Five OSA Members Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Five OSA members have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. They were among the 72 new members and 18 foreign associates elected on April 29, 2008 during the 145th annual meeting of the Academy.

Members and foreign associates are elected annually. Election is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a scientist or engineer.

The OSA members are:

Alain Aspect, CNRS senior researcher at Institut d'Optique, and professor at Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau (France)

Wilson S. Geisler, professor of psychology and biomedical engineering and David Wechsler Regents Chair, department of psychology, University of Texas, Austin

Claire E. Max, professor, astronomer, and director, Center for Adaptive Optics, University of California, Santa Cruz

David A.B. Miller, W.M. Keck Foundation Professor of Electrical Engineering, Ginzton Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

Peter Zoller, University Professor, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

The current election brings the total number of active members of the National Academy of Sciences to 2,041 and the total number of foreign associates to 397.  Foreign associates are nonvoting members of the Academy, with citizenship outside the United States. 

The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare.  It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation 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.

Read The National Academies press release.