Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society
(ΣΞ) is a non-profit honor society for scientists
and engineers which was founded in 1886 at
Cornell University by a junior faculty member
and a handful of graduate students.
Members elect others on the basis of their
research achievements or potential.
== Information about ==
Sigma Xi has nearly 100,000 members who were
elected to membership based on their research
achievements and potential.
It has more than 500 chapters in North America
and around the world.
In addition to publishing American Scientist
magazine, Sigma Xi provides grants annually
to promising young researchers and sponsors
a variety of programs supporting ethics in
research, science and engineering education,
the public understanding of science, international
research cooperation and the overall health
of the research enterprise.
The Society is based in Research Triangle
Park, North Carolina.
== Motto and name ==
The Greek letters "Sigma" and "Xi" form the
acronym of the Society's motto, Σπουδῶν
Ξυνῶνες or "Spoudon Xynones," which
translates as "Companions in Zealous Research."
The word 'Honor' was added to the name of
the Society at the 2016 Annual Meeting.
According to Sigma Xi President Tee L. Guidotti,
"Sigma Xi, of course, is our basic name and
has been since the organization was founded
in 1886 as the scientific and engineering
counterpart to Phi Beta Kappa.
Like all “Greek letter” societies, whether
professional or social, it is an acronym for
the motto of the organization, Σπουδων
Ξυνωνες (Spoudon Xynones), which translates
as "companions in Zealous Research."
For many years, we were referred to as “Society
of the Sigma Xi.”
In the early twentieth century, some in the
leadership wanted “Sigma Xi” to be dropped
altogether in favor of some formulation such
as “Scientific Research Society of America.”
In a strange quirk of history, both names
survived because the organization split in
the 1940s into an academic honor society (Sigma
Xi) and an honor society for applied research
and engineering (the Scientific Research Society
of America, called RESA).
RESA was a separate entity, wholly owned by
Sigma Xi, and represented engineers and scientists
at non-academic institutions, such as government
and industrial research laboratories.
In an even stranger development, Sigma Xi
and RESA merged back together in 1974 and
eventually began calling itself Sigma Xi,
The Scientific Research Society."
== William Procter Prize ==
The William Procter Prize is a prestigious
scientific research award by the society in
the name of a member, William Procter, who
later also endowed this award in 1950.
This award recognizes outstanding contributions
to scientific research and the ability to
communicate the significance of the research
to scientists in other disciplines.
== Notable alumni ==
More than 200 winners of the Nobel Prize have
been Sigma Xi members, including Albert Einstein,
Enrico Fermi, Linus Pauling, Francis Crick
and James Watson.
== See also ==
List of Sigma Xi members
