The Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities consists of two classes having equal rights, the Mathematical-Physical and the Philological-Historical Class. Each class has up to 40 Ordinary Members under the age of 70, who live in Göttingen or in Northern Germany. After having reached 70 years of age, members are relieved from their duties but remain members of the Academy with full rights. In addition to the Ordinary Members, the Academy has up to 200 Corresponding Members, who live in other parts of Germany or abroad. The plenary sessions, which take place once every two weeks during term, form the innermost core of the Academy’s work. At these sessions, the members of both classes – something unique to Göttingen – discuss submitted papers which, in most cases, arose from research work of the presenter.