[10] The US National Academy of Sciences was created by an Act of Incorporation dated March 3, 1863, which was signed by then President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
"[13] At the time, the academy's effort to support national defense readiness, the Committee on Nitric Acid Supply, was approved by Secretary of War Newton D. Baker.
Nitric acid was the substance basic in the making of propellants such as cordite, high explosives, dyes, fertilizers, and other products but availability was limited due to World War I.
[11] On June 1, 1917, the council convened a meeting of scientific representatives of the United Kingdom and France with interested parties from the U.S. on the subject of submarine detection.
The program units, formerly known as the National Research Council, are collectively the operating arm of the three academies for the purpose of providing objective policy advice.
Under this three-academy umbrella, the program units produce reports that shape policies, inform public opinion, and advance the pursuit of science, engineering, and medicine.
[30] Top scientists, engineers, health professionals, and other experts (not limited to those in academies membership) are enlisted to address the scientific and technical aspects of some of society's problems.
Study committees gather information from many sources in public meetings but deliberate in private in order to avoid political, special interest, and sponsor influence.
[32] In 2001, the NRC published the report Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions, which emphasized that national policy decisions made both in the near term and in the future will influence the extent of any damage suffered by vulnerable human populations and ecosystems later in this century.
The IPCC's conclusion that most of the observed warming of the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations accurately reflects the current[2001] thinking of the scientific community on this issue.
In an article about the report, Amber Stevenson, clinical supervisor and therapist at the Nashville Sexual Assault Center, said that victim-blaming was the main issue preventing victims from coming forward: As long as we as a community continue to make victim-blaming statements, such as, "She put herself in this situation,"..."She didn't fight back, she must have wanted it," we will continue to see rapes go unreported ... We have to stop blaming the victim.
[38] The Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellowship is an annual program for recent graduate students to spend three months working in the National Academies.
[41][42] According to the New York Times in 2023, "about 70 percent of the National Academies budget comes from federal funds, it also raised private donations from individuals, nonprofits and companies, including Chevron, Google, Merck, and Medtronic.