OTTAWA — Dr. Paul Corkum, a professor at the University of Ottawa's Department of Physics and the director of the Attosecond Science Program at the National Research Council Canada (NRC), has just been elected to the prestigious U.S. National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honours a scientist can receive.

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a private, non-profit organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the advancement of science and to its use for the public good. It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln that calls on the Academy to officially advise the federal government, upon request, on any scientific or technological matter.

Since then, United States leaders have often turned to the National Academies (the umbrella organization to which the NAS belongs) for guidance on the scientific and technological issues that regularly surround policy decisions.

The Academy is composed of roughly 2,100 members and 380 foreign associates, of whom nearly 200 have won a Nobel Prize. They are elected by current members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.