The James Watt Medal is an

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

for excellence in

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

established in 1937, conferred by the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It is named after Scottish engineer James Watt (1736–1819) who developed the

Watt steam engine The Watt steam engine design became synonymous with steam engines, and it was many years before significantly new designs began to replace the basic Watt design. The first steam engines, introduced by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, were of the "a ...

in 1781, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

in both his native

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

and the rest of the world.

James Watt International Gold Medal of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

The ''James Watt International Gold Medal'' is awarded by the British to an outstanding mechanical engineer. :"''To commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of James Watt on 19 January 1736 - an event which was destined to bring about a revolution in the utilisation of power - the Institution of Mechanical Engineers award every two years a Gold Medal to an engineer of any nationality who is deemed worthy of the highest award the Institution can bestow and that a mechanical engineer can receive. In making the award, the Institution has sought the co-operation and advice of engineering Institutions and Societies in all parts of the world.'' :''To be worthy to receive a medal struck in commemoration of one who was at one and the same time a scientist, an inventor and a producer, the recipient himself should be an engineer who has achieved international recognition both by his works as a mechanical engineer and by the ability with which he has applied science to the progress of mechanical engineering."'' Recipients of the James Watt International Gold Medal are:

James Watt Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers

The ''James Watt Medal'' is also a lesser known award of the British

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

(ICE) for energy engineers. From the Institution of Civil Engineers website: :''"The James Watt Medal is awarded for papers having a substantial mechanical engineering content. The medal, named after James Watt, the Scottish mechanical engineer and inventor who died in 1819, was introduced by Robert Stephenson (President of ICE in 1855-1856) who recommended Council to acquire the dies of the medal from Joseph S Wyon in 1858."'' Recipients of the James Watt Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers include: *1880s? Basil Wood for his work on Combined Heat and Power *2000 Paul Kassabian. Structural engineer with interests in design, dynamic control, and deployable structures.MIT Architecture: Paul Kassabian Profile
/ref> *2000 Professor Sergio Pellegrino. Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Specializes in deployable lightweight structures. *2005 Choo Yoo Sang, J W Boh, and L Louca. *2009 Dick Fenner and Joan Ko for "Adoption of energy efficiency innovations in new UK housing" *2010 Neil Chapman for paper on radioactive waste disposal *2014 Malcolm Joyce *2019 Tobias Lühn and Jutta Geldermann for "Optimising power grids using batteries and fuzzy control of photovoltaic generation"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watt International Medal Awards of the Institution of Civil Engineers Awards of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

1937 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards established in 1937

James Watt International Gold Medal of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

James Watt Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers

See also

References