The John Fritz Medal

(John Fritz Medal web page)

The John Fritz Medal was established in 1902 in honor of John Fritz, famed iron and steel manufacturer, and is awarded annually by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) for important achievements in science or industry. The medal “is the highest award in the engineering profession,” according to the AAES.

The Fritz Medal rotates among the five leading international engineering societies that make up the AAES, so that each discipline has one winner every five years. Those societies are the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Institute of Mining, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

Of the 108 John Fritz Medal winners, 52 are Tau Bates. The following is a list of the winners who are members and a short description of their contributions:

1902	John Fritz, Pennsylvania Alpha 1895	famed iron and steel manufacturer
1914	John E. Sweet, New York Beta 1909	founder of ASME (3rd president)
1919	Gen. George W. Goethals, Michigan Gamma 1880	supervision of Panama Canal
1927	Elmer A. Sperry, New Jersey Alpha '21	Sperry Corporation, compasses
1930	Ralph Modjeski, Illinois Alpha 1885	bridge builder (Benjamin Franklin Bridge)
1932	Michael I. Pupin, New York Alpha 1883	long-distance telephone communication, electrical filters
1937	Arthur N. Talbot, Illinois Alpha 1881	The Railway Transition Spiral
1939	Frank B. Jewett, California Beta 1898	president of Bell Labs
1940	Clarence F. Hirshfeld, California Alpha 1902	heat-power engineering
1942	Everette L. DeGolyer, Oklahoma Alpha '11	father of applied geophysics
1944	Charles F. Kettering, Ohio Gamma 1904	inventor of "Freon"
1945	John L. Savage, Wisconsin Alpha 1903	supervised Hoover Dam
1947	Lewis W. Chubb, Ohio Gamma 1905	former director, Westinghouse Research Laboratory
1948	Theodore Von Karman, California Beta 1902	former head of Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory
1949	Charles M. Allen, Massachusetts Alpha 1894	helped enable turbine efficiency determination
1950	Walter H. Aldridge, New York Alpha 1887	former president, Texas Gulf Sulfur Co.
1951	Vannevar Bush, Massachusetts Beta '16	analog computing, presidential science advisor
1952	Ervin G. Bailey, Ohio Gamma 1903	invented the Bailey boiler meter
1955	Harry A. Winne, New York Beta '10	atomic energy
1956	Philip Sporn, New York Alpha '17	former president, American Electric Power Co.
1957	Ben Moreell, Missouri Gamma '13	father of the Navy's Seabees
1958	John R. Suman, California Alpha '12	first president of Houston Geological Society
1959	Mervin J. Kelly, Missouri Beta '14	former president, Bell Labs
1961	Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr., Indiana Alpha '46	chairman of Bechtel Group Inc.
1962	Crawford H. Greenewalt, Delaware Alpha '22	former president, DuPont engineering
1965	Frederick R. Kappel, Minnesota Alpha '24	former president, AT&T
1966	Warren K. Lewis, Massachusetts Beta 1905	father of modern chemical engineering
1967	Walker L. Cisler, New York Delta '22	founding member, National Academy of Engineering
1969	Michael L. Haider, California Gamma '27	former board chairman, Standard Oil of New Jersey
1970	Glenn B. Warren, Wisconsin Alpha '19	manager of GE engineering turbine generator div.
1971	Patrick E. Haggerty, Wisconsin Beta '36	former president, Texas Instruments Inc.
1974	H. I. Romnes, Wisconsin Alpha '28	former president, Western Electric Co.
1975	Manson Benedict, Massachusetts Beta '28	nuclear engineering
1977	George R. Brown, Colorado Alpha '22	founding member of Brown & Root and the Brown Foundation
1978	Robert G. Heitz, California Beta '36	Dow Chemical Co.
1982	David Packard, California Gamma '34	co-founder, Hewlett Packard
1983	Claude E. Shannon, Michigan Gamma '36	father of information theory
1984	Kenneth A. Roe, New York Iota '41	AAES founder
1985	Daniel C. Drucker, New York Alpha '38	Drucker's Stability Postulate
1986	Simon Ramo, Utah Alpha '33	microwave research
1987	Ralph Landau, Pennsylvania Delta '37	co-founder, Scientific Design Company Inc.
1991	Hunter Rouse, Massachusetts Beta '29	Fluid Mechanics for Hydraulic Engineers
1992	Serge Gratch, Pennsylvania Delta '43	alternative fuels and electric car research
1994	Hoyt C. Hottel, Massachusetts Beta '22	solar energy research
1995	Lynn S. Beedle, California Alpha '41	structural engineer of skyscrapers
1997	Arthur E. Humphrey, Idaho Alpha '48	dean of Penn School of Engineering
1999	George H. Heilmeier, Pennsylvania Delta '58	president and CEO, Bell Communications Research, Inc.
2000	John W. Fisher, Missouri Gamma '56	founder of ATLSS Research Center
2003	Robert S. Langer, New York Delta '70	biotechnology, MIT research laboratory
2004	John A. Swanson, New York Delta '62	founder and CEO, ANSYS Inc.
2005	George Tamaro, New York Xi '59	stabilizing the foundation of the World Trade Center
2008	Kristina M. Johnson, North Carolina Gamma '81	director, Minerals Technologies Inc., provost, John Hopkins Univ.
2009	Yvonne C. Brill, South Carolina Gamma '45	rocket propulsion systems (electrothermal hydrazine thruster)