At the 13th AAS meeting, held in Washington, DC, in December 1911, the Council (now the Board of Trustees) approved an amendment to the Society's constitution establishing a class of membership known as Honorary Member: “Upon nomination by not less than five members of the Society, the Council may elect to honorary membership one astronomer of distinction at each annual meeting. American astronomers shall not be eligible to [sic; should be "for"] honorary membership. Honorary members shall be exempt from assessments [e.g., dues], and shall be entitled to all the privileges of the Society.”
Nominations for honorary membership may be submitted at any time throughout the year to the AAS Secretary and should be signed by no fewer than five members of the Society.
The following list of Honorary Members elected since the Society was founded is incomplete; we are scouring the Society's historical documentation to look for any Honorary Members we may have overlooked. If you know of any Honorary Member who is not on this list, please send an email with their name and year of election (if known) to aas@aas.org.
*Deceased
| Honorary Member | Year of Election |
|---|---|
| Mario Hamuy | 2019 |
| João Steiner | 2018 |
| Françoise Combes | 2017 |
| Beatriz Barbuy | 2016 |
| Jocelyn Bell Burnell | 2015 |
| Michel G. E. Mayor | 2015 |
| Henny J.G.L.M. Lamers | 2014 |
| Ewine van Dishoeck | 2013 |
| Yasuo Tanaka* | 2012 |
| Malcolm Longair | 2011 |
| Sir Martin J. Rees | 2006 |
| María Teresa Ruiz | 2004 |
| Catherine Cesarsky | 2003 |
| Donald Lynden-Bell* | 2001 |
| Rashid Sunyaev | 1997 |
| Lodewijk Woltjer | 1994 |
| Adriaan Blaauw* | 1985 |
| Michael J. Seaton* | 1983 |
| Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu* | 1982 |
| Bengt Strömgren* | 1973 |
| O. Heckman* | 1970 |
| Jan H. Oort* | 1970 |
| Pol Swings* | 1970 |
| Viktor A. Ambartsumian* | 1947 |
| Thomas G. Cowling* | N/A |
| Iosif S. Shklovsky* | N/A |
| Willem de Sitter* | 1931 |
| Henri-Alexandre Deslandres* | 1928 |
| Max Wolf* | 1927 |
| Sir Frank Watson Dyson* | 1921 |
| Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn* | 1916 |
| Oskar Backlund* | 1915 |
| Arthur Auwers* | 1914 |
| Sir David Gill* | 1912 |