John Fritz Medal Award

The John Fritz Medal is presented each year for scientific or industrial achievement in any field of pure or applied science. It was established in 1902 as a memorial to the great engineer whose name it bears.

Past Award Recipients

  • 2023 – Asad M. Madni
  • 2021 – Elon Musk
  • 2018 – Anne S. Kiremidjian, Ph.D.
  • 2017 – Frank Kreith, Doc.Univ.Paris, P.E.
  • 2016 – H. Vincent Poor, Ph.D., NAE
  • 2015 – Jon D. Magnusson, P.E.
  • 2014 – Julia Weertman, D.Sc.
  • 2013 – Gregory N. Stephanopoulos, Ph.D.
  • 2012 – Leslie E. Robertson
  • 2011 – Andrew J. Viterbi
  • 2010 – Gerald J. Posakony
  • 2009 – Yvonne Claeys Brill
  • 2008 – Kristina M. Johnson
  • 2007 – Gavriel Salvendy
  • 2006 – No Award
  • 2005 – George J. Tamaro
  • 2004 – John A. Swanson
  • 2003 – Robert, S. Langer
  • 2002 – Daniel S. Goldin
  • 2001 – Paul C. W. Chu
  • 2000 – John W. Fisher
  • 1999 – George H. Heilmeier
  • 1998 – Ivan A. Getting
  • 1997 – Arthur E. Humphrey
  • 1996 – George N. Hatsopoulos
  • 1995 – Lynn S. Beedle
  • 1994 – Hoyt C. Hottel
  • 1993 – Gordon E. Moore
  • 1992 – Serge Gratch
  • 1991 – Hunter Rouse
  • 1990 – Gordon A. Cain
  • 1989 – Robert N. Noyce
  • 1988 – Ralph B. Beck
  • 1987 – Ralph Landau
  • 1986 – Simon Ramo
  • 1985 – Daniel C. Drucker
  • 1984 – Kenneth A. Roe
  • 1983 – Claude Elwood Shannon
  • 1982 – David Packard
  • 1981 – Ian MacGregor
  • 1980 – T. Louis Austin, Jr.
  • 1979 – Nathan M. Newark
  • 1978 – Robert G. Heitz
  • 1977 – George R. Brown
  • 1976 – Thomas O. Paine
  • 1975 – Manson Benedict
  • 1974 – H. I. Romnes
  • 1973 – Lyman Wilber
  • 1972 – William Webster
  • 1971 – Patrick E. Haggerty
  • 1970 – Glenn B. Warren
  • 1969 – Michael L. Haider
  • 1968 – Igor Ivan Sikorsky
  • 1967 – Walker L. Cisler
  • 1966 – Warren K. Lewis
  • 1965 – Frederick R. Kappel
  • 1964 – Lucius D. Clay
  • 1963 – Hugh L. Dryden
  • 1962 – Crawford H. Greenewalt
  • 1961 – Stephen D. Bechtel
  • 1960 – Gwilyn A. Price
  • 1959 – Mervin J. Kelly
  • 1958 – John R. Suman
  • 1957 – Ben Moreell
  • 1956 – Philip Sporn
  • 1955 – Harry Alonzo Winne
  • 1954 – William Embry Wrather
  • 1953 – Benjamin F. Fairless
  • 1952 – Ervin George Bailey
  • 1951 – Vannevar Bush
  • 1950 – Walter H. Aldridge
  • 1949 – Charles M. Allen
  • 1948 – Theodore Von Karman
  • 1947 – Lewis Warrington Chubb
  • 1946 – Zay Jeffries
  • 1945 – John Lucian Savage
  • 1944 – Charles F. Kettering
  • 1943 – Willis Rodney Whitney
  • 1942 – Everette Lee DeGolyer
  • 1941 – Ralph Budd
  • 1940 – Clarence Floyd Hirshfeld (posthumous)
  • 1939 – Frank Baldwin Jewett
  • 1938 – Paul Dyer Merica
  • 1937 – Arthur Newell Talbot
  • 1936 – William Frederick Durand
  • 1935 – Frank Julian Sprague (posthumous)
  • 1934 – John Ripley Freeman (posthumous)
  • 1933 – Daniel Cowan Jackling
  • 1932 – Michael Idvorsky Pupin
  • 1931 – David Watson Taylor
  • 1930 – Ralph Modjeski
  • 1929 – Herbert Clark Hoover
  • 1928 – John Joseph Carty
  • 1927 – Elmer Ambrose Sperry
  • 1926 – Edward Dean Adams
  • 1925 – John Frank Stevens
  • 1924 – Ambrose Swasey
  • 1923 – Guglielmo Marconi
  • 1922 – Charles P. E. Schneider
  • 1921 – Sir Robert A. Hadfield
  • 1920 – Orville Wright
  • 1919 – Gen. George W. Goethals
  • 1918 – J. Waldo Smith
  • 1917 – Henry Marion Howe
  • 1916 – Elihu Thompson
  • 1915 – James Douglas
  • 1914 – John Edson Sweet
  • 1913 – No award
  • 1912 – Robert Woolston Hunt
  • 1911 – Sir William Henry White
  • 1910 – Alfred Nobel
  • 1909 – Charles Talbot Porter
  • 1908 – Thomas Alva Edison
  • 1907 – Alexander Graham Bell
  • 1906 – George Westinghouse
  • 1905 – Lord Kelvin
  • 1904 – No award
  • 1903 – No award
  • 1902 – John Fritz


For more information, please contact SME at awards@smenet.org.