Richard Feynman was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1954.
The election recognized Feynman’s exceptional contributions to theoretical physics. At the time, he was a professor at the California Institute of Technology, where he had joined the faculty in 1950 after teaching and researching at Cornell University. His earlier wartime work at Los Alamos and his contributions to quantum theory had already established his scientific reputation.
Feynman later shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga for fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics. That later honor is sometimes confused with his earlier Academy election, but the two events occurred 11 years apart.
Another point that can cause confusion is Feynman’s membership status. Although elected in 1954, he eventually resigned from the National Academy of Sciences, reportedly because he objected to what he saw as elitism and in-group favoritism. His later resignation does not change the election year.