| 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 award | 1839 |
| Final award | 2021 |
| Website | amacad.org/about/prizes |
Founded in 1796, theRumford Prize, awarded by theAmerican 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 inthermodynamics to improvements in the construction ofsteam boilers.
The award was created through the endowment ofUS$5,000 to the Academy byBenjamin 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 theSupreme 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 toRobert Hare, for his invention of theoxy-hydrogenblowpipe, in 1839. Twenty-three years elapsed before the award was given a second time, toJohn Ericsson.[3]
The prize is awarded whenever the academy recognizes a significant achievement in either of the two fields. Awardees receive a gold-and-silver medal.[1] Previous prizewinners includeThomas Alva Edison, for his investigations inelectric lighting;Enrico Fermi, for his studies ofradiation theory andnuclear energy; andCharles H. Townes, for his development of thelaser. One man,Samuel Pierpont Langley, has won both the Rumford Prize and the relatedRumford Medal (the European equivalent of the Rumford Prize), both in 1886. The most recent award was given in 2021 toCharles L. Bennett for his contributions tocosmology. The prize has been given to researchers outside of the United States only twice—once toJohn Stanley Plaskett, from British Columbia, and once to a group of Canadian scientists "for their work in the field of long-baseline interferometry."[4]
Source:American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Past Prizes
| Year | Name | Location[a] | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1839 | Robert Hare | Philadelphia,Pennsylvania | Inventor of theoxy-hydrogenblowpipe |
| 1862 | John Ericsson | New York,New York | His work improved the field of heat management, but the award was specifically for his invention of thecaloric engine of 1858. |
| 1865 | Daniel Treadwell | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Heat management. He was awarded especially for his contributions towards a "cannon of large caliber, and great strength and endurance". |
| 1866 | Alvan Clark | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Improvedrefracting telescopes |
| 1869 | George Henry Corliss | Providence, Rhode Island | For improving thesteam engine |
| 1871 | Joseph Harrison Jr. | Philadelphia,Pennsylvania | Towards his concern for safersteam boilers |
| 1873 | Lewis Morris Rutherfurd | New York,New York | For improving the "processes and methods" ofastronomical photography |
| 1875 | John William Draper | New York,New York | For his work towards apprehendingradiant energy |
| 1880 | Josiah Willard Gibbs | New Haven, Connecticut | Founded the field ofchemical thermodynamics |
| 1883 | Henry Augustus Rowland | Baltimore,Maryland | For his research in light and heat |
| 1886 | Samuel Pierpont Langley | Allegheny,Philadelphia | For his work towards the understanding of radiant energy |
| 1888 | Albert Abraham Michelson | Cleveland,Ohio | Measured thevelocity of light, and contribution towards the motion of theluminiferous ether, and absolute determination of thewavelengths of light |
| 1891 | Edward Charles Pickering | Cambridge, Massachusetts | For his work on stellarphotometry andstellar spectra |
| 1895 | Thomas Alva Edison | Orange, New Jersey | For his investigations inelectric lighting |
| 1898 | James Edward Keeler | Allegheny, Pennsylvania | For the applications of thespectroscope, and especially his investigations ofnebulae and the physical contents ofSaturn's rings |
| 1899 | Charles Francis Brush | Cleveland,Ohio | For the development of the electricarc lamp |
| 1900 | Carl Barus | Providence, Rhode Island | For his heat research |
| 1901 | Elihu Thomson | Lynn, Massachusetts | For his work in welding and lighting |
| 1902 | George Ellery Hale | Chicago,Illinois | For his investigations insolar andstellar physics and for the invention of thespectro-heliograph |
| 1904 | Ernest Fox Nichols | New York,New York | For his research onradiation, radiation pressure, stellar heat, and theinfrared spectrum |
| 1907 | Edward Goodrich Acheson | Niagara Falls, New York | For the application of theelectric furnace to the production ofcarborundum andgraphite |
| 1909 | Robert Williams Wood | Baltimore,Maryland | For light-related discoveries, including the optical properties ofsodium and other metallicvapors |
| 1910 | Charles Gordon Curtis | New York,New York | For his improvements to thesteam turbine |
| 1911 | James Mason Crafts | Boston,Massachusetts | For his work inthermometry, and the development of new fixed points on the scale.[b] |
| 1912 | Frederic Eugene Ives | Woodcliff-on-Hudson,New Jersey | For his inventions incolor photography andphotoengraving |
| 1913 | Joel Stebbins | Urbana, Illinois | For the development of theselenium photometer and its application to scientific problems |
| 1914 | William David Coolidge | Schenectady, New York | For his invention ofductile tungsten |
| 1915 | Charles Greeley Abbot | Washington, D.C. | For his research insolar radiation |
| 1917 | Percy Williams Bridgman | Cambridge, Massachusetts | For his high-pressure thermodynamic breakthroughs |
| 1918 | Theodore Lyman | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Awarded for his research on short-wave and long-wave wavelengths |
| 1920 | Irving Langmuir | Schenectady, New York | "For his research in thermionic and allied phenomena" |
| 1925 | Henry Norris Russell | Princeton, New Jersey | Awarded for his research insolar radiation |
| 1926 | Arthur Holly Compton | Chicago,Illinois | Awarded for his research inRoentgen rays |
| 1928 | Edward Leamington Nichols | Ithaca, New York | "For his research inspectrophotometry" |
| 1930 | John Stanley Plaskett | Victoria, British Columbia | For hisastronomical spectrographic research[c] |
| 1931 | Karl Taylor Compton | Cambridge, Massachusetts | He was awarded the medal forthermionics and spectroscopic research. |
| 1933 | Harlow Shapley | Cambridge, Massachusetts | For his work with theluminosity of stars and galaxies |
| 1937 | William Weber Coblentz | Washington, D.C. | For his improvements in the measurement of heat and light |
| 1939 | George Russell Harrison | Belmont, Massachusetts | "For pioneering improvements in spectroscopics" |
| 1941 | Vladimir Kosma Zworykin | Princeton, New Jersey | Awarded for the creation of theiconoscope and other related devices |
| 1943 | Charles Edward Mees | Rochester, New York | For his contributions to photography |
| 1945 | Edwin Herbert Land | Cambridge, Massachusetts | For his inventions related to the application ofpolarized light |
| 1947 | E. Newton Harvey | Princeton, New Jersey | For his research inbioluminescence |
| 1949 | Ira Sprague Bowen | Pasadena, California | For his work on the identification ofnebulium and for other outstanding works |
| 1951 | Herbert E. Ives | Montclair, New Jersey | For his research in the field ofoptics |
| 1953 | Enrico Fermi | Chicago,Illinois | For his investigations inelectromagnetic radiation andnuclear energy |
| 1953 | Willis E. Lamb Jr. | Stanford, California | Awarded for studying thehydrogen spectrum |
| 1953 | Lars Onsager | New Haven, Connecticut | For his investigations in thermodynamics related to transportation |
| 1955 | James Franck | Chicago,Illinois | For his studies in the investigation ofphotosynthesis |
| 1957 | Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar | Williams Bay, Wisconsin | For his investigations of the radiative energy balance in stars |
| 1959 | George Wald | Cambridge, Massachusetts | For identifying thebiochemical basis of vision |
| 1961 | Charles Hard Townes | New York,New York | "For his development of thelaser" |
| 1963 | Hans Albrecht Bethe | Ithaca, New York | For pioneering studies instellar nucleosynthesis |
| 1965 | Samuel Cornette Collins | Cambridge, Massachusetts | For the invention of the Collins HeliumCryostat and other pioneering work |
| 1965 | William David McElroy | Baltimore,Maryland | For his work on the molecular origin ofbioluminescence |
| 1967 | Robert Henry Dicke | Princeton, New Jersey | "For his contributions tomicrowave radiometry and to the understanding ofatomic structure" |
| 1967 | Cornelius B. Van Niel | Stanford, California | For his contributions to the study of photosynthesis |
| 1968 | Maarten Schmidt | Pasadena, California | For his work deducing the spectra ofquasi-stellar objects |
| 1971 | MIT Group (John. A Ball, Alan H. Barrett, Bernard F. Burke, Joseph C. Carter, Patricia P. Crowther, James M. Moran Jr., Alan E. E. Rogers) Canadian Group (Norman W. Broten, R. M. Chisholm, John A. Galt, Herbert P. Gush, Thomas H. Legg, Jack L. Locke, Charles W. McLeish, Roger S. Richards, Jui Lin Yen) NRAO–Cornell Group (Claude C. Bare,Barry G. Clark, Marshall H. Cohen, David L. Jauncey, Kenneth I. Kellermann) | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ball, Barrett, Burke, Carter, Crowther, Moran, Rogers) National Research Council (Canada) (Broten, Legg, Locke, McLeish, Richards);Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (Galt);University of Toronto (Yen);Queen's University (Chisolm);University of British Columbia (Gush)[5] National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Bare, Clark, Kellerman);Cornell University (Cohen, Jauncey)[6][7] | "For their work in the field oflong-baseline interferometry." The Rumford Committee sponsored a symposium on recent developments in the field to mark the unusual circumstances of the 1971 award;[8] it was reported in the January 14, 1972 issue ofScience.[9] |
| 1973 | E. Bright Wilson | Cambridge, Massachusetts | For pioneering the importance of symmetry inpolyatomic molecules and for his active work in the field ofmicrowave spectroscopy |
| 1976 | Bruno Rossi | Cambridge, Massachusetts | For discovering the origins of cosmic radiation |
| 1980 | Gregorio Weber | Urbana, Illinois | For researching the theory of, and working on the application of, fluorescence |
| 1980 | Chen Ning Yang | Stony Brook, New York | "For development of a generalized gauge invariant field theory" |
| 1985 | Hans Georg Dehmelt | Seattle,Washington | Awarded for his work in the field ofatomic spectroscopy |
| 1986 | Robert B. Leighton | Pasadena, California | For his work in developinginfrared astronomy |
| 1992 | James R. Norris | Chicago,Illinois | Awarded for working towards the understanding of photosynthesis |
| 1996 | John C. Mather | Greenbelt, Maryland | For his research related to thecosmic microwave background |
| 2008 | Sidney D. Drell | Stanford University | For their efforts to reduce the global threat ofnuclear weapons[10] |
| 2015 | Federico Capasso | Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences | For their contributions to the field of laser technology |
| 2019 | Ernst Bamberg Ed Boyden Karl Deisseroth Peter Hegemann Gero Miesenböck Georg Nagel | Max-Planck Institute of Biophysics Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stanford University Humboldt University of Berlin University of Oxford University of Würzburg | For "their extraordinary contributions related to the invention and refinement ofoptogenetics."[11] |
| 2021 | Charles L. Bennett | Baltimore, Maryland | For his contributions to the field ofcosmology |