Two Caltech faculty members—Dianne Newman, Gordon M. Binder/Amgen Professor of Biology and Geobiology and Merkin Institute Professor, and Barry Barish, Ronald and Maxine Linde Professor of Physics, Emeritus—were elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society (APS). According its press release , the APS is "the oldest and most distinguished learned society in North America." It was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743 "to bring together creative thinkers in the sciences and other