Rumford Medal

Not to be confused with Rumford Prize.

The Rumford Medal is an award bestowed by the Royal Society for "outstanding contributions in the field of physics". The award is named in honour of British scientist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, who is noted for his works on thermodynamics and for establishing the Royal Institution. The award was created in 1796 after Thompson transferred £1,000 to the Royal Society in stocks, instructing the latter to grant the awardee the fund's interest as a premium. Thompson was awarded the inaugural award in 1800.^[2]

Rumford Medal
Count Rumford (Sir Benjamin Thompson), for whom the award is named.
Awarded for	"outstanding contributions in the field of physics"[1]
Date	1800 (1800)
Country	United Kingdom
Presented by	Royal Society
Website	royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/rumford-medal

The award initially consisted of two medals, one each in silver and gold, struck in the same die.^[3] This was later replaced with a single medal made of silver gilt. The medal is awarded with a cash prize of £2,000.^[4] British painter Robert Smirke created the original design of the medal. The diameter of the medal is 3 inches (7.62 cm). The obverse featured a tripod altar with a flame upon it, circumscribed by a Latin inscription from Lucretius' poem De rerum natura "Noscere quae vis et causa". The reverse had the Latin inscription "Proemium optime merenti ex instituto Benj. a Rumford, S.R.I. Comitis: adjudicatum a Reg. Soc. Lond." surrounded by an ornamental border of leaves.^[5] This design was discontinued in 1863. As of 2024, the obverse of the medal has a portrait of Thompson, surrounded by the Latin inscription "Beniamin Ab Rvmford S. Rom. Imp. Comes Institvit" ("Benjamin Rumford, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, founded this"), with the Roman numeral MDCCXCVI (1796) on the exergue. The reverse has the Latin inscription "Optime In Lvcis Caloqisqve Natvra Exqvirena Merenti Adivdicat Soc: Reg: Lond." ("The Royal Society of London awards this to one outstandingly deserving in investigating the nature of light and heat") inscribed within a wreath of oak and laurel leaves bound with ribbons.^[6][7]

All citizens or residents of the Commonwealth of Nations or the Republic of Ireland for more than three years are eligible for the medal. Candidates for the medal are selected by the Royal Society Council on the recommendations of the Physical Sciences Awards Committee.^[1] Ten times during the early 19th century, no medals were awarded due to the unavailability of suitable candidates or political considerations of the Royal Society Council.^[2][8]

Since its inception, the medal has been granted to 108 scientists. It has been awarded to citizens of the United Kingdom sixty-seven times,^[a] France fourteen times, Germany seven times,^[b] the Netherlands seven times, Sweden four times, the United States thrice, Italy twice, Hungary twice,^[c] and once each to citizens of Australia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Mexico and New Zealand. The medal has been awarded to multiple individuals twice: in 1896, to Philipp Lenard and Wilhelm Röntgen and in 1918, to Charles Fabry and Alfred Perot. From 1800 to 2018, the medal was awarded biennially; since then it has been awarded annually. The most recent recipient is British physicist Tony Bell, who received it in 2024. British academic and engineer Polina Bayvel is the only female recipient.^[9]

List of recipients

List of recipients of the Rumford Medal

Year	Portrait	Name	Nationality	Rationale	Notes
1800		Benjamin Thompson	American British	"For his various Discoveries respecting Heat and Light"	[d][11][12]
1802	No award
1804		John Leslie	British	"For his Experiments on Heat, published in his Work, entitled an Experimental Inquiry into the Nature and Propagation of Heat."	[13][14]
1806	No award
1808		William Murdoch	British	"For his publication of the employment of Gas from Coal, for the purpose of illumination"	[15]
1810		Étienne-Louis Malus	French	"For his discoveries of certain new Properties of Reflected Light, published in the Second Volume of the Mémoires d'Arcueil"	[16][17]
1812	No award
1814	—	William Charles Wells	British	"For his Essay on Dew, published in the course of the preceding (1815) year"	[18][19]
1816		Humphry Davy	British	"For his Papers on Combustion and Flame, published in the last volume of the Philosophical Transactions"	[20][21]
1818		David Brewster	British	"For his Discoveries relating to the Polarisation of Light"	[22][23]
1820	No award
1822	No award
1824		Augustin-Jean Fresnel	French	"For his development of the undulatory theory as applied to the phenomena of polarized light, and for his various important discoveries in Physical Optics"	[e][25][26]
1826	No award
1828	No award
1830	No award
1832		John Frederic Daniell	British	"For his paper, entitled, 'Further Experiments with a new Register Pyrometer, for measuring the Expansion of Solids,' published in the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1831"	[27][28]
1834		Macedonio Melloni	Parmesan	"For his discoveries relevant to radiant heat"	[f][30][31]
1836	No award
1838		James David Forbes	British	"For his 'Experiments on the Polarization of Heat,' published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh"	[32][33]
1840		Jean-Baptiste Biot	French	"For his researches in, and connected with, the circular Polarization of Light"	[34][35]
1842		William Fox Talbot	British	"For his discoveries and improvements in photography"	[36][37]
1844	No award
1846		Michael Faraday	British	"For his discovery of the Optical Phenomena developed by the action of Magnets and Electric Currents in certain Transparent Media, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1846"	[38][39]
1848		Henri Victor Regnault	French	"For his 'Experiments to determine the Laws and the numerical data which enter into the calculation of Steam-Engines'"	[40]
1850		François Arago	French	"For his 'Experimental Investigations on Polarized Light,' the concluding memoirs on which were communicated to the Academy of Sciences of Paris during the last two years"	[41]
1852		George Gabriel Stokes	British	"For his 'Discovery of the Change in the Refrangibility of Light'"	[42][43]
1854		Neil Arnott	British	"For the successful construction of a new smoke-consuming and fuel-saving fire-grate, described in the Journal of the Society of Arts of May 12, 1854"	[44]
1856		Louis Pasteur	French	"For his discovery of the nature of racemic acid, and its relations to polarized light, and for the researches to which he was led by that discovery"	[45]
1858		Jules Jamin	French	"For his various Experimental Researches on Light"	[46][47]
1860		James Clerk Maxwell	British	"For his Researches on the Composition of Colours, and other Optical papers"	[48][49]
1862		Gustav Kirchhoff	Prussian	"For his researches on the fixed lines of the solar spectrum, and on the inversion of the bright lines in the spectra of artificial light"	[50]
1864		John Tyndall	British	"For his researches on the absorption and radiation of heat by gases and vapours"	[51]
1866		Hippolyte Fizeau	French	"For his Optical Researches, and especially for his investigations into the Effect of Heat on the Refractive Power of Transparent Bodies"	[52]
1868		Balfour Stewart	British	"For his researches on the qualitative as well as quantitative relation between the emissive and absorptive powers of bodies for heat and light, published originally in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, and now made more generally accessible by the publication in 1866 of his treatise on heat"	[50]
1870		Alfred Des Cloizeaux	French	"For his researches in Mineralogical Optics"	[53][54]
1872		Anders Jonas Ångström	Swedish	"For his Researches on Spectral Analysis"	[55]
1874		Joseph Norman Lockyer	British	"For his spectroscopic researches on the sun and on the chemical elements"	[56]
1876		Jules Janssen	French	"For his numerous & important researches in the radiation and absorption of light, carried on chiefly by means of the spectroscope"	[57][58]
1878		Alfred Cornu	French	"For his various optical researches, and especially for his recent re-determination of the velocity of propagation of light"	[59]
1880		William Huggins	British	"For his important researches in astronomical spectroscopy, and especially for his determination of the radial component of the proper motions of stars"	[60]
1882		William de Wiveleslie Abney	British	"For his Photographic Researches and his discovery of the method of photographing the less refrangible part of the spectrum, especially the infra-red region; also for his Researches on the absorption of various compound bodies in this part of the spectrum"	[61]
1884		Tobias Robertus Thalén	Swedish	"For his spectroscopic researches"	[62]
1886		Samuel Pierpont Langley	American	"For his researches on the spectrum by means of the Bolometer"	[63]
1888		Pietro Tacchini	Italian	"For important and long-continued investigations, which have largely advanced our knowledge of the physics of the sun"	[64][65]
1890		Heinrich Hertz	German	"For his work in electro-magnetic radiation"	[66]
1892		Nils Christoffer Dunér	Swedish	"For his Spectroscopic Researches on Stars"	[67]
1894		James Dewar	British	"For his researches on the properties of matter at extremely low temperatures"	[68][69]
1896		Philipp Lenard	Hungarian	"For their investigation of the phenomena produced outside a highly exhausted vacuum tube through which electrical discharge is taking place"	[g][71][72]
		Wilhelm Röntgen	German
1898		Oliver Joseph Lodge	British	"For his researches in radiation and in the relations between matter and ether"	[73]
1900		Henri Becquerel	French	"For his discoveries in radiation proceeding from Uranium"	[74]
1902		Charles Algernon Parsons	British	"For his success in the application of the steam turbine to industrial purposes, and for its recent extension to navigation"	[75][76]
1904		Ernest Rutherford	New Zealander	"For his researches on radio-activity, particularly for his discovery of the existence and properties of the gaseous emanations from radio-active bodies"	[h][78][79]
1906		Hugh Longbourne Callendar	British	"For his experimental work on heat"	[80]
1908		Hendrik Lorentz	Dutch	"On the ground of his investigations in optical and electrical science"	[81]
1910	—	Heinrich Rubens	German	"For his researches on radiation, especially of long wave-length"	[82]
1912		Heike Kamerlingh Onnes	Dutch	"For his researches at low temperatures"	[83][84]
1914		John Strutt	British	"For his numerous researches in optics"	[85]
1916		William Henry Bragg	British	"For his researches in X-ray radiation"	[86]
1918		Charles Fabry	French	"For their contributions to optics"	[87]
		Alfred Perot
1920		Robert Strutt	British	"For his researches into the properties of gases at high vacua"	[88]
1922		Pieter Zeeman	Dutch	"For his researches in optics"	[89]
1924		Charles Vernon Boys	British	"For his invention of the gas calorimeter"	[90]
1926		Arthur Schuster	German British	"For his services to physical science, especially in the subjects of optics and terrestrial magnetism"	[91]
1928		Friedrich Paschen	German	"For his contributions to the knowledge of spectra"	[92]
1930		Peter Debye	Dutch	"For his work relating to specific heats and X-ray spectroscopy"	[93]
1932		Fritz Haber	German	"For the outstanding importance of his work in physical chemistry, especially in the application of thermodynamics to chemical reactions"	[94][95]
1934		Wander Johannes de Haas	Dutch	"For his researches on the properties of bodies at low temperatures, and in particular, for his recent work on cooling by the use of adiabatic demagnetisation"	[96]
1936	—	Ernest George Coker	British	"For his researches on the use of polarized light for investigating directly the stresses in transparent models of engineering structures"	[97]
1938		Robert Wood	American	"In recognition of his distinguished work and discoveries in many branches of physical optics"	[98]
1940		Manne Siegbahn	Swedish	"For his pioneer work in high precision X-ray spectroscopy and its applications"	[99]
1942	—	Gordon Dobson	British	"For his outstanding work on the physics of the upper air and its application to meteorology"	[100]
1944		Harry Ricardo	British	"In recognition of his important contributions to research on the internal combustion engine, which have greatly influenced the development of the various types"	[101]
1946	—	Alfred Egerton	British	"For his leading part in the application of modern physical chemistry to many technological problems of pressing importance"	[102]
1948		Francis Simon	British	"For his outstanding contributions to the attainment of low temperatures and to the study of the properties of substances at temperatures near the absolute zero"	[103][104]
1950		Frank Whittle	British	"For his pioneering contributions to the jet propulsion of aircraft"	[105]
1952		Frits Zernike	Dutch	"For his outstanding work in the development of phase-contrast microscopy"	[106][107]
1954	—	Cecil Reginald Burch	British	"For his distinguished contributions to the technique for the production of high vacua and to the development of the reflecting microscope"	[108][109]
1956	—	Frank Philip Bowden	Australian	"For his distinguished work on the nature of friction"	[i][111]
1958	—	Thomas Ralph Merton	British	"For his distinguished researches in spectroscopy and optics"	[112][113]
1960		Alfred Gordon Gaydon	British	"For his distinguished work in the field of molecular spectroscopy and particularly its application to the study of flame phenomena"	[114]
1962	—	Dudley Maurice Newitt	British	"For his distinguished contributions to chemical engineering"	[115][116]
1964		Hendrik van de Hulst	Dutch	"For his distinguished work on the scattering processes in the interplanetary medium and his prediction of the 21 cm spectral line from interstellar neutral hydrogen"	[117]
1966		William Penney	British	"In recognition of his distinguished and paramount personal contribution to the establishment of economic nuclear energy in Great Britain"	[118][119]
1968		Dennis Gabor	Hungarian British	"For his contributions to optics, especially by establishing the principles of holography"	[120][121]
1970	—	Christopher Hinton	British	"In recognition of his outstanding contributions to engineering and of his leadership of engineering design teams in the chemical and atomic energy industries and in electricity generation"	[122]
1972	—	Basil John Mason	British	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to meteorology, particularly the physics of clouds"	[123][124]
1974	—	Alan Cottrell	British	"In recognition of his contributions to physical metallurgy and particularly in extending knowledge of the role of dislocation in the fracture of metals"	[125]
1976		Ilya Prigogine	Belgian	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to the theory of irreversible thermodynamics"	[126][127]
1978		George Porter	British	"In recognition of his distinguished studies of very fast chemical reactions by flash photolysis"	[128][129]
1980	—	William Frank Vinen	British	"In recognition of his discovery of the quantum of circulation in superfluid helium and his development of new techniques for precise measurements within liquid helium"	[130][131]
1982	—	Charles Gorrie Wynne	British	"In recognition of his unique contribution to the design of optical instruments ranging from large telescopes to bubble-chamber optics"	[132]
1984	—	Harold Hopkins	British	"In recognition of his many contributions to the theory and design of optical instruments, especially of a wide variety of important new medical instruments which have made a major contribution to clinical diagnosis and surgery"	[133]
1986	—	Denis Rooke	British	"In recognition of his contributions to scientific developments in the gas industry"	[134][135]
1988	—	Felix Weinberg	Czech British	"In recognition of his pioneering work on optical diagnostics and electrical aspects of combustion and his fundamental studies of flame problems associated with jet engines and furnaces"	[136][137]
1990	—	Walter Eric Spear	German	"For discovering and applying techniques for depositing and characterising thin films of high quality amorphous silicon and for demonstrating that these can be doped to give useful electronic devices, such as cost-effective solar cells and large arrays of thin film transistors, now used in commercial, flat-panel, LCD colour TV screens"	[138][139]
1992	—	Harold Neville Vazeille Temperley	British	"In recognition of his wide-ranging and imaginative contributions to applied mathematics and statistical physics, especially in the physical properties of liquids and the development of the Temperley-Lieb algebra"	[140][141]
1994	—	Andrew Keller	British	"In recognition of his contributions to polymer science, in particular his elucidation of the basis of polymeric crystallization, a fundamental ingredient in many materials, to methods of making strong fibres and to the understanding of polymer solutions which underlie this technology"	[142]
1996	—	Grenville Turner	British	"In recognition of his work on the 40Ar/39Ar method of dating developing this technique to a sophisticated level and one which is widely used for dating extraterrestrial and terrestrial rocks"	[143][144]
1998		Richard Friend	British	"In recognition of his leading research in the development of polymer-based electronics and optoelectronics leading to a very rapid growth of development activities aimed at plastic electronic displays, with advantages of very low cost, flexibility, and the option of curved or flat surfaces"	[145][144]
2000	—	Wilson Sibbett	British	"In recognition of his research on ultra-short pulse laser science and technology."	[146][147]
2002		David King	South African British	"For outstanding contributions to our fundamental understanding of the structure and dynamics of reaction processes on solid surfaces"	[148][149]
2004	—	Richard Dixon	British	"In recognition of his many contributions to molecular spectroscopy and to the dynamics of molecular photodissociation"	[150][151]
2006	—	Jean-Pierre Hansen	Luxembourger	"For his pioneering work on molten salts and dense plasmas that has led the way to a quantitative understanding of the structure and dynamics of strongly correlated ionic liquids"	[152][153]
2008	—	Edward Hinds	British	"For his extensive and highly innovative work in ultra-cold matter"	[154][155]
2010	—	Gilbert George Lonzarich	British	"For his outstanding work into novel types of quantum matter using innovative instrumentation and techniques"	[156]
2012		Roy Taylor	British	"For his outstanding contributions to tunable ultrafast lasers and nonlinear fibre optics, including fibre Raman, soliton and supercontinuum laser sources, which translated fundamental discoveries to practical technology"	[157][158]
2014		Jeremy Baumberg	British	"For his outstanding creativity in nanophotonics, investigating many ingenious nanostructures, both artificial and natural to support novel plasmonic phenomena relevant to Raman spectroscopy, solar cell performance and meta-materials applications."	[159][160]
2016	—	Ortwin Hess	German British	"For his pioneering work in active nano-plasmonics and optical metamaterials with quantum gain."	[161][162]
2018	—	Ian Walmsley	British	"For pioneering work in the quantum control of light and matter on ultrashort timescales, especially the invention and application of new techniques for characterization of quantum and classical light fields."	[163][164]
2019		Miles Padgett	British	"For world leading research on optical orbital momentum including an angular form of the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen"	[165][166]
2020		Patrick Gill	British	"For his development of optical atomic clocks of exquisite precision, of ultra-stable lasers and of frequency standards for fundamental physics, quantum information processing, space science, satellite navigation and Earth observation."	[167][168]
2021		Carlos Frenk	Mexican British	"For revealing via elaborate computer simulations, how small fluctuations in the early universe develop into today’s galaxies."	[169][170]
2022		Raymond Pierrehumbert	American	"For his wide-ranging contributions to atmospheric physics, employing fundamental principles of physics to elucidate phenomena across the spectrum of planetary atmospheres."	[171][172]
2023		Polina Bayvel	British	"For pioneering contributions to the fundamental physics and nonlinear optics, enabling the realisation of high capacity, broad bandwidth, multi-wavelength, optical communication systems that have underpinned the information technology revolution."	[173][9]
2024		Tony Bell	British	"For his seminal contributions to theoretical developments of cosmic ray acceleration and origins."	[174][175]

See also

• Awards, lectures and medals of the Royal Society
• List of physics awards

Notes

1. This number includes three scientists of mixed background. They are Ortwin Hess (German/British), Dennis Gabor (Hungarian/British) and Carlos Frenk (Mexican/British).
2. This number includes Ortwin Hess, who is of mixed background (German/British).
3. This number includes Dennis Gabor, who is of mixed background (Hungarian/British).
4. Thompson received the medal in 1804.^[10]
5. Fresnel was awarded the Rumford Medal for the year 1824 in 1827.^[24]
6. At the time of the award, Melloni was living as a refugee in France for his role in the rebellion of 1831 in Parma.^[29]
7. At the time of the award, Lenard was living in Germany, though he retained his Hungarian citizenship.^[70]
8. At the time of the award, Rutherford was living in Montreal, working at McGill University.^[77]
9. At the time of the award, Bowden was living in the United Kingdom.^[110]