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{{Infobox organization
| name         = American Chemical Society
| image        = American Chemical Society logo.svg
| image_border =
| size         = 200 px
| caption      =
| formation    = [[1876]]
| type         =
| headquarters = [[Washington, DC]]
| location     = [[United States]]
| membership   = 160,000
| language     = English
| leader_title = President
| leader_name  = Thomas H. Lane
| key_people   = Madeline Jacobs (CEO)
| num_staff    =
| budget       =
| website      = http://www.acs.org/
}}
The '''American Chemical Society''' ('''ACS''') is a [[learned society]] ([[professional association]]) based in the [[United States]] that supports scientific inquiry in the field of [[chemistry]].  Founded in [[1876]] at [[New York University]], the ACS currently has over 160,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, [[chemical engineering]], and related fields. 

The ACS is a [[501(c)]]3 non-profit organization. The ACS holds national meetings twice a year covering the complete field of chemistry, plus dozens of smaller conferences in specific fields. Its publications division produces several scholarly [[journal]]s including the [[Journal of the American Chemical Society]]. The primary source of income of the ACS is the [[Chemical Abstracts Service]] and its publications.  [[Chemical & Engineering News]] is the weekly news magazine published by the American Chemical Society and is sent to all members. The ACS membership is organized into 189 geographical Local Sections and 33 Technical Divisions.

The group holds a [[congressional charter]] under [[Title 36 of the United States Code]].
== Origins ==
The American Chemical Society had its origins in 35 chemists who met on 6 April 1876, at the University Building in the [[New York University]] (titled "University of the City of New York" at that time; its name was officially changed in 1896).<ref>[http://acswebcontent.acs.org/landmarks/landmarks/draper/index.html The American Chemical Society<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Although at that time there was an American science society ([[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]), the growth of chemistry prompted those assembled, including [[William H. Nichols]], under the direction of Professor [[Charles F. Chandler]] of the [[Columbia School of Mines]], to found the American Chemical Society, which would focus more directly on theoretical and applied [[chemistry]].  The society, Chandler said, would “prove a powerful and healthy stimulus to original research, … would awaken and develop much talent now wasting in isolation, … [bring] members of the association into closer union, and ensure a better appreciation of our science and its students on the part of the general public.”

A formal vote for organization was taken, a constitution was adopted, and officers were selected.  Chandler was an obvious choice as president since he had been instrumental in establishing the society.  However, he felt that New York University Professor [[John William Draper]] had the reputation as a scientist to lead a national organization.  At the age of 65, Draper was elected as the first president of the American Chemical Society and the headquarters was located in [[New York]].  Draper’s presidency was important more due to his name and reputation than his active participation in the society.

== Educational activities ==
The American Chemical Society sponsors the [[United States National Chemistry Olympiad]] (USNCO), a contest used to select the four-member team that represents the United States at the [[International Chemistry Olympiad]] (IChO).  The ACS [http://www3.uwm.edu/dept/chemexams/ Division of Chemical Education] provides standardized tests for various subfields of chemistry. The two most commonly-used tests are the undergraduate-level tests for general and organic chemistry. Each of these tests consists of 70 multiple-choice questions, and gives students 120 minutes to complete the exam.

The American Chemical Society grants membership to undergraduates as student affiliates provided they can pay the $70 yearly dues. Any university may start its own chapter of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS) and receive benefits of undergraduate participation in regional conferences and discounts on ACS publications.

The ACS also approves certified undergraduate programs in chemistry.  A student who completes the required laboratory and course work--sometimes in excess of what a particular college may require for its [[Bachelor's degree]]--is considered by the Society to be well trained for professional work.<ref>[http://portal.acs.org/portal/fileFetch/C/WPCP_008491/pdf/WPCP_008491.pdf Undergraduate Professional Education in Chemistry 2008]</ref>

==Controversies==

=== Pre-web===
The ACS and [[Dialog (online database)|Dialog]] engaged in suit-countersuit actions in the early 1990s over the use of scientific information.<ref>See [http://www.libsci.sc.edu/BOB/chemnet/CC1950.HTM this site] for the date and [http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/85/8524cover2.html this site] for details.</ref>

=== Opposition to PubChem===
The ACS has been criticized for opposing the creation of [[PubChem]], which is an [[Open access (publishing)|open access]] chemical compound database maintained by the [[National Center for Biotechnology Information]]. The ACS raised concerns that the publicly supported PubChem database appears to directly compete with their existing [[Chemical Abstracts Service]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.308.5723.774a |year=2005 |month=May |author=Kaiser J |title=Science resources. The society wanted the NIH to curtail database |volume=308 |issue=5723 |pages=774 |pmid=15879180 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]}}</ref> The ACS has a strong financial interest in the issue since the Chemical Abstracts Service generates a large percentage of the society's revenue. To advocate their position against the PubChem database, ACS has actively lobbied the US Congress. They are reported to have paid the lobbying firm [[Hicks Partners]] LLC at least $100,000 in 2005 to try to persuade congressional members, the NIH, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) against establishing a publicly funded database. They also were reported to have spent $180,000 to hire [[Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates]] to promote the 'use of [a] commercial database.' In a [[May 23]], [[2005]], press release, the ACS stated:

:''The ACS believes strongly that the Federal Government should not seek to become a taxpayer supported publisher. By collecting, organizing, and disseminating small molecule information whose creation it has not funded and which duplicates CAS services, NIH has started ominously, down the path to unfettered scientific publishing...''

===Stance against open access===
The journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' reported that ACS had hired a public relations firm, Dezenhall Resources, to try to halt the open access movement.[http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070122/full/445347a.html] ''[[Scientific American]]'' later reported that ACS had spent over $200,000 to hire Wexler & Walker Public Policy Association to lobby against open access.[http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa001&articleID=60AADF2C-E7F2-99DF-383C632C90DD1AA5]

===Google lawsuit===

An ACS lawsuit against [[Google]], over [[Google Scholar]], was settled out of court in 2006.<ref>See [http://news.cnet.com/Google-Scholar-trademark-case-ends/2100-1025_3-6096240.html this site] for details.</ref>

===Excessive executive compensation===
In 2004 when the current executive director of the ACS, Madeleine Jacobs, assumed her position it included the use of two Cadillac town cars and a chauffeur that her predecessor, John Crum, had acquired.<ref>[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/305/5689/1399b Random Samples - Judicious spender.Science 3 September 2004, Vol. 305. no. 5689, p. 1399]</ref> Jacobs auctioned off the cars and let go of the chauffeur.  

In 2007 Madeline Jacobs was reported to receive a salary of over $800,000 US per year.<ref>[http://www.idontcare.com/acs/ ACS/CAS Salaries for 1992-2007 at idontcare.com</ref>  The salaries of the ACS executives (executive director, treasurer, and secretary) are decided by the Standing Committee on Executive Compensation which is composed of the "president, the immediate past president, the chair of the society committee on budget and finance, and two members of the society with demonstrated expertise in senior and executive staff compensation."<ref>[http://portal.acs.org/portal/fileFetch/C/WPCP_008231/pdf/WPCP_008231.pdf Constitution, Bylaws, and Regulations of the American Chemical Society, 2008]</ref>

== Journals and magazines ==
<div style="-moz-column-count:4; column-count:4;">
*[[Accounts of Chemical Research]]
*[[ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces]]
*[[ACS Chemical Biology]]
*[[ACS Nano]]
*[[ACS Chemical Neuroscience]]
*[[Analytical Chemistry (journal)|Analytical Chemistry]]
*[[Biochemistry (journal)|Biochemistry]]
*[[Bioconjugate Chemistry]]
*[[Biomacromolecules]]
*[[Chemical & Engineering News]]
*[[Chemical Research in Toxicology]]
*[[Chemical Reviews]]
*[[Chemistry of Materials]]
*[[Crystal Growth & Design]]
*[[Energy & Fuels]]
*[[Environmental Science & Technology]]
*[[Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research]]
*[[Inorganic Chemistry (journal)|Inorganic Chemistry]]
*[[Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry]]
*[[Journal of the American Chemical Society]]
*[[Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data]]
*[[Journal of Chemical Education]] (Division of Chemical Education)
*[[Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling]] (formerly Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Sciences)
*[[Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation]]
*[[Journal of Combinatorial Chemistry]]
*[[Journal of Medicinal Chemistry]]
*[[Journal of Natural Products]]—Copublished with the Am. Soc. of Pharmacognosy
*[[Journal of Organic Chemistry]]
*[[Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters]]
*[[Journal of Physical Chemistry A]]
*[[Journal of Physical Chemistry B]]
*[[Journal of Physical Chemistry C]]
*[[Journal of Proteome Research]]
*[[Langmuir (journal)|Langmuir]]
*[[Macromolecules Journal]]
*[[Molecular Pharmaceutics]]
*[[Nano Letters]]
*[[Organic Letters]]
*[[Organic Process Research & Development]]
*[[Organometallics]]
</div>

== ACS presidents ==

<div style="-moz-column-count:4; column-count:4;">
* 2010 [[Joseph Francisco]]
* 2009 [[Tomas H. Lane]]
* 2008 [[Bruce Bursten]]
* 2007 [[Catherine T. (Katie) Hunt]]
* 2006 [[Elizabeth Ann Nalley]]
* 2005 [[William F. Carroll, Jr.]]
* 2004 [[Charles P. Casey]]
* 2003 [[Elsa Reichmanis]]
* 2002 [[Eli M. Pearce]]
* 2001 [[Attila E. Pavlath]]
* 2000 [[Daryle H. Busch]]
* 1999 [[Edel Wasserman]]
* 1998 [[Paul H. L. Walter]]
* 1997 [[Paul S. Anderson]]
* 1996 [[Ronald Breslow]]
* 1995 [[Brian M. Rushton]]
* 1994 [[Ned D. Heindel]]
* 1993 [[Helen M. Free]]
* 1992 [[Ernest L. Eliel]]
* 1991 [[S. Allen Heininger]]
* 1990 [[Paul G. Gassman]]
* 1989 [[Clayton F. Callis]]
* 1988 [[Gordon L. Nelson]]
* 1987 [[Mary L. Good]]
* 1986 [[George C. Pimentel]]
* 1985 [[Ellis K. Fields]]
* 1984 [[Warren D. Niederhauser]]
* 1983 [[Fred Basolo]]
* 1982 [[Robert W. Parry]]
* 1981 [[Albert C. Zettlemoyer]]
* 1980 [[James D. D`Ianni]]
* 1979 [[Gardner W. Stacy]]
* 1978 [[Anna J. Harrison]]
* 1977 [[Henry A. Hill]]
* 1976 [[Glenn T. Seaborg]]
* 1975 [[William J. Bailey]]
* 1974 [[Bernard S. Friedman]]
* 1973 [[Alan C. Nixon]]
* 1972 [[Max Tishler]]
* 1971 [[Melvin Calvin]]
* 1970 [[Byron Riegel]]
* 1969 [[Wallace R. Brode]]
* 1968 [[Robert W. Cairns]]
* 1967 [[Charles G. Overberger]]
* 1966 [[William J. Sparks]]
* 1965 [[Charles C. Price]]
* 1964 [[Maurice H. Arveson]]
* 1963 [[Henry Eyring]]
* 1962 [[Karl Folkers]]
* 1961 [[Arthur C. Cope]]
* 1960 [[Albert L. Elder]]
* 1959 [[John C. Bailar, Jr.]]
* 1958 [[Clifford F. Rassweiler]]
* 1957 [[Roger J. Williams]]
* 1956 [[John C. Warner]]
* 1955 [[Joel H. Hildebrand]]
* 1954 [[Harry L. Fisher]]
* 1953 [[Farrington Daniels]]
* 1952 [[Edgar C. Britton]]
* 1951 [[N. Howell Funnan]]
* 1950 [[Ernest H. Volwiler]]
* 1949 [[Linus Pauling]]
* 1948 [[Charles A. Thomas]]
* 1947 [[W. Albert Noyes, Jr.]]
* 1946 [[Bradley Dewey]]
* 1945 [[Carl S. Marvel]]
* 1944 [[Thomas Midgley, Jr.]]
* 1943 [[Per K. Frolich]]
* 1942 [[Harry N. Holmes]]
* 1941 [[William Lloyd Evans]]
* 1940 [[Samuel C. Lind]]
* 1939 [[Charles A. Kraus]]
* 1938 [[Frank C. Whitmore]]
* 1937 [[Edward R. Weidlein]]
* 1936 [[Edward Bartow]]
* 1935 [[Roger Adams]]
* 1934 [[Charles L. Reese]]
* 1933 [[Arthur B. Lamb]]
* 1932 [[L. V. Redman]]
* 1931 [[Moses Gomberg]]
* 1930 [[William McPherson]]
* 1929 [[Irving Langmuir]]
* 1928 [[Samuel W. Parr]]
* 1927 [[George D. Rosengarten]]
* 1926 [[James F. Norris]]
* 1925 [[James F. Norris]]
* 1924 [[Leo H. Baekeland]]
* 1923 [[Edward C. Franklin]]
* 1922 [[Edgar Fahs Smith]]
* 1921 [[Edgar Fahs Smith]]
* 1920 [[William A. Noyes]]
* 1919 [[William H. Nichols]]
* 1918 [[William H. Nichols]]
* 1917 [[Julius Stieglitz]]
* 1916 [[Charles Herty|Charles H. Herty]]
* 1915 [[Charles Herty|Charles H. Herty]]
* 1914 [[Theodore W. Richards]]
* 1913 [[Arthur D. Little]]
* 1912 [[Arthur D. Little]]
* 1911 [[Alexander Smith (chemist)|Alexander Smith]]
* 1910 [[Wilder Dwight Bancroft|Wilder D. Bancroft]]
* 1909 [[Willis R. Whitney]]
* 1908 [[Marston T. Bogert]]
* 1907 [[Marston T. Bogert]]
* 1906 [[William F. Hillebrand]]
* 1905 [[Francis P. Venable]]
* 1904 [[Arthur A. Noyes]]
* 1903 [[John H. Long]]
* 1902 [[Ira Remsen]]
* 1901 [[Frank W. Clarke]]
* 1900 [[William McMurtrie]]
* 1899 [[Edward W. Morley]]
* 1898 [[Charles E. Munroe]]
* 1897 [[Charles Benjamin Dudley|Charles B. Dudley]]
* 1896 [[Charles Benjamin Dudley]]
* 1895 [[Edgar Fahs Smith]]
* 1894 [[Harvey W. Wiley]]
* 1893 [[Harvey W. Wiley]]
* 1892 [[George C. Caldwell]]
* 1891 [[George F. Barker]]
* 1890 [[Henry B. Nason]]
* 1889 [[Charles F. Chandler]]
* 1888 [[T. Sterry Hunt]]
* 1887 [[Charles A. Goessmann]]
* 1886 [[Albert B. Prescott]]
* 1885 [[James C. Booth]]
* 1884 [[James C. Booth]]
* 1883 [[James C. Booth]]
* 1882 [[John W. Mallet]]
* 1881 [[Charles F. Chandler]]
* 1880 [[Frederick A. Genth]]
* 1879 [[T. Sterry Hunt]]
* 1878 [[Samuel W. Johnson]]
* 1877 [[J. Lawrence Smith]]
* 1876 [[John W. Draper]]
</div>

==See also==
* [[ACS style]] - the ACS [[citation]] standard.
* [[Association for Learned and Professional Society Publishers]]
* [[Chemists Celebrate Earth Day]]

==References==
<references/>
==External links==
*[http://www.acs.org ACS website]
*[http://pubs.acs.org ACS Publications website]
*[http://pubs.acs.org/cen Chemical & Engineering News]
*[http://www.cas.org ACS Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS)]
*[http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb050606-1.shtml A Cauldron Bubbles: PubChem and the American Chemical Society (''Information Today'', June 2005)]
*[http://community.acs.org/journals/acbcct/cs/WIKI/tabid/54/Default.aspx ACS Chemical Biology WIKI]
*[http://community.acs.org ACS Chemical Biology Community]
*[http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_TRANSITIONMAIN&node_id=830&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=d3c8817f-e1ad-46c5-8c8d-0092ec3e1feb ACS Green Chemistry Institute]

{{Presidents of the American Chemical Society}}

[[Category:Chemistry societies]]

{{Imported from Wikipedia|name=American Chemical Society|id=300478212}}