View source for Philosophical Society of Washington

{{Short description|Scientific society in Washington, D.C.}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = The Philosophical Society of Washington
| formation           = {{Start date and age|1871|3|13}}
| location            = [[Cosmos Club]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| leader_title        = President
| leader_name         = Larry Millstein
| founder             = [[Joseph Henry]]
| website             = {{URL|https://pswscience.org}}
}}
[[File:Joseph Henry (1879).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Joseph Henry]], the society's first president]]
Founded in 1871, the '''Philosophical Society of Washington''' is the oldest scientific society in [[Washington, D.C.]] It continues today as '''PSW Science'''.
Since 1887, the Society has met regularly in the assembly hall of the [[Cosmos Club]]. In the Club's present location since 1951, the assembly hall is now called the [[John Wesley Powell]] auditorium. Meetings are roughly every other Friday, except in the summer. Meetings are free and open to the public. A lecture is given by a scientist at each meeting.
In 1931, the Society established the ongoing Joseph Henry Lecture series.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Curtis|first1=H. L.|last2=Judson|first2=L. V.|date=1931-08-14|title=The Joseph Henry Lectureship of the Philosophical Society of Washington|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.74.1911.168.a|journal=Science|language=en|volume=74|issue=1911|pages=168|doi=10.1126/science.74.1911.168|issn=0036-8075}}</ref> The lectures present speakers at who have reached the pinnacles of their respective fields, and in recent years have included [[Nobel Prize|Nobel]] laureates [[Baruch Samuel Blumberg|Baruch Blumberg]], [[William Daniel Phillips|William D. Phillips]], [[John C. Mather]], and [[Craig Mello]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Joseph Henry Lecture Archives|url=https://pswscience.org/tag/joseph-henry-lecture/|access-date=2021-04-16|website=PSW Science|language=en}}</ref>
== History ==
=== The Saturday Club ===
In 1846, the [[Smithsonian Institution]] was founded and its Regents elected [[Joseph Henry]] as the Institution’s first Secretary.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Anonymous|date=2011-03-09|title=Joseph Henry, 1797-1878|url=https://siarchives.si.edu/history/joseph-henry|access-date=2021-04-16|website=Smithsonian Institution Archives}}</ref> In 1855, the [[Smithsonian Institution Building|Smithsonian Castle]] was completed, with space for exhibitions, research laboratories, and living quarters for Henry and his family.<ref>{{Cite web|last=sysadmin|date=1871-03-13|title=Philosophical Society of Washington Established|url=https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_77|access-date=2021-04-16|website=Smithsonian Institution Archives|language=en}}</ref>
Sometime before the outbreak of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Henry and several other men interested in science formed a small club called the Saturday Club.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Frenkiel|first=Francois|date=1962|title=Origin and Early Days of the Philosophical Society of Washington|url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/fnh6723tys91rk8/Volume%2016.pdf?dl=0|journal=Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington|volume=16|pages=12–13}}</ref> Their meetings were held the homes of its members, and were devoted to discussion of scientific questions.<ref name=":0" /> Meetings followed by a social with supper and refreshments provided by the evening’s host.<ref name=":0" />
The Saturday Club eventually grew to more than forty members and some found it difficult to accommodate the group in their homes.<ref name=":0" /> Henry recommended to resolve this difficulty by organizing a society that would be available to any man of science in Washington.<ref name=":0" />
=== Founding of the Philosophical Society of Washington ===
Henry’s recommendation led Saturday Club members to formally write to Henry:
<blockquote>Prof. Joseph Henry, LL.D.
<p>
The undersigned respectfully request you to preside at a meeting which they propose to hold for the purpose of forming a society, having for its object the free exchange of views on scientific subjects, and the promotion of scientific inquiry among its members.</p></blockquote>
43 men signed the letter.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|date=1874|title=Letter to Joseph Henry|url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/ff92wfjfb0jymu3/Volume%201.pdf?dl=0|journal=Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington|volume=1|pages=19–20}}</ref> According to former Society President [[William Jackson Humphreys|W.J. Humphreys]], these signers “represented…every branch of both the natural and the exact sciences.”<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Humphreys|first=W. J.|date=1930|title=The Philosophical Society of Washington through a thousand meetings|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24523672|journal=Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences|volume=20|issue=13|pages=245–316|jstor=24523672|issn=0043-0439}}</ref>
The signers included: [[mathematician]] [[Simon Newcomb]]; [[astronomer]] [[Asaph Hall]]; [[Malacology|malacologist]] [[William Healey Dall|William H. Dall]]; [[Chief Engineer of the Army]] [[Andrew A. Humphreys]]; [[Quartermaster General of the Army]] [[Montgomery C. Meigs]]; [[Surgeon General of the United States|Surgeon General]] [[Joseph Barnes (American physician)|Joseph K. Barnes]]; and [[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]] [[Salmon P. Chase]].<ref name=":1" />
“In response to this call,” according to the minutes of the first meeting, “a meeting of the subscribers thereto was convened and held at the Smithsonian Institution, in the Regents’ room, on Monday, March 13, 1871.”<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|date=1874|title=Minutes of the 2nd Meeting|url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/ff92wfjfb0jymu3/Volume%201.pdf?dl=0|journal=Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington|volume=1|pages=21}}</ref> The outline of a Constitution was adopted, and a General Committee was established, and officers were elected, including President Joseph Henry.<ref name=":2" />
=== Early meetings ===
The next meetings of the new Society were held in the annex of the [[Surgeon General of the United States|Surgeon General]]’s office in [[Ford's Theatre|Ford’s Theater]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Dall|first=William H.|date=1918|title=The origin and early days of the Philosophical Society of Washington|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24521443|journal=Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences|volume=8|issue=2|pages=29–34|jstor=24521443|issn=0043-0439}}</ref> In a published oral history, founding member William Dall explained the change:
<blockquote>Then General Barnes, who was Surgeon-General, and was one of the members, was good enough to offer us more commodious quarters in the city. In those days, coming to the Smithsonian building, especially at night, was something of a task. The paths were not paved; if it happened to be rainy it was a very muddy walk indeed…At that time, nearly all of the members of the Society lived in the city and therefore found it desirable to have the place of meeting where they would not have to go through the Smithsonian grounds, often through a considerable amount of mud.<ref name=":3" /></blockquote>
At the second meeting, held Saturday, March 18, 1871, the first scientific paper was presented to the Society.<ref name=":2" /> Professor [[Spencer Fullerton Baird|S.F. Baird]] communicated on behalf of the author, “Official Report of the [[Yellowstone National Park|Yellowstone]] Expedition of 1870.”<ref name=":2" />
About the early meetings at Ford’s Theater, librarian [[John Shaw Billings|John S. Billings]] remembered:
<blockquote>[The] entrance up the narrow stairs, often pervaded with a scientific odor from the laboratory on the lower floor – an odor once compared to that of the deluge at low tide – the devious and complicated route from the head of the stair, past the General Committee room, to the place of meeting; the rather gloomy room, walled in from floor to ceiling with books from whose dingy backs no light was reflected, and yet in its general aspects and surroundings in many respects appropriate to the objects and purposes of the company gathered therein.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>The Society met at Ford’s Theater for sixteen years. Regular meetings were held on alternate Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and were to be devoted to the consideration and discussion of scientific subjects, except for the annual meetings, when the conduct of business of the Society was discussed.
Those early meetings included presentations on a wide scope of scientific matters:
* In 1872, [[Benjamin Peirce]] and [[William Harkness]] gave presentations on the nature of the [[sun]] and its [[Stellar corona|corona]].
* In 1877, [[Alexander Graham Bell]] demonstrated his [[telephone]] for the Society, weeks before his patent on the “box” phone.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Alexander Graham Bell Demonstrates Telephone for Joseph Henry's Family|url=https://www.si.edu/object/siris_sic_12590|access-date=2021-04-16|website=Smithsonian Institution|language=en}}</ref> He later told the Society of his experiments on the [[photophone]] and spectrophone.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Alexander Graham|date=July 1881|title=Production of Sound by Radiant Energy|journal=Popular Science Monthly|volume=19}}</ref>
* In 1886, [[Albert Francis Zahm|Albert F. Zahm]] presented a paper on [[Skin friction drag|skin friction]], years before any [[airplane]] took to the sky.
* And, in an era when travel was more difficult, members delivered accounts of their travels to the outer reaches of the [[Western United States|Western territories]] and around the globe.
According to [[geologist]] [[Clarence Dutton|Clarence E. Dutton]], “[a]t those meetings, the attendance was always large for a local scientific society whose routine meetings were held for the sole purpose of reading formal papers.”<ref name=":0" />
=== Residence at the Cosmos Club and later history ===
[[File:Cutts-Madison House - 1883.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|When the [[Cosmos Club]] moved in 1887 to the Dolley Madison House (shown here in 1883), the Society began holding its regular meetings there.]]
In 1878, the [[Cosmos Club]] was founded and all local members of the Philosophical Society were invited to join.
The Club moved to its own building, known now as the [[Cutts–Madison House|Dolley Madison House]] on [[Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.|Lafayette Square]], and invited the Society to hold its meetings there. The Society accepted the invitation. Ever since the Society’s 300th meeting on March 26, 1887, the Society has held its regular meetings at the Cosmos Club and moved with the Club in 1951, to its current location in the [[Townsend House (Washington, D.C.)|Townsend House]] on Massachusetts Avenue.
The Society further evolved in the 20th Century. In 1919, after forty-eight years of meeting without refreshment, the Society sanctioned its first social hour following the formal meeting.
On March 12, 1921, one day shy of the Society’s 50th anniversary, [[Amelia K. Benson]] became the first woman to address the Society.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last1=Kimball|first1=H. H.|last2=Doolittle|first2=A. A.|title=Proceedings of the Academy and Affiliated Societies|date=1921|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24532524|journal=Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences|volume=11|issue=13|pages=313–317|jstor=24532524|issn=0043-0439}}</ref> Ms. Benson spoke about a paper she co-authored, titled, "A comparison of the International Hydrogen Scale with the standard scale of temperature defined by the platinum resistance thermometer."<ref name=":4" />
And, while recording the election of new members was inconsistent before and after the Annual Meeting of 1930, the minutes of that meeting are the first to mention the election of a woman, “Miss G. Back,” to membership.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1931|title=Minutes of the 1013th Meeting|journal=Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences|volume=21|pages=170}}</ref> More women followed, both in membership and in the president’s chair.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://philsoc.org/ Official website]
**[https://pswscience.org/bulletins/ "Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington"]
*[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNiTfOS0R4xai51DTpNL_3A PSW Science YouTube]
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[[Category:1871 establishments in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Culture of Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1871]]
[[Category:Scientific societies based in the United States]]