History professor Jessica Riskin was elected to the American Philosophical Society on May 1, making her a member of the oldest learned society in the United States which chooses members that have achieved “extraordinary accomplishments” in their chosen fields, according to the Society’s website. Riskin is one of 42 members inducted into the 2026 class.
Founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743, the Society supports research through funding opportunities and educates the public with programs such as lectures and publications. According to its website, the Society’s activities are motivated by a belief that “intellectual inquiry and critical thought are inherently in the best interest of the public.” Throughout its 283-year history, members have included Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Alexander Hamilton and Louis Pasteur.
“It was a totally unexpected and delightful surprise,” Riskin told the Stanford Report. She is drawn to the Society’s interdisciplinary focus, drawing members from various departments and fields of research.. “I’m always looking for chances to talk with people in other fields – I feel we really need each other,” she said.
Since receiving her B.A. from Harvard University in history and science in 1988, Riskin’s research has focused on the intersection between the two fields. Riskin sees the natural sciences as deeply integrated with other forms of knowledge — her work draws on a desire to “reach beyond the current fragmentation and help reconstruct a more integral intellectual world,” she told the Department of History.
To that end, she is the author of multiple books that bridge the science-humanities divide, including “The Power of Life: The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck,” a biography published this year of the man who coined the term “biologist.”
Prior to Stanford, Riskin taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She joined Stanford as a history professor in 2021, where she currently teaches classes such as HISTORY 200D: “Doing the History of Science and Technology.”
Despite just having become a member, Riskin is not new to the Society. In 2021, she won its Patrick Suppes Prize in the History of Science for her book, “The Restless Clock: A History of the Centuries-Long Debate Over What Makes Living Things Tick.”
Her book “The Sentimental Empiricists of the French Enlightenment” also won the American Historical Association’s J. Russell Major Prize for best book in English on any aspect of French history.
The Daily has reached out to Jessica Riskin, the University and the Society for comment.