General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

2

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

14 K gold plated? metal

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

N/A

Width

N/A

Height

N/A

Thickness

1.0 cm

Weight

N/A

Diameter

6.5 cm

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Astronomy

Category

Commemorative

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

SHREVE

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Massachusetts

City

Boston

Context

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Massachusetts

Period

This medal was awarded in 1971 to Dr. Jack L. Locke.

Canada

A medal produced for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and presented to Dr. Jack Locke. He was a member of a team of Canadian scientists which received the Rumford Medal for their success in developing the long base line interferometer that connected the radio telescopes at Algonquin Radio Observatory (Algonquin Park, On.) and the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Obs. (Penticton, BC) in 1967. This was the world's first such successful linking of data received at sites that were not directly connected - the record for previous radio telescope dishes being only a few kilometres apart and "hard" wired.. The other Canadian scientists who won the award included Norman W. Broten, R. M. Chisholm, John A. Galt, Herbert P. Cush, Thomas H. Legg, Charles W. McLeish, Roger S. Richards & Jul Lin Yen (see 2002.0128 for silver medal awarded to Dr.Yen). See the Supp. Info. file for articles by Dr. Locke and his colleagues on the LBI.

Function

An award given to scientists for outstanding contributions to the fields of light and heat.

Technical

The Rumford Prize is one of seven awards given by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, which was founded in 1780. Established in 1839, the Rumford is one of the oldest scientific prizes in the U.S. The endowment was created by a bequest to the Academy from Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, in 1796. The award recognizes contributions to the fields of heat & light. The Algonquin Radio Observatory was established in the late 1950s to provide a national radio observatory providing facilities to continue to monitor the sun in collaboration with the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO) established in 1957 in Penticton, BC. There are other artifacts in the CSTM collection related to the LBI project: maser 1996.0644; antenna, spectrometers (first and second generation), and other instruments 1999.0341-1999.0356; oscilloscope 2001.0231. There is also a copy of the NFB film (ca. 1968) that relates the story of the LBI project and shows a number of the key personnel, including Allan Yen, the team leader who received the medal on behalf of the team.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

incised lettering on edge reads "SHREVE, CRUMP & LOW CO./ 14K" & "NORMAN W. BROTEN - JACK L. LOCKE -. THOMAS H. LEGG - CHARLES W. McLEISH - ROGER S. RICHARDS - R.M. CHISOLM - H.P. CUSH - J.L. YEN - JOHN A. GALT" / raised lettering on face reads "RUMFORD MEDAL FOR DISCOVERIES IN LIGHT OR HEAT/ AWARDED/ BY THE/ AMERICAN ACADEMY/ OF/ ARTS & SCIENCES/ TO" with incised "THE CANADIAN RESEARCH TEAM/ FOR WORK IN THE FIELD OF/ LONG-BASELINE INTERFEROMETRY/ 1971"/ raised lettering on obverse reads "BENJAMIN COUNT RUMFORD/ BORN 1975 DIED 1814" & "FURST F."

Missing

complete

Finish

gold (plated)

Decoration

raised bust of Count Rumford on obverse of coin