History

The Society was founded in 1899 as the Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific Fraternity here at Cornell by graduate students in the biological sciences. Its purpose is to stimulate interdisciplinary interest among graduate students from the various scientific departments of Cornell University. 

In 1963, it formally changed its name to the Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific Society, in part to further differentiate itself from undergraduate fraternities. Originally, the Society was a scientific fraternity exclusively for men, but local chapters (such as Missouri's) admitted women by 1968. Other chapter houses (Chicago, Cornell and Ohio) began to admit women and students in disciplines other than the sciences in 1972, with the rest (Ann Arbor) following suit the following year. Currently, the University of Illinois is the only local chapter that remains an all-male fraternity. Although the makeup of the organization has thus changed greatly since its inception, it is still dedicated to promoting an interdisciplinary fellowship among graduate students, in large part through its cooperative living arrangements. Its motto remains Γνωθι την 'Αληθειαν (Know the truth). 

Hans Bethe, a renowned physicist and Nobel prize laureate, lived in this house during 1935-36. 

You can know more about the society here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_Alpha