Presidents
From 1899 to 1967, the APS president was elected as vice-president and automatically became president the next year. From 1967 through 1980, APS presidents were elected vice president-elect and automatically became vice-president and then president in successive years.
Since 1980, the APS president has been elected vice-president, becoming president-elect and then president in successive years.
APS presidents by year
1899–1925
- 1899: Henry Augustus Rowland
- 1901: Albert A. Michelson
- 1903: Arthur Gordon Webster
- 1905: Carl Barus
- 1907: Edward Leamington Nichols
- 1909: Henry Crew
- 1911: William Francis Magie
- 1913: Benjamin Osgood Peirce
- 1914: Ernest Merritt
- 1916: Robert Andrews Millikan
- 1918: Henry A. Bumstead
- 1919: Joseph Sweetman Ames
- 1921: Theodore Lyman
- 1923: Thomas Corwin Mendenhall
- 1925: Dayton Miller
1926–1950
- 1927: Karl Taylor Compton
- 1929: Henry Gale
- 1931: William Francis Gray Swann
- 1933: Paul D. Foote
- 1934: Arthur Compton
- 1935: Robert W. Wood
- 1936: Floyd K. Richtmyer
- 1937: Harrison M. Randall
- 1938: Lyman James Briggs
- 1939: John Torrence Tate Sr.
- 1940: John Zeleny
- 1941: George B. Pegram
- 1941: George Stewart
- 1942: Percy Williams Bridgman
- 1943: Albert W. Hull
- 1944: Arthur Jeffrey Dempster
- 1945: Harvey Fletcher
- 1946: Edward Condon
- 1947: Lee Alvin DuBridge
- 1948: J. Robert Oppenheimer
- 1949: Francis Wheeler Loomis
- 1950: Isidor Isaac Rabi
1951–1975
- 1951: Charles Christian Lauritsen
- 1952: John Hasbrouck Van Vleck
- 1953: Enrico Fermi
- 1954: H. Bethe
- 1955: Raymond Thayer Birge
- 1956: Eugene Wigner
- 1957: Henry DeWolf Smyth
- 1958: Jesse Beams
- 1959: George Uhlenbeck
- 1960: Victor Weisskopf
- 1961: Frederick Seitz
- 1962: William V. Houston
- 1963: John Harry Williams
- 1964: Robert Bacher
- 1965: Felix Bloch
- 1966: John Archibald Wheeler
- 1967: Charles H. Townes
- 1968: John Bardeen
- 1969: Luis Walter Alvarez
- 1970: Edward Mills Purcell
- 1971: Robert Serber
- 1972: Philip M. Morse
- 1973: Joseph Edward Mayer
- 1974: Pief Panofsky
- 1975: Chien-Shiung Wu
1976–2000
- 1976: William A. Fowler
- 1977: George Pake
- 1978: Norman Foster Ramsey Jr.
- 1979: Lewis M. Branscomb
- 1980: Herman Feshbach
- 1981: Arthur Leonard Schawlow
- 1982: Maurice Goldhaber
- 1983: Robert Marshak
- 1984: Mildred Dresselhaus
- 1985: Robert R. Wilson
- 1986: Sidney Drell
- 1987: Val Logsdon Fitch
- 1989: James A. Krumhansl
- 1990: Eugen Merzbacher
- 1991: Nicolaas Bloembergen
- 1992: Ernest M. Henley
- 1993: Donald N. Langenberg
- 1994: Burton Richter
- 1995: C. Kumar Patel
- 1996: J.R. Schrieffer
- 1997: D. Allan Bromley
- 1998: Andrew Sessler
- 1999: Jerome Isaac Friedman
- 2000: James S. Langer
2001–2025
- 2001: George Trilling
- 2002: William F. Brinkman
- 2003: Myriam Sarachik
- 2004: Helen Quinn
- 2005: Marvin L. Cohen
- 2006: John Hopfield
- 2007: Leo Kadanoff
- 2008: Arthur Bienenstock
- 2009: Cherry A. Murray
- 2010: Curtis Callan
- 2011: Barry Barish
- 2012: Robert L. Byer
- 2013: Michael S. Turner
- 2014: Malcolm R. Beasley
- 2015: Sam Aronson
- 2016: Homer Neal
- 2017: Laura Greene
- 2018: Roger Falcone
- 2019: David Gross
- 2020: Philip H. Bucksbaum
- 2021: Sylvester James Gates Jr.
- 2022: Frances Hellman
- 2023: Robert Rosner
- 2024: Young-Kee Kim
- 2025: John Doyle (2024 president-elect)
2026 -
- 2026: John (Brad) Marston (2024 vice president)