Two Columbia faculty members—Martin Chalfie and Michael Harris—were elected to the American Philosophical Society (APS), the oldest learned society in North America, founded by Benjamin Franklin for the "promotion of useful knowledge." Election to the Society recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in every field of study as well as distinguished work in the arts, business, and public service.
Martin Chalfie is a University Professor and former chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University. He shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his introduction of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as a biological marker. His lab uses the nematode C. elegans to investigate aspects of nerve cell development and function including the genetic control and maintenance of neuronal cell fate and mechanosensory transduction and its modulation. He is currently the chair of the Committee on Human Rights for the US National Academies.
Michael Harris, a professor of mathematics, works in number theory, one of the oldest branches of mathematics, which focuses on the often subtle properties of solutions of equations in whole numbers. His work has centered on the role of geometric structures and properties of symmetry in solving problems in number theory. He is the author of the 2015 book, Mathematics Without Apologies, and the newsletter, Silicon Reckoner, both of which celebrate the humanity embedded in a discipline sometimes viewed as robotic or two-dimensional.
Former members of the society include major figures in intellectual and political life, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Charles Darwin, and Sandra Day O’Connor.
