Actonian Prize
Encyclopedia
The Actonian Prize was established by the Royal Institution
as a septennial award for the "person who in the judgement of the committee of managers for the time being of the Institution, should have been the author of the best essay illustrative of the wisdom and beneficence of the Almighty, in such department of science as the committee of managers should, in their discretion, have selected". Each year the prize was to be awarded, announcements were published, and competitors for the prize were requested to send their essays to the Secretary of Royal Institution, Albemarle Street, London, and adjudication was made by the managers and announced a few months later.
The prize was named for Hannah Acton who in 1838 left £1,000 to the Royal Institution, the income from which was to be spent for prizes for the best essay on the beneficence of the Almighty, as illustrative of a department of science.
The Royal Institution's Actonian Prize is now given to an invited lecturer and is not competitive.
The first prize of one hundred guineas was awarded to George Fownes
for his Chemistry as Exemplifies the Wisdom and Beneficence of God published in 1844. At the time, he was the chemical lecturer at Middlesex Hospital.
Other recipients include:
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain is an organization devoted to scientific education and research, based in London.-Overview:...
as a septennial award for the "person who in the judgement of the committee of managers for the time being of the Institution, should have been the author of the best essay illustrative of the wisdom and beneficence of the Almighty, in such department of science as the committee of managers should, in their discretion, have selected". Each year the prize was to be awarded, announcements were published, and competitors for the prize were requested to send their essays to the Secretary of Royal Institution, Albemarle Street, London, and adjudication was made by the managers and announced a few months later.
The prize was named for Hannah Acton who in 1838 left £1,000 to the Royal Institution, the income from which was to be spent for prizes for the best essay on the beneficence of the Almighty, as illustrative of a department of science.
The Royal Institution's Actonian Prize is now given to an invited lecturer and is not competitive.
The first prize of one hundred guineas was awarded to George Fownes
George Fownes
George Fownes, FRS was a British chemist.He attended the Palace School in Enfield. He obtained his PhD at Giesen, in Germany. From 1842 he was chemistry professor at the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and from 1846 at University College, London. He was also secretary of the Chemical...
for his Chemistry as Exemplifies the Wisdom and Beneficence of God published in 1844. At the time, he was the chemical lecturer at Middlesex Hospital.
Other recipients include:
- 1851 Thomas Wharton Jones, With the Wisdom and Beneficence of The Almighty as displayed in The Sense of Vision.
- 1858 No prize was awarded. The announced subject had been on solar radiation. The managers of the Royal Institution reported that no essay of sufficient merit had been received, and the money was carried forward for a future award, under the terms of the trust-deed.
- 1865 G. Warington, The Phenomena of Radiation as Exemplifying the Wisdom and Beneficence of God.
- 1872 Two awards were made of one hundred guineas each (£105) for winning essays on the subject "The Theory of the Evolution of Living Things." One went to Rev. George Henslow who published his essay the following year under the same title. The other was given to Benjamin Thompson Lowne, who the next year published The Philosophy of Evolution.
- 1879 R.S. Boulger for his essay on the "Structure and Functions of the Retina in all Classes of Animals, viewed in relation to the Theory of Evolution."
- 1886 Sir George Gabriel StokesGeorge Gabriel StokesSir George Gabriel Stokes, 1st Baronet FRS , was an Irish mathematician and physicist, who at Cambridge made important contributions to fluid dynamics , optics, and mathematical physics...
, president of the Royal Society
- 1893 Agnes Mary ClerkeAgnes Mary ClerkeAgnes Mary Clerke was an astronomer and writer, mainly in the field of astronomy. She was born in Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland, and died in London.- Life and work :...
- 1900 Sir William HugginsWilliam HugginsSir William Huggins, OM, KCB, FRS was an English amateur astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astronomical spectroscopy.-Biography:...
and Lady Huggins: Atlas of Representative Stellar Spectra (1900).
- 1907 Marie CurieMarie CurieMarie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...
for her essay "Recherches sur les Substances Radioactives."
- 1921 George Ellery HaleGeorge Ellery HaleGeorge Ellery Hale was an American solar astronomer.-Biography:Hale was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was educated at MIT, at the Observatory of Harvard College, , and at Berlin . As an undergraduate at MIT, he is known for inventing the spectroheliograph, with which he made his discovery of...
in recognition of his work on solar phenomena
- 1928 Archibald Vivian Hill
- 1935 William T. AstburyWilliam AstburyWilliam Thomas Astbury FRS was an English physicist and molecular biologist who made pioneering X-ray diffraction studies of biological molecules. His work on keratin provided the foundation for Linus Pauling's discovery of the alpha helix...
of the Department of Textile Physics, University of Leeds
- 1949 Alexander FlemingAlexander FlemingSir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy...
, the prize was still 100 guineas
- 1977 Ralph Louis WainRalph Louis WainRalph Louis Wain CBE FRS was a British agricultural chemist.He read Chemistry at the University of Sheffield on scholarship, and with first class honours degree, and a Master of Science and PhD. He was advised by G.M...