The committee members were: J. Woodland Hastings, The Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (Chairman); W. Ross Adey, Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Univeristy of California, Los Angeles; Vincent G. Dethier, Department of Zoology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Thomas S. Ely, Health, Safety, and Human Factors Laboratory, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY; Wilford R. Gardner, Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Leon Gordis, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD; Elizabeth F. Loftus, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle; sol M. Michaelson, Department of Radiation Biology and Biophysics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Rochester, Rochester, NY; Morton W. Miller, Department of Radiation Biology and Biophysics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Rochester, Rochester, NY; Donald W. Novotny, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison; William G. Reeder, Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison; William J. Schull, Center for Demographic and Population Genetics, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Texas, Houston; Herman P. Schwan, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Harold B. Tukey, Jr., Department of Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; George M. Wilkening, Environmental Health and Safety Department, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ; Tai T. Wu, Gordon McKay Laboratory of Applied Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
The final report of the 1976 NAS committee was: Biological Effects of Electric and Magnetic Fields Associated with Proposed Project Seafarer, Report of the Committee on Biosphere Effects of Extremely-Low-Frequency Radiation, Division of Medical Sciences, Assembly of Life Sciences, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 1977.
The National Academy of Sciences has some of the most prestigious scientists in the United States as members. Election to the NAS is considered very prestigious, yet such an honor is essentially ceremonial because NAS itself has few important functions. The National Research Council (NRC) is the operating arm of the NAS, and actually carries out its scientific and political functions. The NAS president is the head of the NRC. It is the NRC, with its large staff and facilities, which is the significant source of the president's clout. When NAS gives a scientific opinion about this or that, the job has actually been carried out by the NRC, or more precisely by a committee appointed by the NRC president. Members of such ad hoc committees need not be, and usually are not members of the NAS. The theory is that the best people are supposed to be chosen for the particular task, regardless of whether they happen to be NAS members.