The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was founded on September 20, 1848, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It grew to become the world’s largest general scientific society with more than 120,000 members. Prior to the founding of the AAAS, there had been other scientific organizations that were spread out across the country and were dedicated to specific scientific disciplines. On September 20, 1848, a group of scientists from the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists met at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They reorganized their group as the AAAS, with the goal of promoting and representing science and engineering at the national level.