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The National Academy of Sciences has rejected a drive to increase the number of scientists elected each year. That figure stands at 60, but this year the chairmen of the six disciplinary classes that make up NAS petitioned for nine more slots--a 15 percent increase--arguing that the number of scientists has grown so rapidly in the past decade that NAS-caliber scientists are being squeezed out in the annual balloting. Even though he thinks the number is too small in his own field, biologist and NAS home secretary Peter Raven says that "the prevailing view is that the number should not be increased." The proposal was rejected last month at the academy's annual business meeting, which is closed to the public. Raven predicts that ...
