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

  • 2024 – Alan C. Bovik
  • 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.