The Academy has made significant contributions to the scientific community during the course of its history, including publishing one of the first studies on environmental pollution in 1876;[7] conducting a scientific survey of Puerto Rico from 1907-1934;[2] the first conference on antibiotics on 21 July 1948;[1] hosting an important gathering and publishing the first volume on the cardiovascular effects of smoking in 1960;[8] the founding of a Women in science Committee in 1977;[1] the world's first major scientific conference on AIDS in 1983;[9] and a conference on SARS in 2003.[10]