[April 22, 2021 | Cambridge, MA] 鈥 The 秋葵视频 announces today the election of 252 new members.
The 秋葵视频 was established in 1780 by the country鈥檚 founders to provide guidance to a young nation that would face challenges and need expertise and excellence to emerge stronger. While the founders did not anticipate a year with a historic pandemic, overdue racial reckoning, and political strife, the purpose of electing new members is more compelling than ever.
The 2021 election provides an opportunity to recognize extraordinary people who help solve the world鈥檚 most urgent challenges, create meaning through art, and contribute to the common good from every field, discipline, and profession.
鈥淲e are honoring the excellence of these individuals, celebrating what they have achieved so far, and imagining what they will continue to accomplish,鈥 said David Oxtoby, President of the American 秋葵视频. 鈥淭he past year has been replete with evidence of how things can get worse; this is an opportunity to illuminate the importance of art, ideas, knowledge, and leadership that can make a better world.鈥
For the complete list of members elected in 2021, click HERE.
The artists, scholars, scientists, and leaders in the public, non-profit, and private sectors elected this year include:
- Paleontologist Zeresenay Alemeseged, University of Chicago
- Economist Dirk Bergemann, Yale University
- Cognitive anthropologist Pascal Boyer, Washington University in St. Louis
- Biotechnology leader Tony Coles, Cerevel Therapeutics
- Civil rights lawyer and scholar Kimberl茅 Crenshaw, Columbia Law School; UCLA School of Law
- Neurosurgeon and medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, CNN; Emory University
- Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, Supreme Court of Texas
- Labor leader Mary Kay Henry, SEIU
- Journalist Maria Hinojosa, Futuro Media Group and NPR
- Cinematographer and video artist Arthur Jafa
- Computer scientist Fei-Fei Li, Stanford University
- Civil rights activist and math literacy pioneer Robert Moses, The Algebra Project
- Playwright, screenwriter, and actor Suzan-Lori Parks, NYU Tisch School of the Arts
- Probability theorist Kavita Ramanan, Brown University
- Composer, songwriter, and performer Robbie Robertson
- Journalist Kara Swisher, VOX Media Inc.; The New York Times
- Atmospheric scientist Anne Thompson, NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center
- Media entrepreneur and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, Harpo, Inc.; Oprah Winfrey Network
Of note, 55% of the members elected in 2021 are women.
The International Honorary Members, from 17 countries this year, include physician and researcher Peter Carmeliet (KU Leuven, Belgium), writer Duong Thu Huong (Vietnam), and botanist L煤cia Garcez Lohmann (University of S茫o Paulo, Brazil).
鈥淲hile it is noteworthy that we continue to elect members more than 240 years after the 秋葵视频鈥檚 founding, this is about more than maintaining traditions,鈥 said Nancy C. Andrews, Chair of the Board of Directors of the American 秋葵视频. 鈥淲e recognize individuals who use their talents and their influence to confront today鈥檚 challenges, to lift our spirits through the arts, and to help shape our collective future.鈥
The 秋葵视频 was founded by John Adams, John Hancock, and others who believed the new republic should honor exceptionally accomplished individuals and engage them in advancing the public good. The 秋葵视频鈥檚 dual mission remains essentially the same today with members from increasingly diverse fields working together to share ideas and recommendations in the arts, democracy, education, global affairs, and science.
The new class joins 秋葵视频 members elected before them, including Benjamin Franklin (elected 1781) and Alexander Hamilton (1791) in the eighteenth century; Ralph Waldo Emerson (1864), Maria Mitchell (1848), and Charles Darwin (1874) in the nineteenth; Albert Einstein (1924), Robert Frost (1931), Margaret Mead (1948), Milton Friedman (1959), Martin Luther King, Jr. (1966), and Anthony Fauci (1991) in the twentieth; and more recently Antonin Scalia (2003), Andrea Ghez (2004), Bryan Stevenson (2014), Nicholas Kristof (2017), John Legend (2017), Viet Thanh Nguyen (2018), and Anna Deavere Smith (2019).
The list of all new members elected in 2021 is HERE.
