FOREIGN ASSOCIATES OF NATIONAL SOCIETIES 187 



FOEEIGN" ASSOCIATES OF NATIONAL SOCIETIES, III 



By Db. EDWARD C. PICKERING 



DIRECTOR OF THE HARVARD COLLEGE OBSERVATORY 



A Px\PER entitled " Foreign Associates of National Societies " was 

 -^--^ published in The Popular Science Monthly, Volume 73, page 

 372. A second paper on the same subject is contained in Volume 74, 

 page 80. Lists were prepared of those who had been elected as associate 

 members in the physical and natural sciences, by the seven leading so- 

 cieties of the world. To secure impartiality, the great nations of the 

 world were arranged in the order of population. Omitting China and 

 Japan they are Eussia, United States, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, 

 France, Italy, and are here designated by the letters, E, U, G, A, B, F, 

 I. The societies are the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, the Na- 

 tional Academy, the Eoyal Prussian Academy, the Eoyal Academy of 

 Sciences in Vienna, the Eoyal Society of London, the Institute of 

 France, and the Eoyal Academy of the Lincei. All the foreign mem- 

 bers of a society are regarded as foreign associates. The list already 

 published contained all persons who were foreign associates of two or 

 more of these societies. It may be claimed that this is the most un- 

 prejudiced list of eminent men ever selected. It would seldom happen 

 that any person, not worthy of the honor, could be elected into one of 

 these societies. The chance that he could be elected into two is so small 

 that it may be neglected. The first list was published in 1908, and 

 since then more than a third of the members have died. Moreover, 

 under existing conditions, it will probably be impossible for many years 

 to secure an unprejudiced election of foreigners into these societies. 

 It appears, therefore, to be the last chance to prepare an impartial list 

 of the men most eminent in the physical and natural sciences, in the 

 opinion of their contemporaries. 



Table I. contains, in successive columns, the names of each man 

 selected as described above, his residence, his department of work, date 

 of birth, age on election into each of the societies and, if not living, his 

 age at the time of his death. The date of the list is January 1, 1914, 

 but the last column is probably complete to January 1, 1915. The 

 letter a is added to indicate those men elected since 1908. It will be 

 noticed that, in three cases, men have been elected and died during the 

 last six years. 



Table L may be discussed in a variety of ways. The numbers may 

 be grouped according to the societies, countries or sciences. Examples 

 of some of the conclusions which may be derived are given below. 



