The World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), founded in 1960, is an international non-governmental scientific organization and global network of more than 800 scientists, artists, and scholars in more than 90 countries.
It serves as a forum for scientists, artists, thinkers, political and social leaders to address global challenges from a transnational, transdisciplinary perspective independent of political boundaries and prevailing orthodoxies. Fellows are elected for their accomplishments in the sciences, arts and the humanities.
It has been granted special consultative status by the UN Economic and Social Council and consultative status by UNESCO. Originally established in Geneva, Switzerland in 1960, the academy was founded with the aim of creating an informal world association of the highest scientific and ethical norms and standards. In 2011 WAAS was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) public benefit charitable organization in the State of California. The Academy maintains offices in Napa, Bucharest, and Pondicherry, and has a special division for southeastern Europe.
History
An early concept for the foundation of the academy, and a set of world scientific and youth scientist and science journalist associations, was proposed in an article in Time magazine on October 1, 1938, by philosopher Etienne Gilson in the 1940s, and echoed in the 1950s by scientists who were concerned about the potential for misuse of scientific discoveries.
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, numerous scientists and intellectuals, who had witnessed the potential of humankind to destroy itself, began to explore the idea of an international, non-governmental body that could address the major concerns of humanity. Conversations began between prominent individuals such as Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and Joseph Rotblat, who had each played a role in the creation of the atomic bomb and were disturbed about the potential misuse of these new, powerful scientific discoveries. Einstein, in a foreword (in German) to the book "Science and the Future of Mankind," by former WAAS President Hugo Boyko in 1964, expresses a wish that “The discovery of the atomic chain reaction needs to bring about as little annihilation as the invention of matches.”
The origins of the association can be traced back to a letter drafted by Leo Szilard which Einstein sent to Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 2, 1939, warning him that recent research on fission chain reactions utilizing uranium made it probable that large amounts of power could be produced by a chain reaction and that, by harnessing this power, the construction of "extremely powerful bombs" was conceivable. He also suggested that Germany may already be working to develop such a weapon.
The letter resulted in the establishment of the Manhattan Project in 1942 under the leadership of Oppenheimer and to the development of the weapons that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
These events were followed by the development of the first Soviet atomic bomb in 1949 and the first Hydrogen bombs by the USA in 1952 — a step soon followed by the USSR. Concern grew as the Cold War turned into a nuclear arms race. In 1955 Einstein and Bertrand Russell joined with nine other scientists — four of whom later went on to found The World Academy of Art and Science — to issue the Russell–Einstein Manifesto, warning of the dire threat of global nuclear destruction.
The informal discussions taking place between these distinguished scientists and intellectuals evolved into a more serious commitment — toward the responsible and ethical advances of science. The First International Conference on Science and Human Welfare was held in Washington DC., and organized by two American scientists with experience in this field: Richard Montgomery Field of Princeton University, former chairman of an international committee that focused on the social values of science, and John A. Fleming, former President of the International Council of Scientific Unions, today known as the International Council for Science, founded in 1931.
At the conclusion of the conference, it was agreed that a World Academy would be formed, and a committee was elected to begin the first steps towards its formation. The International Preparatory Committee consisted of (from France) Pierre Chouard, George Laclavére and G. Le Lionnaise; (from the United Kingdom) Ritchie Calder, H. Munro Fox and Joseph Needham; and (from the United States) Robert Oppenheimer.
The Academy was officially founded on December 24, 1960.
