Academician

2025-10-28T22:50:47Z

2001:7D0:88F7:5080:886E:B1B3:DFE3:D9E: /* Eastern Europe */

{{short description|Member of an art, literary, or scientific academy}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Academic staff|Academic]]}}
{{Refimprove|date=January 2020}}

An '''academician''' is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an [[honorific]] title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life.

Accordingly, within systems such as the [[Academy of Sciences of the USSR]], the title grants privileges and administrative responsibilities for funding allocation and research priorities.

==History==
Historically, the meaning for the title of ''Academician'' follows the traditions of the two most successful early scientific societies: either the [[Royal Society]], where it was an honorary recognition by an independent body of peer reviewers and was meant to distinguish a person, while giving relatively little formal power, or the model of the [[French Academy of Sciences]], which was much closer integrated with the government, provided with more state funding as an organization, and where the title of ''Academician'' implied in a lot more rights when it came to decision making.

==China==
Being an academician in China is a top honour and title granted only to the nation's top scientists and engineers. Academicians are elected through either the [[Chinese Academy of Sciences]] and [[Chinese Academy of Engineering]].{{cn|date=January 2020}}

==United Kingdom==
The British honours "[[Fellow of the Royal Society]]" (FRS) or Fellow of the [[Academy of Social Sciences]] can be considered rough equivalents. Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences was known as the Award of Academician until July 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.acss.org.uk/news/academicians-now-fellows-academy-social-science/|title=Academicians now 'Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences' -|website=www.acss.org.uk}}</ref> Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK are recognized as academicians and members include Nobel Prize winners and the nation's top engineers and scientists. Recently, Nobel Prize winner [[Frances Arnold]] was elected to the Royal Academy of Engineering.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/the-fellowship/new-fellows-2018/international-fellows/frances-arnold|title=Frances Arnold - Royal Academy of Engineering|website=raeng.org.uk|access-date=14 March 2020}}</ref>

==United States==
In the United States of America, academicians are elected members of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] and [[National Academy of Engineering]]. Members include many Nobel Prize, Turing Awards, and Fields Medalists.{{cn|date=January 2020}}

==Sweden==
Sweden does not use the Academician concept, but membership in learned societies are noted in the Swedish State Calendar. The [[Swedish Royal Academies]] are independent organizations, founded on [[Swedish monarch|Royal]] command, that act to promote the arts, culture, and science in [[Sweden]]. The [[Swedish Academy]] and [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences|Academy of Sciences]] who are responsible for the selection of [[Nobel Prize]] laureates in [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Literature]], [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]], [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]], and the [[Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel|Prize in Economic Sciences]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nobel Prize facts|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/facts/nobel-prize-facts|access-date=2020-10-11|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Nobel Prizes|url=https://kva.se/en/priser/nobelprisen|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806114457/http://www.kva.se:80/en/priser/nobelprisen |archive-date=2017-08-06 |access-date=October 11, 2020|website=The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences}}</ref> Also included in the Royal Academies are scientific societies that were granted Royal Charters.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=About us (The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)|url=https://kva.se/en/om-oss|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714073915/http://kva.se:80/en/om-oss |archive-date=2017-07-14 |access-date=October 11, 2020|website=The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences}}</ref> There are a few esteemed Swedish learned societies that has not sought Royal command, including the [[Society of Sciences in Lund]].

==Eastern Europe==
Academician may also be a functional title and denote a full member of the [[National academy|National Academy]] of Sciences in those countries where the academy has a strong influence on national scientific life, particularly countries that were part of, or influenced by, the [[Soviet Union]]. In such countries, academician is used as an [[honorific]] title (like "Doctor", "Professor", etc.) when addressing or speaking about someone. Countries where the term ''academician'' is used in this way include the [[Russian Federation]], [[China]], [[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Belarus]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Croatia]], [[Estonia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Hungary]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Moldova]], [[Mongolia]], [[North Macedonia]], [[Romania]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Turkey]], [[Serbia]], [[Slovenia]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Uzbekistan]].

However, since the reforms of late USSR dismantled the de facto monopoly of the state on forming academies, the creation of voluntary academies has been allowed. While some of the newly created academies did improve the relatively rigid structure, the prestige and meaning of the title has been substantially undermined; as the title of "academician" could be awarded by associations of [[pseudoscientists]] or organizations that use the title for the sole purpose of gaining money. Therefore, it became customary and almost compulsory to list which academy gave the title to assert its meaningfulness.

==Europe==
In Europe, academicians are elected by Pan-European academies, such as the [[European Academy of Sciences and Arts]] and the [[Academia Europaea]].

==Canada==
In Canada, fellowship of the [[Royal Society of Canada]] is a comparable honour.

==Finland==
In [[Finland]], "Academician" ({{langx|fi|akateemikko}}, {{langx|sv|akademiker}}) is an honorary title and the [[President of Finland|President of the Republic]] nominates the Academicians. There can be 12 Finnish Academicians representing science and scholarly pursuits and eight Academicians representing fine arts and literature at the same time. The [[Academy of Finland]] is the state funding agency of Finnish science and letters, but it has no organizational connection to Finnish Academicians. The scientists and scholars funded by the Academy of Finland are called Academy Professors ({{langx|fi|akatemiaprofessori}}, {{langx|sv|akademiprofessor}}) and Academy Research Fellows ({{langx|fi|akatemiatutkija}}, {{langx|sv|akademiforskare}}). In addition to Academy of Finland, Finland has four independent national academies. Finnish academies are less recognized globally due to its lack of international exposure and use of English language.

==Taiwan==
In Taiwan, elected members of ''Academia Sinica'' are considered academicians.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.sinica.edu.tw/en
|title = Academia Sinica}}</ref>

==Corresponding member==
{{main|Corresponding member}}

A related option of membership also exists in some countries—a ''Corresponding Member'' is a person who is eminent in respect of scientific results but cannot or does not wish to become a full academy member.

One of the reasons for this may be that they live far from the academy and it is inconvenient to often travel to its headquarters. It is, for example, the case when the person is not a resident in the country which the academy belongs to.<ref name="AAS">{{cite web | url=http://science.org.au/fellows/corresp.html | title=Corresponding members | access-date=November 25, 2012 | author=Australian Academy of Science | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014141458/http://www.science.org.au/fellows/corresp.html | archive-date=2012-10-14 | url-status=dead }}</ref> For communication, such a scientist uses "correspondence".<ref name="AAS"/>

Another possible reason is that the charter or traditions of the academy do not admit election of a person to a full membership, unless they have been a corresponding member for a certain period and has demonstrated additional achievements within this period. Because of this, in the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] a corresponding membership is a seen as a lower level of membership as compared to the academicians.

==See also==
* [[Académie française]]
* [[Academy]]
* [[Academy of sciences]] (a list of national academies of sciences)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Academicians| ]]
[[Category:Academic honours]]
[[Category:Professional titles and certifications]]
[[Category:National academies|*]]
[[Category:Members of national academies|*]]

[[fi:Akateemikko]]

Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

Academician