Volume 16, Number 12 · July 1, 1971
The Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences
By Steve Smale
Having been in the organization about a year, I had begun to get some flavor of 'the prestigious National Academy of Sciences,' as it is often referred to in newspaper stories. The National Academy of Sciences is an organization, set up by the US government under Lincoln, whose charter gives it the function of advising the federal government when called upon. Every few days some communication arrived from the NAS—a newsletter, a ballot, a journal, etc. In the midst of this pile of more or less junk mail, my eye caught the first part of a letter by Dick Lewontin which started: 'Dear Mr. President: One of the few advantages of being a member of the National Academy of Sciences is that it provides one with a life pass to the Theater of the Absurd….'
Feature, 1522 words
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