Academy of Sciences Picks 17 California Professors

California universities have made an impressive showing with the election of 17 professors to the National Academy of Sciences.

The academy selects 60 new members each year, and election is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded an American scientist or engineer.

The University of California, Berkeley, UCLA and Caltech each had four who won honors. Only the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with six, had more.

Caltech also won another notable award this week with the selection of Leroy E. Hood as California Scientist of the Year, the state’s top science award. Hood was selected for his research into the human immune system.

The new members of the National Academy of Sciences brings the total from California to 202 out of a total academy membership of 1,453. The schools and professors honored are:

Caltech: John N. Abelson, Eric H. Davidson, Melvin I. Simon, professors of biology, and Masakasu Konishi, professor of behavioral biology.

Stanford: Paul R. Ehrlich, biology; James S. Gibbons, dean of electrical engineering.

UC Berkeley: Walter D. Knight, Paul L. Richards, Bruno Zumino, physics, and Ignacio Tinoco Jr., chemistry.

UCLA: George A. Bartholomew, zoology; Richard E. Dickerson, director of the Molecular Biology Institute; Bernard O. Phinney, biology; Robert Steinberg, mathematics.

UC San Francisco: Herbert W. Boyer, biochemistry.

UC Santa Barbara: James S. Langer, deputy director, Institute of Physics.

UC Santa Cruz: Sandra M. Faber, professor of astronomy, Lick Observatory.