National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a private, nonprofit society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the progress of science and technology and their use for the public good. The NAS was signed into being by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1863, at the height of the U.S. Civil War. Its foundation was symbolic of the burgeoning interest in science and technology that was characteristic of the 19th century, which saw the emergence of three major organizations: the Smithsonian Institution in 1846, the American Association for the Promotion (later, Advancement) of Science in 1848, and the NAS in 1863.

As mandated in its Act of Incorporation, the NAS has, since 1863, served to “investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art,” whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government. It eventually expanded to include the National Research Council in 1916, the National Academy of Engineering in 1964, and the Institute of Medicine in 1970. The NAS is extremely influential in U.S. science and technology policy making. Initially a much smaller body, after the U.S. triumph in World War II, the NAS expanded dramatically. Symbolic of this new era was its acceptance of responsibility for the long-term Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission for the Atomic Energy Commission, the Medical Follow-Up Agency for the Veterans Administration in 1946, and the national road test program of its Highway Research Board in 1955.

The NAS provides advice on Science and Technology issues through its operating arm, the National Research Council—created expressly for this purpose. The NAS, along with the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council, do not receive a direct appropriation from the government, which ensures their independent advice. For example, in 2008, a report from the National Research Council, sponsored by the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council, highlighted serious weaknesses in the government's plan for research on the potential health and environmental risks posed by nanomaterials.

Given the nascent nature of nanotechnology, the NAS wants to ensure that assessments of the possible risks of the new technology address challenges of broad societal significance: the reduction or prevention of harm to humans and the environment. It has called for risk assessment to be proactive—identifying possible risks and ways to mitigate risks before the technology has widespread commercial presence. The NAS insists that risk assessments address nanotechnology-based products that are beginning to enter commerce, as well as those under development, and that extant research lays the scientific groundwork for addressing materials and products that potentially will arise out of new research, new tools, and cross-fertilization between distinct fields of science and technology. The NAS has called for both targeted research, which addresses questions that are critical for ensuring the safety of nanomaterials and products that contain them, and exploratory research, which generates new knowledge that will inform future goals and research directions.

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