Federation of American Scientists

Federation of American Scientists

Founding

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) was founded in 1945 by scientists who had worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs. These scientists recognized that science had become central to many key public policy questions. They believed that scientists had a unique responsibility to both warn the public and policy leaders of potential dangers from scientific and technical advances and to show how good policy could increase the benefits of new scientific knowledge.

Hans Bethe, was one of the founders of FAS. Leo Szilard, Philip Morrison, Richard L. Meier and Harold Urey were others.

FAS was founded from the merger of thirteen smaller groups. It started with a membership of more than 2,000 scientists and an advisory panel that included Robert Oppenheimer, Harold Urey, Harlow Shapley, Smyth, Leo Szilard and Edward U. Condon.

First victory

In the late fall of 1945, as Congress began to deliberate about May-Johnson, dozens of scientists came to Washington, D.C. to fight for full civilian control of atomic weapons. Most of them had been part of local discussion groups; now they formed themselves into a national organization called the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). The group rented a one-room walk-up near the Capitol, equipped it with a single typewriter, made appointments with Senators and Representatives, sent fact-sheets to committees, and started talking to reporters. One of the leaders, Nobel laureate Harold Urey, called May-Johnson "the first totalitarian bill ever written by Congress. You can call it a Communist bill or a Nazi bill, whichever you think is worse."

They offered an alternative: Working with a Democratic Senator named McMahon they sponsored a bill calling for the creation of a purely civilian Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to oversee further research, led by a panel appointed by the president, with a civilian administrator and safeguards for independent research. The military was to have no representation. Control was to rest solely with civilians. The debate between the May-Johnson proponents and the McMahon backers continued into 1946, with the FAS working to make sure McMahon passed. To the amazement of many observers, they won. In July 1946, after the language in McMahon was softened to allow some military input, Congress rejected May-Johnson, passed the McMahon Bill, created the AEC, and handed the scientists a great and surprising victory.

Accusation of communist infiltration

In October 20, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy placed a statement in the Congressional Record charging that the Federation of American Scientists was "heavily infiltrated with communist fellow travelers."

President Stone

Jeremy Stone was the president of the Federation of American Scientists from 1970 to 2000.where he "led that organization's advocacy initiatives in arms control, human rights, and foreign policy". In 2000, he was succeeded as president by Dr. Henry Kelly. Stone continued his work at a new organization called Catalytic Diplomacy. Stone is the son of the journalist and confirmed Soviet agent I.F. Stone.

In 1995 FAS presented Jeremy Stone, its chief executive officer, with its Public Service Award on his 25th year of service, calling him the "head and heart of FAS for its second quarter century." Now, approaching 30 years in his post, he announces his intention to retire and embody his continuing efforts for peace and security in a new way.

In 1970, Jeremy took over the management of an organization that was losing its vitality and revived it. He increased its membership to record levels, recruited a distinguished list of sponsors, and recruited and retained an excellent staff. For these three decades, he has provided the energy to drive the organization and the critical leadership to steer it. He shaped and harmonized the ideas of its officers and active membership, often on ideas he himself had generated. His long tenure made him the dean of public interest organizations in our field. Through creative methods of fund-raising, he went well beyond maintaining the organization; he is leaving it with substantial assets that provide the capability to initiate and support important projects that cannot be immediately funded.

Beyond expanding and administering the organization, Jeremy has made significant contributions to peace and security in arms control treaty-making on ABM and nuclear weapons reductions, in improving relations between the United States and Russia and China, in human rights and in international scientific exchange.

We welcome his intention to continue to work under the rubric of Catalytic Diplomacy, and expect that he will find useful collaborations with FAS and other like-minded organizations in pursuing common goals.

Board of Sponsors

• Nobel Laureate

• Peter Agre*
• Sidney Altman*
• Bruce Ames
• Philip W. Anderson*
• Kenneth J. Arrow*
• David Baltimore*
• Paul Beeson
• Baruj Benacerraf*
• Paul Berg*
• J. Michael Bishop*
• Gunther Blobel*
• Nicolaas Bloembergen*
• Paul Boyer*
• Anne Pitts Carter
• Morris Cohen
• Stanley Cohen*
• Mildred Cohn
• Leon N. Cooper*
• E.J. Corey*
• Paul B. Cornely
• James Cronin*
• Johann Deisenhofer*
• Carl Djerassi
• Ann Druyan
• Renato Dulbecco*
• John T. Edsall
• Paul Ehrlich
• George Field
• Val L. Fitch*
• Jerome D. Frank
• Jerome I. Friedman*
• Robert Furchgott*
• Riccardo Giacconi*
• Walter Gilber*
• Alfred G. Gilman*
• Donald Glaser*
• Sheldon L. Glashow*
• Marvin L. Goldberger
• Joseph L. Goldstein*
• Roger C.L. Guillemin*
• Leland H. Hartwell*
• Herbert A. Hauptman*
• Dudley R. Herschbach*
• Frank von Hippel
• Roald Hoffmann*
• John Holdren
• H. Robert Horvitz*
• David H. Hubel*
• Eric R. Kandel*
• Jerome Karle*
• Carl Kaysen
• Wolfgang Ketterle*
• Nathan Keyfitz
• H. Gobind Khorana*
• Walter Kohn *
• Arthur Kornberg*
• Edwin Krebs*
• Leon Lederman*
• William Lipscomb*
• Roderick MacKinnon*
• Eric S. Maskin *
• Jessica Tuchman Mathews
• Roy Menninger
• Matthew S. Meselson
• Mario Molina*
• Stephen S. Morse
• Ferid Murad*
• Joseph E. Murray *
• Franklin A. Neva
• Douglas D. Osheroff*
• Arno A. Penzias*
• Martin L. Perl*
• Paul Portney
• Mark Ptashne
• Norman F. Ramsey*
• George Rathjens
• Burton Richter*
• Richard J. Roberts*
• Vernon Ruttan
• Jeffrey Sachs
• J. Robert Schrieffer*
• Andrew M. Sessler
• Phillip A. Sharp*
• K. Barry Sharpless*
• Stanley Sheinbaum
• Neil Smelser
• Robert M. Solow*
• Jack Steinberger*
• Joseph Stiglitz*
• E.Donnall Thomas*
• Charles H. Townes*
• Daniel Tsui*
• Harold E. Varmus*
• Myron Wegman
• Robert A. Weinberg
• Steven Weinberg*
• Eric F. Wieschaus*
• Torsten N. Wiesel*
• Frank Wilczek*