New York Academy of Sciences Gala Honors UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Professor Jeffrey Sachs; Celebrates Current and Future Scientific Innovators

NEW YORK, November 9, 2015 – This evening, the New York Academy of Sciences brings together more than 400 global leaders in academia, government, and industry, at its 12^th Annual Gala. This year's Gala, which raised more than $1 million in support of the Academy's operations, takes place at The Conrad Hotel in Lower Manhattan and celebrates the critical role of science and technology in solving humanity's major global challenges.

The Gala, which falls only six weeks after the United Nations announced its landmark "Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals" honors:

• United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and
• Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals,

for their visionary roles in leading the Sustainable Development Goals and the Millennium Development Goals, respectively.

Both honorees are being named Honorary Members of the Academy, a special category of Membership that has existed since the Academy's founding in 1817. In that year, Presidents Thomas Jefferson & James Monroe were named Honorary Members. In subsequent years, Charles Darwin, Louis Pasteur, Lord Kelvin, Alexander von Humboldt, James Joule, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Margaret Mead, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and scores of Nobel laureates were also awarded honorary memberships

Later in the evening, the Academy introduces two new virtual programs of the Academy's website. For media inquiries, please contact Diana Friedman (dfriedman@nyas.org; 212-298-8645).

# # #

About the Blavatnik Family Foundation

The Blavatnik Family Foundation is an active supporter of leading educational, scientific, cultural, and charitable institutions in the United States, Europe, and throughout the world. The Foundation is headed by Len Blavatnik, an American industrialist and philanthropist. Mr. Blavatnik is the founder and Chairman of Access Industries, a privately-held U.S. industrial group with global interests in natural resources and chemicals, media and telecommunications, emerging technologies, life sciences and real estate. For more detailed information, please visit: www.accessindustries.com

 About the New York Academy of Sciences

The New York Academy of Sciences is an independent, not-for-profit organization that since 1817 has been committed to advancing science, technology, and society worldwide. With more than 20,000 members in 100 countries around the world, the Academy is creating a global community of science for the benefit of humanity. The Academy's core mission is to advance scientific knowledge, positively impact the major global challenges of society with science-based solutions, and increase the number of scientifically informed individuals in society at large. Please visit us online at www.nyas.org