members in 91 countries around the world, serving 10 million scientists in fields ranging from anthropology to zoology. ☮️Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet
