IEEE Medal of Honor

The IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest recognition of the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It has been awarded since 1917, and is presented to an individual or team of up to three who have made exceptional contributions or had extraordinary careers in technology, engineering, and science in the IEEE fields of interest. The award consists of a gold medal, a bronze replica (of the medal), a certificate,^[1] and a US$2 million honorarium.^[a][3]

IEEE Medal of Honor
Awarded for	Exceptional contribution or an extraordinary career in the IEEE fields of interest
Presented by	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
First award	1917
Website	corporate-awards.ieee.org/ieee-medal-of-honor/

The medal was created by the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) as the "IRE Medal of Honor". It became the IEEE Medal of Honor when the IRE merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the IEEE in 1963. It was decided that IRE's Medal of Honor would be presented as IEEE's highest award. Edward Field Sanford Jr., an American sculptor, designed the medal in 1917.^[2]

The first recipient was Edwin Howard Armstrong, in 1917.^[2] As of 2024, 104 people have been awarded the medal, with the latest recipient being Robert E. Kahn.^[4] Only one woman, Mildred Dresselhaus, has been awarded the medal, in 2015.^[5][6]

Recipients

Recipients of the IEEE Medal of Honor

Year	Name	Image	Citation[7]	Ref.
1917	Edwin Howard Armstrong		"In recognition of his work and publications dealing with the action of the oscillating and non-oscillating audio"	[8]
1918	No award
1919	Ernst Alexanderson		"In recognition of his pioneer accomplishments in the field of long distance radio communication, including his development of the radio frequency alternator which bears his name, a magnetic amplifier permitting effective modulation of the output of such an alternator, and a cascade radio frequency vacuum tube amplifier yielding exceptional total amplification"	[9]
1920	Guglielmo Marconi		"In recognition of his pioneer work in radio telegraphy"	[10]
1921	Reginald Aubrey Fessenden		(No citation)	[11]
1922	Lee de Forest		"For his major contributions to the communications arts and sciences, as particularly exemplified by his invention of that outstandingly significant device: the three electrode vacuum tube, and his work in the fields of radio telephonic transmission and reception"	[12]
1923	John Stone Stone		"For his valuable pioneer contributions to the radio art"	[13]
1924	Michael I. Pupin		"In recognition of his fundamental contributions in the field of electrical tuning and the rectification of alternating currents used for signaling purposes"	[14]
1925	No award
1926	Greenleaf Whittier Pickard		"For his contributions to crystal detectors, coil antennas, wave propagation and atmospheric disturbances"	[15]
1927	Louis W. Austin		"For his pioneer work in the quantitative measurement and correlation of factors involved in radio wave transmission"	[16]
1928	Jonathan Zenneck		"For his contribution to original researches in radio circuit performance and to the scientific and educational contributions to the literature of the pioneer radio art"	[17]
1929	George W. Pierce		"For his major contributions in the theory and operation of crystal detectors, piezoelectric crystals and magnetostriction frequency controls and magnetostriction devices for the production of sound; and for his instructional leadership as a teacher and as a writer of important texts in the electric wave field"	[18]
1930	Peder Oluf Pedersen	—	(No citation)	[19]
1931	Gustave A. Ferrie		"For his pioneer work in the up building of radio communication in France and in the world, his long continued leadership in the communication field, and his outstanding contributions to the organization of international cooperation in radio"	[20]
1932	Arthur Edwin Kennelly		"For his studies of radio propagation phenomena and his contributions to the theory and measurement methods in the alternating current circuit field which now have extensive radio application"	[21]
1933	John Ambrose Fleming		"For the conspicuous part he played in introducing physical and engineering principles into the radio art"	[22]
1934	Stanford C. Hooper		"For the orderly planning and systematic organization of radio communication in the Government Service with which he is associated (United States Navy), and the concomitant and resulting advances in the development of radio equipment and procedure"	[23]
1935	Balthasar van der Pol		"For his fundamental studies and contributions in the field of circuit theory and electromagnetic wave propagation phenomena"	[24]
1936	George Ashley Campbell	—	"For his contributions to the theory of electrical network"	[25]
1937	Melville Eastham	—	"For his pioneer work in the field of radio measurements, his constructive influence on laboratory practice in communication engineering, and his unfailing support of the aims and ideals of the Institute"	[26]
1938	John H. Dellinger		"For his contributions to the development of radio measurements and standards, his researches and discoveries of the relation between radio wave propagation and other natural phenomena, and his leadership in international conferences contributing to the world wide cooperation in telecommunications"	[27]
1939	Albert G. Lee	—	"For his accomplishments in promoting international radio services and in fostering advances in the art and science of radio communication"	[28]
1940	Lloyd Espenschied	—	"For his accomplishments as an engineer, as an inventor, as a pioneer in the development of radio telephony, and for his effective contributions to the progress of international radio coordination"	[29]
1941	Alfred Norton Goldsmith		"For his contributions to radio research, engineering, and commercial development, his leadership in standardization, and his unceasing devotion to the establishment and upbuilding of the Institute and its Proceedings"	[30]
1942	Albert H. Taylor		"For his contributions to radio communication as an engineer and organizer, including pioneering work in the practical application of piezoelectric control to radio transmitters, early recognition and investigation of skip distances and other high-frequency wave-propagation problems, and many years of service to the government of the United States as an engineering executive of outstanding ability in directing the Radio Division of the Naval Research Laboratory"	[31]
1943	William Wilson	—	"For his achievements in the development of modern electronics, including its application to radio-telephony, and for his contributions to the welfare and work of the Institute"	[32]
1944	Haraden Pratt	—	"In recognition of his engineering contributions to the development of radio, of his work in the extension of communication facilities to distant lands, and of his constructive leadership in Institute affairs"	[33]
1945	Harold H. Beverage		"In recognition of his achievements in radio research and invention, of his practical applications of engineering developments that greatly extended and increased the efficiency of domestic and world-wide radio communications and of his devotion to the affairs of the Institute of Radio Engineers"	[34]
1946	Ralph Hartley		"For his early work on oscillating circuits employing triode tubes and likewise for his early recognition and clear exposition of the fundamental relationship between the total amount of information which may be transmitted over a transmission system of limited band-width and the time required"	[35]
1947	No award
1948	Lawrence C. F. Horle		"For his contributions to the radio industry in standardization work, both in peace and war, particularly in the field of electron tubes, and for his guidance of a multiplicity of technical committees into effective action"	[36]
1949	Ralph Bown	—	"For his extensive contributions to the field of radio and for his leadership in Institute affairs"	[37]
1950	Frederick Terman	—	"For his many contributions to the radio and electronic industry as teacher, author, scientist and administrator"	[38]
1951	Vladimir Zworykin		"For his outstanding contributions to the concept and development of electronic apparatus basic to modern television, and his scientific achievements that led to fundamental advances in the application of electronics to communications, to industry and to national security"	[39]
1952	Walter R. G. Baker		"In recognition of his outstanding direction of scientific and engineering projects; for his statesmanship in reconciling conflicting viewpoints and obtaining cooperative effort; and for his service to the Institute"	[40]
1953	John Milton Miller		"In recognition of his pioneering contributions to the fundamentals of electron tube theory and measurements, to crystal controlled oscillators and to receiver development"	[41]
1954	William L. Everitt		"For his distinguished career as author, educator and scientist; for his contributions in establishing electronics and communications as a major branch of electrical engineering; for his unselfish service to his country; for his leadership in the affairs of The Institute of Radio Engineers"	[42]
1955	Harald T. Friis	—	"For his outstanding technical contributions in the expansion of the useful spectrum of radio frequencies, and for the inspiration and leadership he has given to young engineers"	[43]
1956	John V. L. Hogan		"For his contributions to the electronic field as a founder and builder of The Institute of Radio Engineers, for the long sequence of his inventions, and for his continuing activity in the development of devices and systems useful in the communications art"	[44]
1957	Julius Adams Stratton	—	"For his inspiring leadership and outstanding contributions to the development of radio engineering, as teacher, physicist, engineer, author and administrator"	[45]
1958	Albert Hull		"For outstanding scientific achievement and pioneering inventions and development in the field of electron tubes"	[46]
1959	Emory Leon Chaffee		"For his outstanding research contributions and his dedication to training for leadership in radio engineering"	[47]
1960	Harry Nyquist	—	"For fundamental contributions to a quantitative understanding of thermal noise, data transmission and negative feedback"	[48]
1961	Ernst A. Guillemin	—	"For outstanding scientific and engineering achievements"	[49]
1962	Edward Victor Appleton		"For his distinguished pioneer work in investigating the ionosphere by means of radio waves"	[50]
1963	John Hays Hammond Jr.		"For pioneering contributions to circuit theory and practice, to the radio control of missiles and to basic communication methods"	[51]
	George C. Southworth	—	"For pioneering contributions to microwave radio physics, to radio astronomy, and to waveguide transmission"	[52]
1964	Harold A. Wheeler	—	"For his analyses of the fundamental limitations on the resolution in television systems and on wideband amplifiers, and for his basic contributions to the theory and development of antennas, microwave elements, circuits, and receivers"	[53]
1965	No award
1966	Claude Elwood Shannon		"For his development of a mathematical theory of communication which unified and significantly advanced the state of the art"	[54]
1967	Charles H. Townes		"For his significant contributions in the field of quantum electronics which have led to the maser and the laser"	[55]
1968	Gordon K. Teal	—	"For his contributions to single crystal germanium and silicon technology and the single crystal grown junction transistor"	[56]
1969	Edward Ginzton	—	"For his outstanding contributions in advancing the technology of high power klystrons and their application, especially to linear particle accelerators"	[57]
1970	Dennis Gabor		"For his ingenious and exciting discovery and verification of the principles of holography"	[58]
1971	John Bardeen		"For his profound contributions to the understanding of the conductivity of solids, to the invention of the transistor, and to the microscopic theory of superconductivity"	[59]
1972	Jay W. Forrester	—	"For exceptional advances in the digital computer through his invention and application of the magnetic-core random-access memory, employing coincident current addressing"	[60]
1973	Rudolf Kompfner	—	"For a major contribution to world-wide communication through the conception of the traveling-wave tube embodying a new principle of amplification"	[61]
1974	Rudolf Kálmán		"For pioneering modern methods in system theory, including concepts of controllability, observability, filtering, and algebraic structures"	[62]
1975	John Robinson Pierce		"For his pioneering concrete proposals and the realization of satellite communication experiments, and for contributions in theory and design of traveling wave tubes and in electron beam optics essential to this success"	[63]
1976	No award
1977	H. Earle Vaughan	—	"For his vision, technical contributions and leadership in the development of the first high-capacity pulse-code modulation time-division telephone switching system"	[64]
1978	Robert Noyce		"For his contributions to the silicon integrated circuit, a cornerstone of modern electronics"	[65]
1979	Richard Bellman	—	"For contributions to decision processes and control system theory, particularly the creation and application of dynamic programming"	[66]
1980	William Shockley		"For the invention of the junction transistor, the analog and the junction field-effect transistor, and the theory underlying their operation"	[67]
1981	Sidney Darlington	—	"For fundamental contributions to filtering and signal processing leading to chirp radar"	[68]
1982	John Tukey	—	"For his contributions to the spectral analysis of random processes and the fast Fourier transform algorithm"	[69]
1983	Nicolaas Bloembergen		"For pioneering contributions to Quantum Electronics including the invention of the three-level maser"	[70]
1984	Norman F. Ramsey		"For fundamental contributions to very high accuracy time and frequency standards exemplified by the cesium atomic clock and hydrogen maser oscillator"	[71]
1985	John Roy Whinnery		"For seminal contributions to the understanding and application of electromagnetic fields and waves to microwave, laser, and optical devices"	[72]
1986	Jack Kilby	—	"For fundamental contributions to semiconductor integrated circuit technology"	[73]
1987	Paul Lauterbur	—	"For the discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging"	[74]
1988	Calvin Quate	—	"For the invention and development of the scanning acoustic microscope"	[75]
1989	C. Kumar Patel		"For fundamental contributions to quantum electronics, including the carbon dioxide laser and the spin-flip Raman laser"	[76]
1990	Robert G. Gallager		"For fundamental contributions to communications coding techniques"	[77]
1991	Leo Esaki		"For contributions to and leadership in tunneling, semiconductor superlattices, and quantum wells"	[78]
1992	Amos E. Joel Jr.	—	"For fundamental contributions to and leadership in telecommunications switching systems"	[79]
1993	Karl Johan Åström	—	"For fundamental contributions to theory and applications of adaptive control technology"	[80]
1994	Alfred Y. Cho	—	"For seminal contributions to the development of molecular beam epitaxy"	[81]
1995	Lotfi A. Zadeh		"For pioneering development of fuzzy logic and its many diverse applications"	[82]
1996	Robert Metcalfe		"For exemplary and sustained leadership in the development, standardization, and commercialization of Ethernet"	[83]
1997	George H. Heilmeier		"For discovery and initial development of electro-optic effects in liquid crystals"	[84]
1998	Donald Pederson	—	"For creation of the SPICE Program, universally used for the computer aided design of circuits"	[85]
1999	Charles Concordia	—	"For outstanding contributions in the area of Power System Dynamics which resulted in substantial improvements in planning, operation and security of extended power systems" "	[86]
2000	Andrew Grove		"For pioneering research in characterizing and modeling metal oxide semiconductor devices and technology, and leadership in the development of the modern semiconductor industry"	[87]
2001	Herwig Kogelnik		"For fundamental contributions to the science and technology of lasers and optoelectronics, and for leadership in research and development of photonics and lightwave communication systems"	[88]
2002	Herbert Kroemer		"For contributions to high-frequency transistors and hot electron devices, especially heterostructure devices from heterostructure bipolar transistors to lasers, and their molecular beam epitaxy technology"	[89]
2003	Nick Holonyak		"For a career of pioneering contributions to semiconductors, including the growth of semiconductor alloys and heterojunctions, and to visible light-emitting diodes and injection lasers"	[90]
2004	Tadahiro Sekimoto	—	"For contributions to digital satellite communications, promotion of information technology R&D, and technical and corporate leadership in computers and communications"	[91]
2005	James Flanagan	—	"For sustained leadership and outstanding contributions in speech technology"	[92]
2006	James D. Meindl	—	"For pioneering contributions to microelectronics, including low power, biomedical, physical limits and onchip interconnect networks"	[93]
2007	Thomas Kailath	—	"For exceptional development of powerful algorithms in the fields of communications, computing, control and signal processing"	[94][95]
2008	Gordon Moore		"For pioneering technical roles in integrated-circuit processing, and leadership in the development of MOS memory, the microprocessor computer and the semiconductor industry"	[96]
2009	Robert Dennard		"For invention of the single transistor Dynamic Random Access Memory and for developing scaling principles for integrated circuits"	[97]
2010	Andrew Viterbi		"For seminal contributions to communications technology and theory"	[98]
2011	Morris Chang		"For outstanding leadership in the semiconductor industry"	[99]
2012	John L. Hennessy		"For pioneering the RISC processor architecture and for leadership in computer engineering and higher education"	[100]
2013	Irwin M. Jacobs		"For leadership and fundamental contributions to digital communications and wireless technology"	[101][102]
2014	B. Jayant Baliga		"For the invention, implementation, and commercialization of power semiconductor devices with widespread benefits to society"	[103]
2015	Mildred Dresselhaus		"For leadership and contributions across many fields of science and engineering[104]"	[105]
2016	Dave Forney	—	"For pioneering contributions to the theory of error-correcting codes and the development of reliable high-speed data communications"	[106][107]
2017	Kees Schouhamer Immink		"For pioneering contributions to video, audio, and data recording technology, including compact disc, DVD, and Blu-ray"	[108][109]
2018	Bradford W. Parkinson		"For fundamental contributions to and leadership in developing the design and driving the early applications of the Global Positioning System"	[110]
2019	Kurt E. Peterson		"For contributions to and leadership in the development and commercialization of innovative technologies in the field of MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems)"	[111]
2020	Chenming Hu		"For a distinguished career of developing and putting into practice semiconductor models, particularly 3-D device structures, that have helped keep Moore’s Law going over many decades"	[112]
2021	Yaakov Ziv		"For fundamental contributions to information theory and data compression technology, and for distinguished research leadership"	[113]
2022	Asad M. Madni	—	"For pioneering contributions to the development and commercialization of innovative sensing and systems technologies, and for distinguished research leadership"[114]	[115]
2023	Vinton G. Cerf		"For co-creating the Internet architecture and providing sustained leadership in its phenomenal growth in becoming society’s critical infrastructure"	[116]
2024	Robert E. Kahn		"For pioneering technical and leadership contributions in packet communication technologies and foundations of the Internet"	[117]
2025	Henry Samueli		"For pioneering research and commercialization of broadband communication and networking technologies, and promotion of STEM education"	[118]

See also

• IET Faraday Medal
• Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering
• List of engineering awards

Notes

1. Until 2024, the honorarium used to be US$50,000.^[2] This will be increased from 2025.