[2]: 32 In order to do this, it holds an annual meeting that is a scientific forum[3] for the research community[4][5] and also provides outreach to the public about olfaction (smell), gustation (taste) and chemesthesis (trigeminal chemosensation).
The association was founded in 1978 by Maxwell M. Mozell, a neuroscientist at the State University of New York, with the help of a grant from the National Science Foundation.
[2]: 31 This annual meeting consists of presentations on olfaction, gustation, and chemesthesis, as well as workshops sponsored by the National Institute of Health.
[12] In 2004, AChemS member Linda Buck and Richard Axel were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system".
[13] To celebrate this honor, at the 2005 AChemS annual meeting, Buck and Axel were keynote speakers,[14] recapping their research published in the journal Cell in 1991,[15] which led to the Nobel award.