Four Johns Hopkins researchers are among the 198 new members elected to the 2013 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a group that includes past winners of the Nobel Prize, the National Medal of Science, the Lasker Award, Pulitzer and Shaw prizes, MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, Kennedy Center Honors, and Grammy, Emmy, Academy, and Tony awards.
This year's honorees from Johns Hopkins are Geraldine Seydoux, a professor of molecular biology and genetics at the School of Medicine, whose lab uses genetic and molecular techniques to study early embryo development; Timothy Heckman, the Dr. A. Herman Pfund Professor in the Krieger School's Department of Physics and Astronomy, who studies astrophysics, active galaxies, and quasars; Mark Kamionkowski, also a professor in Physics and Astronomy, whose research is in cosmology, astrophysics, and elementary-particle theory; and Stephen Nichols, the James M. Beall Professor Emeritus of French and Humanities in the Krieger School, who specializes in medieval literature, art, and history.
The new members, announced April 24, bring to 51 the number of AAAS members currently on the Johns Hopkins faculty.
Other members of the class include David J. Wineland, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics; actors Robert De Niro and Sally Field; Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Annie Dillard; operatic soprano Renée Fleming; singer-songwriters Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen; and astronaut, former senator, and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner John Glenn.
Since its founding in 1780, the academy has elected leading "thinkers and doers" from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th century, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the 20th century.
The new members will be inducted at a ceremony on Oct. 12 at the academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.
