Rumford Prize

Established in 1796 by a gift of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, this is one of the oldest scientific prizes in the United States. The prize recognizes contributions to the fields of heat and light, broadly interpreted.

Recipients

2021

Charles L. Bennett, Johns Hopkins University, for his contributions to the field of cosmology.
Prize press release
Honoree introduction and remarks

2018

Ernst Bamberg, Max-Planck Institute of Biophysics; Ed Boyden, MIT; Karl Deisseroth, Stanford University; Peter Hegemann, Humboldt University; Gero Miesenböck, University of Oxford; and Georg Nagel, University of Wuerzburg, for their extraordinary contributions related to the invention and refinement of optogenetics.
Prize press release

2015

Federico Capasso, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; and Alfred Cho, Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs, for their contributions to the field of laser technology.
Prize press release

2008

Sidney D. Drell, Stanford University; Sam Nunn, Nuclear Threat Initiative; William J. Perry, Stanford University; and George P. Shultz, Stanford University, for their efforts to reduce the global threat of nuclear weapons.
Prize press release

1996

John C. Mather, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, for contributions to understanding the cosmic microwave background.

1992

James R. Norris and Joseph J. Katz, in conjunction with George Feher, for contributions to understanding photosynthesis.

1986

Robert B. Leighton, Frank J. Low, and Gerry Neugebauer, for contributions to the development of infrared astronomy.

1985

Hans Georg Dehmelt, Martin Deutsch, Vernon Willard Hughes, and Norman Foster Ramsey, for contributions to atomic spectroscopy.

1980

Gregorio Weber for his work on the theory and application of fluorescence.

Chen Ning Yang and Robert Mills for development of a generalized gauge invariant field theory.

1976

Bruno Rossi for his discoveries concerning the nature and origins of cosmic radiations.

1973

E. Bright Wilson for his early recognition of the importance of symmetry properties in polyatomic molecules and for his active and pioneering development of microwave spectroscopy.

1971

Three groups of scientists received the prize for their work in the field of long-baseline interferometry:

John A. Ball, Alan H. Barrett, Bernard F. Burke, Joseph C. Carter, Patricia P. Crowther, James M. Moran, Jr., and Alan E. E. Rogers of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Norman W. Broten, R. M. Chisholm, John A. Galt, Herbert P. Gush, Thomas H. Legg, Jack L. Locke, Charles W. McLeish, Roger S. Richards, and Jui Lin Yen of Canada.

C. C. Bare, Barry G. Clark, Marshall H. Cohen, David L. Jauncey, and Kenneth I. Kellermann of NRAO-Cornell.

1968

Maarten Schmidt for his discoveries in the spectra of quasi-stellar objects.

1967

Robert Henry Dicke for his contributions to microwave radiometry and to the understanding of atomic structure.

Cornelis B. Van Niel for his contributions to the understanding of photosynthesis.

1965

Samuel Cornette Collins for his invention of the Collins Helium Cryostat and his pioneer work in low-temperature research.

William David McElroy in recognition of his work on the molecular basis of bioluminescence.

1963

Hans Albrecht Bethe for his theoretical studies of energy production in stars.

1961

Charles Hard Townes for his development of the laser.

1959

George Wald for his studies on the biochemical basis of vision.

1957

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar for his work on the radiative transfer of energy in the interior of stars.

1955

James Franck for his fundamental studies on photosynthesis.

1953

Enrico Fermi for his studies of radiation theory and nuclear energy.

Willis E. Lamb, Jr. for his studies of the atomic hydrogen spectrum.

Lars Onsager for his contribution to the thermodynamics of transport processes.

1951

Herbert E. Ives for his noteworthy contributions to optics.

1949

Ira Sprague Bowen for his solution of the mystery of nebulium and for other outstanding work in spectroscopy.

1947

Edmund Newton Harvey for his fundamental investigations of the nature of bioluminescence.

1945

Edwin Herbert Land for his new applications in polarized light and photography.

1943

Charles Edward Mees for his contributions to the science of photography.

1941

Vladimir Kosma Zworykin for his invention of the iconoscope and other television devices.

1939

George Russell Harrison for his improvements in spectroscopic technique.

1937

William Weber Coblentz for his pioneering work in the technology and measurement of heat and light.

1933

Harlow Shapley for research on the luminosity of stars and galaxies.

1931

Karl Taylor Compton for research in thermionics and spectroscopy.

1930

John Stanley Plaskett for his stellar spectrographic research.

1928

Edward Leamington Nichols for his research in spectrophotometry.

1926

Arthur Holly Compton for his research in Roentgen rays.

1925

Henry Norris Russell for his research in stellar radiation.

1920

Irving Langmuir for his research in thermionic and allied phenomena.

1918

Theodore Lyman for his research on light of very short wavelength.

1917

Percy Willliams Bridgman for his thermodynamic research at extremely high pressures.

1915

Charles Greeley Abbot for his research on solar radiation.

1914

William David Coolidge for his invention of ductile tungsten and its application in the production of radiation.

1913

Joel Stebbins for his development of the selenium photometer and its application to astronomical problems.

1912

Frederic Eugene Ives for his optical inventions, particularly in color photography and photoengraving.

1911

James Madison Crafts for his research in high-temperature thermometry and the exact determination of new fixed points on the thermometric scale.

1910

Charles Gordon Curtis for his improvements in the utilization of heat as work in the steam turbine.

1909

Robert Williams Wood for his discoveries in light, and particularly for his research on the optical properties of sodium and other metallic vapors.

1907

Edward Goodrich Acheson for the application of heat in the electric furnace to the industrial production of carborundum, graphite, and other new and useful substances

1904

Ernest Fox Nichols for his research on radiation, particularly on the pressure due to radiation, the heat of the stars, and the infrared spectrum.

1902

George Ellery Hale for his investigations in solar and stellar physics and in particular for the invention and perfection of the spectro-heliograph.

1901

Elihu Thomson for his inventions in electric welding and lighting.

1900

Carl Barus for his research in heat.

1899

Charles Francis Brush for the practical development of electric arc-lighting.

1898

James Edward Keeler for his application of the spectroscope to astronomical problems, and especially for his investigations of the proper motions of the nebulae and the physical constitution of the rings of the planet Saturn by the use of that instrument.

1895

Thomas Alva Edison for his investigations in electric lighting.

1891

Edward Charles Pickering for his work on the photometry of the stars and upon stellar spectra.

1888

Albert Abraham Michelson for his determination of the velocity of light, for his research on the motion of the luminferous ether, and for his work on the absolute determination of the wavelengths of light.

1886

Samuel Pierpont Langley for his research in radiant energy.

1883

Henry Augustus Rowlandfor his research in light and heat.

1880

Josiah Willard Gibbs for his research in thermodynamics.

1875

John William Draper for his research on radiant energy.

1873

Lewis Morris Rutherford for his improvements in the processes and methods of astronomical photography.

1871

Joseph Harrison, Jr. for his method of constructing safer steam boilers.

1869

George Henry Corliss for his improvement in the steam engine

1866

Alvan Clark for his improvements in the manufacture of refracting telescopes, as exhibited in his method of local correction.

1865

Daniel Treadwell for improvements in the management of heat, embodied in his investigations and inventions relating to the construction of cannon of large caliber, and great strength and endurance.

1862

John Ericsson for his improvements in the management of heat, particularly as shown in his caloric engine of 1858.

1839

Robert Hare for his invention of the "compound" or "oxyhydrogen" blowpipe.