| 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. 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. 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. |
Check all the winners of Rumford Prize presented under Rumford Prize since 1850 .
Sidney Drell, Sam Nunn, William Perry, George P. Shultz(For their efforts to reduce the global threat of nuclear weapons.) |
John C. Mather(For contributions to understanding the cosmic microwave background.) |
James R. Norris, Joseph J. Katz, George Feher(For contributions to understanding photosynthesis.) |
Frank J. Low, Robert B. Leighton, Gerald Neugebauer(For contributions to the development of infrared astronomy.) |
Hans Georg Dehmelt, Martin Deutsch, Vernon W. Hughes, Norman Foster Ramsey, Jr.(For contributions to atomic spectroscopy.) |
Chen-Ning Yang, Robert Mills(For development of a generalized gauge invariant field theory.) |
Gregorio Weber(For his work on the theory and application of fluorescence.) |
Bruno Rossi(For his discoveries concerning the nature and origins of cosmic radiations.) |
Edgar Bright Wilson(For his early recognition of the importance of symmetry properties in polyatomic molecules and for his active and pioneering development of microwave spectroscopy.) |
Maarten Schmidt(For his discoveries in the spectra of quasi-stellar objects.) |
Robert H. Dicke(For his contributions to microwave radiometry and to the understanding of atomic structure.) |
C. B. van Niel(For his contributions to the understanding of photosynthesis.) |
Samuel Collins(For his invention of the Collins Helium Cryostat and his pioneer work in low-temperature research.) |
William D. McElroy(For his work on the molecular origin of bioluminescence.) |
Hans Bethe(For his theoretical studies of energy production in stars.) |
Charles Hard Townes(For his development of the laser.) |
George Wald(For his studies on the biochemical basis of vision.) |
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar(For his work on the radiative transfer of energy in the interior of stars.) |
James Franck(For his fundamental studies on photosynthesis.) |
Enrico Fermi(For his studies of radiation theory and nuclear energy.) |
Willis Lamb(For his studies of the atomic hydrogen spectrum.) |
Lars Onsager(For his contribution to the thermodynamics of transport processes.) |
Herbert E. Ives(For his noteworthy contributions to optics.) |
Ira Sprague Bowen(For his solution of the mystery of nebulium and for other outstanding work in spectroscopy.) |
Edmund Newton Harvey(For his fundamental investigations of the nature of bioluminescence.) |
Edwin H. Land(For his new applications in polarized light and photography.) |
Kenneth Mees(For his contributions to the science of photography.) |
Vladimir K. Zworykin(For his invention of the iconoscope and other television devices.) |
George Russell Harrison(For his improvements in spectroscopic technique.) |
William Coblentz(For his pioneering work in the technology and measurement of heat and light.) |
Harlow Shapley(For research on the luminosity of stars and galaxies.) |
Karl Taylor Compton(For research in thermionics and spectroscopy.) |
John Stanley Plaskett(For his stellar spectrographic research.) |
Edward Leamington Nichols(For his research in spectrophotometry.) |
Arthur Compton(For his research in Roentgen rays.) |
Henry Norris Russell(For his research in stellar radiation.) |
Irving Langmuir(For his research in thermionic and allied phenomena.) |
Theodore Lyman(For his research on light of very short wavelength.) |
Percy Williams Bridgman(For his thermodynamic research at extremely high pressures.) |
Charles Greeley Abbot(For his research on solar radiation.) |
William D. Coolidge(For his invention of ductile tungsten and its application in the production of radiation.) |
Joel Stebbins(For his development of the selenium photometer and its application to astronomical problems.) |
Frederic Eugene Ives(For his optical inventions, particularly in color photography and photoengraving.) |
James Crafts(For his research in high-temperature thermometry and the exact determination of new fixed points on the thermometric scale.) |
Charles Gordon Curtis(For his improvements in the utilization of heat as work in the steam turbine.) |
Robert W. Wood(For his discoveries in light, and particularly for his research on the optical properties of sodium and other metallic vapors.) |
Edward Goodrich Acheson(For the application of heat in the electric furnace to the industrial production of carborundum, graphite, and other new and useful substances.) |
Ernest Fox Nichols(For his research on radiation, particularly on the pressure due to radiation, the heat of the stars, and the infrared spectrum.) |
George Ellery Hale(For his investigations in solar and stellar physics and in particular for the invention and perfection of the spectro-heliograph.) |
Elihu Thomson(For his inventions in electric welding and lighting.) |
Carl Barus(For his research in heat.) |
Charles F. Brush(For the practical development of electric arc-lighting.) |
James Edward Keeler(For his application of the spectroscope to astronomical problems, and especially for his investigations of the proper motions of the nebulae and the physical constitution of the rings of the planet Saturn by the use of that instrument.) |
Thomas Edison(For his investigations in electric lighting.) |
Edward Charles Pickering(For his work on the photometry of the stars and upon stellar spectra.) |
Albert Abraham Michelson(For his determination of the velocity of light, for his research on the motion of the luminferous ether, and for his work on the absolute determination of the wavelengths of light.) |
Samuel Pierpont Langley(For his research in radiant energy.) |
Henry Augustus Rowland(For his research in light and heat.) |
J. Willard Gibbs(For his research in thermodynamics.) |
John William Draper(For his research on radiant energy.) |
Lewis Morris Rutherford(For his improvements in the processes and methods of astronomical photography.) |
Joseph Harrison, Jr.(For his method of constructing safer steam boilers.) |
George Henry Corliss(For his improvement in the steam engine.) |
Alvan Clark(For his improvements in the manufacture of refracting telescopes, as exhibited in his method of local correction.) |
Daniel Treadwell(For improvements in the management of heat, embodied in his investigations and inventions relating to the construction of cannon of large caliber, and great strength and endurance.) |
John Ericsson(For his improvements in the management of heat, particularly as shown in his caloric engine of 1858.) |
|
