The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematician

Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

s dedicated to the interests of mathematical

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

 research and scholarship, which it does with various publications and conferences as well as annual monetary awards and prizes to mathematicians.

The society is one of the four parts of the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics

Joint Policy Board for Mathematics

The Joint Policy Board for Mathematics consists of the American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical Association, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics....

 (JPBM) and a member of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences

Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences

The Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences is an umbrella organization of seventeen professional societies in the mathematical sciences in the United States.-Member societies:* AMATYC American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges...

 (CBMS).
It was founded in 1888 as the New York Mathematical Society, the brainchild of Thomas Fiske

Thomas Fiske

Thomas Scott Fiske was an American mathematician. He was born in New York City and graduated in 1885 from Columbia University, where he was a fellow, assistant, tutor, instructor, and adjunct professor until 1897, when he became professor of mathematics. In 1899 he was acting dean of Barnard...

 who was impressed by the London Mathematical Society

London Mathematical Society

-See also:* American Mathematical Society* Edinburgh Mathematical Society* European Mathematical Society* List of Mathematical Societies* Council for the Mathematical Sciences* BCS-FACS Specialist Group-External links:* * *...

on a visit to England.