One of the world’s most prestigious academies, American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced the election of new members for 2022 on 29th April, 2022. This year Professor Maharaj K. Pandit (CEO, IoE), Department of Environmental Studies has been elected to the Academy in the field of Biological Sciences: Ecology & Evolution. Prof. Pandit is the only Indian Scientist working from India to be bestowed this honour this year.
The communication addressed to Prof. Pandit announcing the election of new members was received from the office of the President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences which reads as follows:
“Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together, as expressed in our charter, “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” Our studies have helped set the direction of research and analysis in science and technology policy, global security and international affairs, social policy, education, and the arts and humanities.
With your election, you join the company of notable members – from our founders John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Maria Mitchell, and Alexander Graham Bell. Other distinguished members have included Margaret Mead, Jonas Salk, Barbara McClintock, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Aaron Copland, Martha Graham, John Hope Franklin, Georgia O’Keeffe, E. O. Wilson, Madeleine Albright, and Colin Powell. International Honorary Members have included Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Wislawa Szymborska, Laurence Olivier, Mary Leakey, Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Akira Kurosawa, and Nelson Mandela. Our current members represent today’s innovative thinkers in every field and profession, including more than two hundred and fifty Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners. A list of current Academy members in your field is available here (Evolution and Ecology).”
There are only 31 international members elected to the Academy this year and Prof. Maharaj Pandit is one among them. Speaking about the recognition, Professor Pandit, remarked, “beyond personal satisfaction,seeing the University of Delhi listed among the global institutions including the Ivy League, is the idea I cherish the most”.
The Academy has chosen Prof. Pandit among stiff global competition for his long-standing work on the Himalayan ecosystems and for uncovering some fundamental general principles in ecology and evolution. Some of the top global scientists have congratulated Prof. Pandit for this well-deserved recognition.
The University of Delhi is celebrating its centenary and this recognition is a befitting news for the academic community of this institution.