Rumford Prize

Rumford Prize
Benjamin Thompson, whose grant paid for the formation of the Rumford Prize
Awarded for	Contributions to the fields of heat and light
Country	United States
Presented by	American Academy of Arts and Sciences
First awarded	1839
Last awarded	2008
Official website	http://www.amacad.org/about/prizes.aspx

Rumford Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Founded in 1796, the Rumford Prize, awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is one of the oldest scientific prizes in the United States. The prize recognizes contributions by scientists to the fields of heat and light. These terms are widely interpreted; awards range from discoveries in thermodynamics to improvements in the construction of steam boilers.

The award was created through the endowment of US$5,000 to the Academy by Benjamin Thompson, who held the title "Count Rumford of the United Kingdom", in 1796.^[1] The terms state that the award be given to "authors of discoverie's in any part of the Continent of America, or in any of the American islands". Although it was founded in 1796, the first prize was not given until 1839, as the academy could not find anyone who, in their judgement, deserved the award. The academy found the terms of the prize to be too restrictive, and in 1832 the Supreme Court of Massachusetts allowed the Academy to change some of the provisions; mainly, the award was to be given annually instead of biennially, and the Academy was allowed to award the prize as it saw fit, whereas before it had to give it yearly.^[2] The first award was given to Robert Hare, for his invention of the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, in 1839. Twenty-three years elapsed before the award was given a second time, to John Ericsson.^[3]

The prize is awarded whenever the academy recognizes a significant achievement in either of the two fields. It has been given 62 times to 79 individuals, and once to a tri-group committee of 21 people. Awardees receive a gold-and-silver medal.^[1] Previous prizewinners include Thomas Alva Edison, for his investigations in electric lighting; Enrico Fermi, for his studies of radiation theory and nuclear energy; and Charles H. Townes, for his development of the laser. One man, Samuel Pierpont Langley, has won both the Rumford Prize and the related Rumford Medal (the European equivalent of the Rumford Prize), both in 1886. Because the prize is awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, all of the recipients are American, except for one, John Stanley Plaskett, who is from British Columbia. The most recent award was given in 2008 to Sidney D. Drell, Sam Nunn, William J. Perry, and George P. Shultz "for their efforts to reduce the global threat of nuclear weapons".

List of recipients

Robert Hare, first recipient of the prize in 1839

Samuel Pierpont Langley, 1886 recipient

Thomas Alva Edison, 1895 recipient

Ernest Fox Nichols, 1904 recipient

James Madison Crafts, 1911 recipient

Enrico Fermi, 1953 recipient

Hans Bethe, 1963 recipient

Bruno Rossi, 1976 recipient

Chen Ning Yang, 1980 recipient

John C. Mather, 1996 recipient

Sam Nunn, 2008 recipient

Year	Name	Location^[a]	Rationale
1839	Hare, RobertRobert Hare	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Inventor of the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe
1862	Ericsson, JohnJohn Ericsson	New York, New York	His work improved the field of heat management, but the award was specifically for his invention of the caloric engine of 1858.
1865	Treadwell, DanielDaniel Treadwell	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Heat management. He was awarded especially for his contributions towards a "cannon of large caliber, and great strength and endurance".
1866	Clark, AlvanAlvan Clark	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Improved refracting telescopes
1869	Corliss, George HenryGeorge Henry Corliss	Providence, Rhode Island	For improving the steam engine
1871	Harrison, Jr., JosephJoseph Harrison, Jr.	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Towards his concern for safer steam boilers
1873	Rutherfurd, Lewis MorrisLewis Morris Rutherfurd	New York, New York	For improving the "processes and methods" of astronomical photography
1875	Draper, John WilliamJohn William Draper	New York, New York	For his work towards apprehending radiant energy
1880	Gibbs, Josiah WillardJosiah Willard Gibbs	New Haven, Connecticut	Founded the field of chemical thermodynamics
1883	Rowland, Henry AugustusHenry Augustus Rowland	Baltimore, Maryland	For his research in light and heat
1886	Langley, Samuel PierpontSamuel Pierpont Langley	Allegheny, Philadelphia	For his work towards the understanding of radiant energy
1888	Michelson, Albert AbrahamAlbert Abraham Michelson	Cleveland, Ohio	Measured the velocity of light, and contribution towards the motion of the luminiferous ether, and absolute determination of the wavelengths of light
1891	Pickering, Edward CharlesEdward Charles Pickering	Cambridge, Massachusetts	For his work on stellar photometry and stellar spectra
1895	Edison, Thomas AlvaThomas Alva Edison	Orange, New Jersey	For his investigations in electric lighting
1898	Keeler, James EdwardJames Edward Keeler	Allegheny, Pennsylvania	For the applications of the spectroscope, and especially his investigations of nebulae and the physical contents of Saturn's rings
1899	Brush, Charles FrancisCharles Francis Brush	Cleveland, Ohio	For the development of the electric arc lamp
1900	Barus, CarlCarl Barus	Providence, Rhode Island	For his heat research
1901	Thomson, ElihuElihu Thomson	Lynn, Massachusetts	For his work in welding and lighting
1902	Hale, George ElleryGeorge Ellery Hale	Chicago, Illinois	For his investigations in solar and stellar physics and for the invention of the spectro-heliograph
1904	Fox Nichols, ErnestErnest Fox Nichols	New York, New York	For his research on radiation, radiation pressure, stellar heat, and the infrared spectrum
1907	Acheson, Edward GoodrichEdward Goodrich Acheson	Niagara Falls, New York	For the application of the electric furnace to the production of carborundum and graphite
1909	Williams Wood, RobertRobert Williams Wood	Baltimore, Maryland	For light-related discoveries, including the optical properties of sodium and other metallic vapors
1910	Curtis, Charles GordonCharles Gordon Curtis	New York, New York	For his improvements to the steam turbine
1911	Crafts, James MasonJames Mason Crafts	Boston, Massachusetts	For his work in thermometry, and the development of new fixed points on the scale.^[b]
1912	Ives, Frederic EugeneFrederic Eugene Ives	Woodcliff-on-Hudson, New York	For his inventions in color photography and photoengraving
1913	Stebbins, JoelJoel Stebbins	Urbana, Illinois	For the development of the selenium photometer and its application to scientific problems
1914	Coolidge, William DavidWilliam David Coolidge	Schenectady, New York	For his invention of ductile tungsten
1915	Abbot, Charles GreeleyCharles Greeley Abbot	Washington D.C.	For his research in solar radiation
1917	Bridgman, Percy WilliamsPercy Williams Bridgman	Cambridge, Massachusetts	For his high-pressure thermodynamic breakthroughs
1918	Lyman, TheodoreTheodore Lyman	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Awarded for his research on short-wave and long-wave wavelengths
1920	Langmuir, IrvingIrving Langmuir	Schenectady, New York	"For his research in thermionic and allied phenomena"
1925	Russell, Henry NorrisHenry Norris Russell	Princeton, New Jersey	Awarded for his research in solar radiation
1926	Compton, Arthur HollyArthur Holly Compton	Chicago, Illinois	Awarded for his research in Roentgen rays
1928	Nichols, Edward LeamingtonEdward Leamington Nichols	Ithaca, New York	"For his research in spectrophotometry"
1930	Plaskett, John StanleyJohn Stanley Plaskett	Victoria, British Columbia	For his astronomical spectrographic research^[c]
1931	Compton, Karl TaylorKarl Taylor Compton	Cambridge, Massachusetts	He was awarded the medal for thermionics and spectroscopic research.
1933	Shapley, HarlowHarlow Shapley	Cambridge, Massachusetts	For his work with the luminosity of stars and galaxies
1937	Coblentz, William WeberWilliam Weber Coblentz	Washington, D.C.	For his improvements in the measurement of heat and light
1939	Harrison, George RussellGeorge Russell Harrison	Belmont, Massachusetts	"For pioneering improvements in spectroscopics"
1941	Zworykin, Vladimir KosmaVladimir Kosma Zworykin	Princeton, New Jersey	Awarded for the creation of the iconoscope and other related devices
1943	Mees, Charles EdwardCharles Edward Mees	Rochester, New York	For his contributions to photography
1945	Land, Edwin HerbertEdwin Herbert Land	Cambridge, Massachusetts	For his inventions related to the application of polarized light
1947	Harvey, Edmund NewtonEdmund Newton Harvey	Princeton, New Jersey	For his research in bioluminescence
1949	Bowen, Ira SpragueIra Sprague Bowen	Pasadena, California	For his work on the identification of nebulium and for other outstanding works
1951	Ives, Herbert E.Herbert E. Ives	Montclair, New Jersey	For his research in the field of optics
1953	Fermi, EnricoEnrico Fermi	Chicago, Illinois	For his investigations in electromagnetic radiation and nuclear energy
1953	Jr., Willis E. LambWillis E. Lamb Jr.	Stanford, California	Awarded for studying the hydrogen spectrum
1953	Onsager, LarsLars Onsager	New Haven, Connecticut	For his investigations in thermodynamics related to transportation
1955	Franck, JamesJames Franck	Chicago, Illinois	For his studies in the investigation of photosynthesis
1957	Chandrasekhar, SubrahmanyanSubrahmanyan Chandrasekhar	Williams Bay, Wisconsin	For his investigations of the radiative energy balance in stars
1959	Wald, GeorgeGeorge Wald	Cambridge, Massachusetts	For identifying the biochemical basis of vision
1961	Townes, Charles HardCharles Hard Townes	New York, New York	"For his development of the laser"
1963	Bethe, Hans AlbrechtHans Albrecht Bethe	Ithaca, New York	For pioneering studies in stellar nucleosynthesis
1965	Collins, Samuel CornetteSamuel Cornette Collins	Cambridge, Massachusetts	For the invention of the Collins Helium Cryostat and other pioneering work
1965	McElroy, William DavidWilliam David McElroy	Baltimore, Maryland	For his work on the molecular origin of bioluminescence
1967	Dicke, Robert HenryRobert Henry Dicke	Princeton, New Jersey	"For his contributions to microwave radiometry and to the understanding of atomic structure"
1967	Van Niel, Cornelius B.Cornelius B. Van Niel	Stanford, California	For his contributions to the study of photosynthesis
1968	Schmidt, MaartenMaarten Schmidt	Pasadena, California	For his work deducing the spectra of quasi-stellar objects
1971	M.I.T. Group Canadian Group NRAO–Cornell Group	—	"For their work in the field of long-baseline interferometry" (full list here)
1973	Wilson, E. BrightE. Bright Wilson	Cambridge, Massachusetts	For pioneering the importance of symmetry in polyatomic molecules and for his active work in the field of microwave spectroscopy
1976	Rossi, BrunoBruno Rossi	Cambridge, Massachusetts	For discovering the origins of cosmic radiation
1980	Weber, GregorioGregorio Weber	Urbana, Illinois	For researching the theory of, and working on the application of, fluorescence
1980	Yang, Chen NingChen Ning Yang Mills, RobertRobert Mills	Stony Brook, New York Columbus, Ohio	"For development of a generalized gauge invariant field theory"
1985	Dehmelt, Hans GeorgHans Georg Dehmelt Deutsch, MartinMartin Deutsch Hughes, Vernon WillardVernon Willard Hughes Ramsey, Norman FosterNorman Foster Ramsey	Seattle, Washington Cambridge, Massachusetts New Haven, Connecticut Cambridge, Massachusetts	Awarded for his work in the field of atomic spectroscopy
1986	Leighton, Robert B.Robert B. Leighton Low, Frank J.Frank J. Low Neugebauer, GerryGerry Neugebauer	Pasadena, California Tucson, Arizona Pasadena, California	For his work in developing infrared astronomy
1992	Norris, James R.James R. Norris Katz, Joseph J.Joseph J. Katz Feher, GeorgeGeorge Feher	Chicago, Illinois Chicago, Illinois San Diego, California	Awarded for working towards the understanding of photosynthesis
1996	Mather, John C.John C. Mather	Greenbelt, Maryland	For his research related to the cosmic microwave background
2008	Drell, Sidney D.Sidney D. Drell Nunn, SamSam Nunn Perry, William J.William J. Perry Shultz, George P.George P. Shultz	Stanford University Nuclear Threat Initiative^[d] Stanford University Stanford University	"For their efforts to reduce the global threat of nuclear weapons"[4]

References and notes

• [a] ^ In this sense, location refers to the recipient's place of work or association.
• [b] ^ The award names him as "James Madison Crafts".
• [c] ^ Only time awarded to a non-US resident.
• [d] ^ This is an affiliation rather than his location.

General

• "Past Recipients of the Rumford Prize". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 2006. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
• "Academy Prizes". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 2006. Retrieved 2009-06-17.

Specific

1. "Academy Prizes". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 2006. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
2. "The Rumford Medallists of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. The Royal Society. 8 (1): 90–94. October 1950. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1950.0004. JSTOR 3087234.
3. Conant Church, William (1890). The Life of John Ericsson. Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 217–218. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
4. "Nuclear Arms Control Leaders Receive Prestigious Rumford Prize from the American Academy". 2008 Rumford Prize press release (Press release). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 2008-10-09. Retrieved 2009-06-18.