The John Price Wetherill Medal was an award of the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memori ...

. It was established with a bequest given by the family of

John Price Wetherill John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

(1844–1906) on April 3, 1917. On June 10, 1925, the Board of Managers voted to create a silver medal, to be awarded for "discovery or invention in the physical sciences" or "new and important combinations of principles or methods already known". The legend on the first medal read: "for discovery, invention, or development in the physical sciences". The John Price Wetherill Medal was last awarded in 1997. As of 1998 all of the endowed medals previously awarded by the Franklin Institute were reorganized as the Benjamin Franklin Medals.

Recipients

* 1926

Frank Twyman Frank Twyman (17 November 1876 – 6 March 1959) was a British designer of optical instruments and co-inventor of the Twyman–Green interferometer. Early life Twyman was born in Canterbury, Kent, England on 17 November 1876, the seventh c ...

, Wagner Electric Corporation * 1927

Carl Ethan Akeley Carl Ethan Akeley (May 19, 1864 – November 17, 1926) was a pioneering American taxidermist, sculptor, biologist, conservationist, inventor, and nature photographer, noted for his contributions to American museums, most notably to the Milwauk ...

, North East Appliances Inc. * 1928 Albert S. Howell,

Frank E. Ross Frank Elmore Ross (April 2, 1874 – September 21, 1960) was an American astronomer and physicist. He was born in San Francisco, California and died in Altadena, California. In 1901 he received his doctorate from the University of California. ...

* 1929 Gustave Fast, William H. Mason, Johannes Ruths * 1930 Charles S. Chrisman, William N. Jennings * 1931 Thomas Tarvin Gray, Arthur J. Mason, Edwin G. Steele, Walter L. Steele, Henry M. Sutton, Edward C. Wente * 1932 Halvor O. Hem,

Monroe Calculating Machine Company Monroe Systems for Business is a provider of electric calculators, printers, and office accessories such as paper shredders to business clients. Originally known as the Monroe Calculating Machine Company, it was founded in 1912 by Jay Randol ...

, Carl George Munters, Baltzar von Platen,

Frank Wenner Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Cur ...

* 1933 Henry S. Hulbert, Industrial Brownhoist Corporation, Koppers Company, Francis C. McMath, Robert R. McMath * 1934 E. Newton Harvey, Alfred L. Loomis, Johannes B. Ostermeier * 1935 F. Hope-Jones,

Francis Ferdinand Lucas Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural ...

, Robert E. Naumburg, William H. Shortt, James Edmond Shrader, Louis Bryant Tuckermann, Henry Ellis Warren * 1936 Albert L. Marsh * 1939 William Albert Hyde * 1940

Laurens Hammond Laurens Hammond (January 11, 1895 – July 1, 1973), was an American engineer and inventor. His inventions include the Hammond organ, the Hammond clock, and the world's first polyphonic musical synthesizer, the Novachord. Youth Laurens ...

, Edward Ernst Kleinschmidt, Howard L. Krum * 1941

Harold Stephen Black Harold Stephen Black (April 14, 1898 – December 11, 1983) was an American electrical engineer, who revolutionized the field of applied electronics by discovering the negative feedback amplifier in 1927. To some, his discovery is considered the ...

* 1943 Robert Howland Leach * 1944 Richard C. DuPont, Willem Fredrik Westendorp * 1946 Lewis A. Rodert * 1947 Kenneth S. M. Davidson * 1948 Wendell Frederick Hess * 1949 Edgar Collins Bain, Thomas L. Fawick, Harlan D. Fowler * 1950

Donald William Kerst Donald William Kerst (November 1, 1911 – August 19, 1993) was an American physicist who worked on advanced particle accelerator concepts (accelerator physics) and plasma physics. He is most notable for his development of the betatron, a novel ...

Sigurd Varian Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Meroving ...

Russell Varian Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) Places Australia *Russell, Australian Capital Territory *Russell Island, Queensland (disambiguation) **Ru ...

* 1951 Samuel C. Collins, Reid Berry Gray, Gaylord W. Penney * 1952 Martin E. Nordberg, Harrison P. Hood, Albert J. Williams Junior, * 1953 Robert H. Dalton, Stanley Donald Stookey * 1954 William D. Buckingham, Clarence Nichols Hickman, Edwin T. Lorig * 1955 Louis M. Moyroud, Rene A. Higonnet, Jacques Yves Pierre SeJournet * 1957 Warren W. Carpenter, Martin Company, * 1958

Henry Boot Henry Boot (1851–1931) was the founder of Henry Boot PLC. Henry Boot was the eldest surviving son of Charles and Ann Boot. He was born on 9 December 1851 in Heeley, a small village two miles outside Sheffield. Henry's father had described him ...

, J. Sayers, John Randall * 1959 Robert B. Aitchison, Archer J. P. Martin,

Anthony Trafford James Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

Clarence Zener Clarence Melvin Zener (December 1, 1905 – July 2, 1993) was the American physicist who first (1934) described the property concerning the breakdown of electrical insulators. These findings were later exploited by Bell Labs in the development of ...

, R. L. M. Synge * 1960

Raimond Castaing Raimond Bernard René Castaing (December 28, 1921 – April 10, 1998), also spelt as Raymond Castaing, was a French solid state physicist and inventor of various materials characterization methods. He was the founder of the French school of microa ...

, Walter Juda,

Victor Vacquier Victor Vacquier, Sr. (October 13, 1907 – January 11, 2009) was a professor of geophysics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego... Vacquier was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1920, Vacquier ...

* 1961 Albert E. Hitchcock, Percy W. Zimmerman * 1962

Ernest Ambler Ernest Ambler (November 20, 1923 – February 17, 2017) was a British-American physicist who served as the Acting Under Secretary for Technology in the Department of Commerce (1988–89), as director of the United States' National Bureau of Stan ...

, Raymond Webster Hayward, Dale Dubois Hoppes,

Ralph P. Hudson Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

, Stanley Donald Stookey,

Chien-Shiung Wu ) , spouse = , residence = , nationality = ChineseAmerican , field = Physics , work_institutions = Institute of Physics, Academia SinicaUniversity of California at BerkeleySmith CollegePrinceton UniversityColumbia UniversityZhejiang Unive ...

* 1963 Daryl M. Chapin,

Calvin Souther Fuller Calvin Souther Fuller (May 25, 1902 – October 28, 1994) was an American physical chemist at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he worked for 37 years from 1930 to 1967. Fuller was part of a team in basic research that found answers to physical cha ...

, Gerald L. Pearson * 1964

Howard Aiken Howard Hathaway Aiken (March 8, 1900 – March 14, 1973) was an American physicist and a pioneer in computing, being the original conceptual designer behind IBM's Harvard Mark I computer. Biography Aiken studied at the University of Wisconsi ...

, John Eugene Gunzler, John Kenneth Hulm,

Bernd Matthias Bernd Theodor Matthias (June 8, 1918 – October 27, 1980) was a German-born American physicist credited with discoveries of hundreds of elements and alloys with superconducting properties. He was said to have discovered more elements and compoun ...

* 1965 Edward Ching-Te Chao,

Wendell F. Moore Wendell F. Moore (6 March 1918, Canton, Ohio – 29 May 1969) was an American aeronautical engineer, known as a jet pack inventor. Wendell F. Moore studied aeronautical engineering at Kent State College and Indiana Technical College but seems t ...

John Hamilton Reynolds John Hamilton Reynolds (9 September 1794 – 15 November 1852) was an English poet, satirist, critic, and playwright. He was a close friend and correspondent of poet John Keats, whose letters to Reynolds constitute a significant body of Keats' po ...

, Frederick D. Rossini,

Eugene Shoemaker Eugene Merle Shoemaker (April 28, 1928 – July 18, 1997) was an American geologist. He co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 with his wife Carolyn S. Shoemaker and David H. Levy. This comet hit Jupiter in July 1994: the impact was televise ...

, Fred Noel Spiess * 1966 Howard G. Rogers,

Britton Chance Britton "Brit" Chance (July 24, 1913 – November 16, 2010) was an American biochemist, biophysicist, scholar, and inventor whose work helped develop spectroscopy as a way to diagnose medical problems. He was "a world leader in transforming t ...

* 1967 Ernest Omar Wollan * 1968 Nathan Cohn * 1969 George R. Cowan, John J. Douglass, Arnold H. Holtzman * 1970 Paul D. Bartlett * 1971

Felix Wankel Felix Heinrich Wankel (; 13 August 1902 – 9 October 1988) was a German mechanical engineer and inventor after whom the Wankel engine was named. Early life Wankel was born in 1902 in Lahr in what was then the Grand Duchy of Baden in the Upper R ...

* 1972 Otto Herbert Schmitt * 1973 A. R. Howell * 1974

Aage Bohr Aage Niels Bohr (; 19 June 1922 – 8 September 2009) was a Danish nuclear physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1975 with Ben Roy Mottelson and James Rainwater "for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and pa ...

Ben Mottelson Ben Roy Mottelson (9 July 1926 – 13 May 2022) was an American-Danish nuclear physicist. He won the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the non-spherical geometry of atomic nuclei. Early life Mottelson was born in Chicago, Illinois on ...

* 1975 Donald Newton Langenberg, William Henry Parker, Barry Norman Taylor * 1976 Herbert Blades, James W. Cronin, Val Fitch * 1978

William Klemperer William A. Klemperer (October 6, 1927 – November 5, 2017) was an American chemist who was one of the most influential chemical physicists and molecular spectroscopists in the second half of the 20th century. Klemperer is most widely known fo ...

* 1979

Elias Burstein Elias Burstein (September 30, 1917 – June 17, 2017) was an American experimental condensed matter physicist whose active career in science spanned seven decades. He is known for his pioneering fundamental research in the optical physics of ...

* 1980

Ralph Alpher Ralph Asher Alpher (February 3, 1921 – August 12, 2007) was an American cosmologist, who carried out pioneering work in the early 1950s on the Big Bang model, including Big Bang nucleosynthesis and predictions of the cosmic microwave backgroun ...

Robert Herman Robert Herman (August 29, 1914 – February 13, 1997) was an American scientist, best known for his work with Ralph Alpher in 1948–50, on estimating the temperature of cosmic microwave background radiation from the Big Bang explosion. Biograph ...

* 1981 Frank F. Fang, Alan B. Fowler, Webster E. Howard,

Frank Stern Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

, Philip J. Stiles * 1982 Lawrence A. Harris * 1984

Eugene Garfield Eugene Eli Garfield (September 16, 1925 – February 26, 2017) was an American linguist and businessman, one of the founders of bibliometrics and scientometrics. He helped to create ''Current Contents'', ''Science Citation Index'' (SCI), ''Journ ...

* 1985 Lynn A. Conway, Carver A. Mead * 1986 Alvin Van Valkenburg * 1987 Dennis H. Klatt * 1990

Akito Arima was a Japanese nuclear physics, nuclear physicist and politician, known for the interacting boson model. Personal life Arima was born 1930 in Osaka. He studied at the University of Tokyo, where he received his doctorate in 1958. He became a rese ...

* 1991 Peter John Twin * 1992

Gerald E. Brown Gerald Edward Brown (born July 22, 1926 in Brookings, South Dakota; † May 31, 2013 in New York City) was an American theoretical physicist who worked on nuclear physics and astrophysics. Since 1968 he had been a professor at the Stony Brook Un ...

* 1994 Stirling A. Colgate * 1997

Federico Capasso Federico Capasso (born 1949, Rome, Italy), a prominent applied physicist, was one of the inventors of the quantum cascade laser during his work at Bell Laboratories. He is currently on the faculty of Harvard University. He has co-authored over ...

References

{{reflist Franklin Institute awards Physics awards Engineering awards

Recipients

See also

References