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."[1]
Recipients of the James Watt International Gold Medal are:[2]
| Year | Recipient | Nominated by | Achievement | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Sir John Aspinall | The Institution of Mechanical Engineers | Locomotive designer | |
| 1939 | Henry Ford | American Society of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1941 | Professor Aurel Stodola | Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects, Czechoslovakia Society of Engineers, Engineering Institute of Canada |
Steam turbine engineer | |
| 1943 | Anthony Michell | Institution of Engineers, Australia, South African Institute of Engineers, Engineering Institute of Canada |
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| 1945 | Dr Frederick Lanchester | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1947 | Professor Stephen Timoshenko | Swiss Society of Mechanical Engineers and Architects | ||
| 1949 | Dr Fredrik Ljungström | Swedish Society of Engineers | ||
| 1951 | Dr Hans Henrik Blache | Danish Society of Engineers | ||
| 1953 | Sir Harry Ricardo | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1955 | Dr Igor Sikorsky | American Society of Engineers | ||
| 1957 | Professor Walther Bauersfeld | Verein Deutscher Ingenieure | ||
| 1959 | Sir Claude Gibb | Institution of Engineers, Australia, Institution of Mechanical Engineers |
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| 1961 | Professor Dr Theodore von Karman | American Society of Engineers | ||
| 1963 | Sir William Stanier | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | English mechanical engineer and locomotive designer | |
| 1965 | Professor Sir Geoffrey Taylor | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1967 | Academician Ivan Ivanovitch Artobolevskii | Academy of Sciences of the USSR | ||
| 1969 | Dr Hideo Shima | Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers | Chief engineer of Tōkaidō Shinkansen high speed train | |
| 1971 | Dr Robert R. Gilruth | American Society of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1973 | The Rt Hon the Lord Hinton of Bankside | Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects | ||
| 1975 | Professor Dr-Ing Siegfried Meurer | Verein Deutscher Ingenieure | ||
| 1977 | Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle | New Zealand Institution of Engineers | ||
| 1979 | Raymond Heacock | American Society of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1981 | Professor J. P. Den Hartog | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | Professor emeritus and former head of the department of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| 1983 | Sir Christopher Cockerell | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1985 | Sir Hugh Ford | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1987 | Sir Denis Rooke | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1989 | John E Steiner | Fellowship of Engineering | ||
| 1991 | Soichiro Honda | Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1993 | Frédéric d'Allest | Comitedes Applications Académie des Sciences, France | Aero and space engineer, head of ISAE and Arianespace | |
| 1995 | Eiji Toyoda | Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1997 | Sydney Gillibrand | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 1999 | Professor Sir Bernard Crossland | Institution of Engineers of Ireland | ||
| 2001 | Professor Duncan Dowson | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 2003 | Sir Ralph Robins | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 2005 | Leroy 'Skip' Fletcher | American Society of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 2008 | Professor Emeritus John Spence | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 2010 | Professor Roger Morgan Goodall | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 2012 | Sir Sze-yuen Chung | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 2014 | Professor Richard Parry-Jones | Institution of Mechanical Engineer | ||
| 2016 | Professor Dame Ann Dowling | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 2019 | Sir David McMurtry | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | For a lifelong emphasis on research and development | |
| 2021 | Prof. Emeritus Izhak Etsion | Technion - Israel Institute of Technology | For outstanding contributions in the field of Tribology |
