On Sept. 20, 1848, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was founded which marked the emergence of a national scientific community in the U.S. The AAAS was the first organization established to promote the development of science and engineering at the national level and to represent the interests of all its disciplines.

While science was part of the American scene from the nation’s early days, its practitioners remained few in number and scattered geographically and among disciplines. AAAS was the first permanent organization formed to promote the development of science and engineering at the national level and to represent the interests of all its disciplines.

Participants in AAAS meetings, held in cities across the country, represented a who’s who of science. The meetings were covered widely by newspapers, which sometimes reprinted their proceedings verbatim.

However, AAAS’s permanence was not preordained and, despite the many contributions it made during its first 50 years, the Association came close to extinction more than once. Ultimately, an alliance with Science magazine, which had failed as a private venture, rejuvenated both the magazine and AAAS.

Today, the AAAS serves some 261 affiliated societies and academies of science and publishes the peer-reviewed general science journal Science.