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The American Philosophical Society is a discussion group founded as the Junto in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin. Through research grants, published journals, the upkeep of an extensive library, and regular meetings, the society continues to advance careful study in a wide variety of disciplines in the humanities and the sciences.

From the beginning, the Society attracted some of America's finest minds. Early members included George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, David Rittenhouse, and John Marshall. The Society also drew philosophers from other nations as members, including Alexander von Humboldt, the Marquis de Lafayette, Baron von Steuben, Tadeusz Kościuszko, and Yekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova.

After the end of the American Revolution, the Society looked for leadership to Francis Hopkinson, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence. Under his influence, the Society received land from the government of Pennsylvania, along with a plot of land in Philadelphia where Philosophical Hall now stands.

Illustrious names have continually added themselves to the APS's membership roster, showing the breadth and depth of the society's reach. People from such diverse interests and backgrounds as Charles Darwin, Robert Frost, Louis Pasteur, Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, John James Audubon, Linus Pauling, Margaret Mead, Maria Mitchell, and Thomas Edison became members of the Society. The Society continues to attract names of high renown today, with a current membership list (as of the April 2005 elections) of 920 members. There are 772 Resident members (citizens or residents of the United States) and 148 Foreign members representing more than two dozen countries.

By 1746 the American Philosophical Society had lapsed into inactivity. In 1767, however, the Society was revived and united with the American Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge on January 2, 1769, adopting the name "American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge" and electing Benjamin Franklin as the first president of the group.[1]

In 1786, the Society established the Magellanic Premium, a prize for achievement in "navigation, astronomy, or natural philosophy", the oldest scientific prize awarded by an American institution, which it still awards. Other awards include the Barzun prize for cultural history, the Franklin medal, the Lashley award for neurobiology, the Lewis award, and the Jefferson medal for distinguished achievement in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.

The APS has published the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society since 1771. Currently five issues appear each year. The Proceedings have appeared since 1838: they publish the papers delivered at the biannual meetings of the Society. The Society has also published the collected papers of Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Henry, William Penn, and Lewis and Clark.

• The American Philosophical Society
• Notes on the American Philosophical Society from the Scholarly Societies project