1840

Establishment of first professional scientific society in U.S., Association of American Geologists, which became the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1847, led by Louis Agassiz and Benjamin Peirce.  National Academy of Science followed in 1851: “Simply by providing an occasion for meeting and talking together, the two organizations helped crystallize a pecking order among the nation’s scientific men. . . . Furthermore, the existence of these two overarching professional structures facilitated the formation of collegial networks of men working on closely related, specialized problems” (Haskell, 68-74, quoted at 73).