The Biological Society of Washington is a world wide acting scientific organisation established on 3 December 1880 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. The original purpose was "to encourage the study of the Biological Sciences and to hold meetings at which papers shall be read and discussed." The current primary function is "the furtherance of taxonomic study and the diffusion of taxonomic knowledge." In May 1882 the first issue of the peer review

Peer review

Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...

ed journal Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington was published. Since then it appears quarterly. Another journal is the Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington which is published since 1918 and contains larger studies, symposia proceedings and special study collections. The Biological Society of Washington was among the eight organisations which founded the Washington Academy of Sciences in 1898. The governing council of the society includes the elected officers and selected local members. The first elected president was George Brown Goode

George Brown Goode

George Brown Goode , was an ichthyologist, although most of his time was spent as a museum administrator and he was very interested in the history of science, especially the history of the development of science in America. Goode graduated from Wesleyan University and studied at Harvard University...

 and the first recording secretary was Richard Rathbun. Later well-known presidents include Frederick Vernon Coville

Frederick Vernon Coville

Frederick Vernon Coville was an American botanist who careered in the United States Department of Agriculture , where he became Chief Botanist, and was the first director of the United States National Arboretum...

, Edward William Nelson

Edward William Nelson

Edward William Nelson was an American naturalist and ethnologist. He was born in Manchester, New Hampshire. In 1871 together with his family, he became homeless due to the Chicago Fire....

, Ned Hollister

Ned Hollister

Ned Hollister was an American biologist primarily known for studying mammals. From 1916 until his death he was Superintendent of the National Zoological Park...

, Clinton Hart Merriam

Clinton Hart Merriam

Clinton Hart Merriam was an American zoologist, ornithologist, entomologist and ethnographer.Known as "Hart" to his friends, Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam was born in New York City in 1855. His father, Clinton Levi Merriam, was a U.S. congressman. He studied biology and anatomy at Yale University and...

, William Healey Dall, Andrew Delmar Hopkins

Andrew Delmar Hopkins

Andrew Delmar Hopkins was an American entomologist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, becoming head entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1904. His research was primarily on bark beetle population dynamics and impacts, and he also developed the Law of Bioclimatics....

, Theodore Gill

Theodore Gill

Theodore Nicholas Gill was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist and librarian.Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural history. He was associated with J...

, Barton Warren Evermann

Barton Warren Evermann

Barton Warren Evermann was an American ichthyologist. He was born in Monroe County, Iowa, and graduated from Indiana University in 1886. For 10 years, he served as teacher and superintendent of schools in Indiana and California. He was professor of biology at the Indiana State University in...

, Leonhard Hess Stejneger

Leonhard Hess Stejneger

Leonhard Hess Stejneger was a Norwegian-born American ornithologist, herpetologist and zoologist. Stejneger specialized in vertebrate natural history studies. He gained his greatest reputation with reptiles and amphibians....

, and Charles Abiathar White

Charles Abiathar White

Charles Abiathar White was an American geologist, paleontologist, and writer whose publications total 238 titles. He was born at North Dighton, Mass....

.

The Biological Society of Washington has currently about 250 members, including a number of staff members of the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

, the United States National Museum as well as members of the USDA and the United States Department of the Interior

United States Department of the Interior

The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...

.

In 2004 the Biological Society of Washington made headlines for the Sternberg peer review controversy

Sternberg peer review controversy

The Sternberg peer review controversy concerns the conflict arising from the publication of an article supporting the controversial concept of intelligent design in a scientific journal, and the subsequent questions of whether proper editorial procedures had been followed and whether it was...

when the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington published a peer-reviewed paper in support of creationism.

External links

• BSW Homepage
• Smithsonian Institution Archives: Biological Society of Washington, Records, circa 1880-1972