Chevalier W. L. F. C. van Rappard, who on behalf of the Royal Netherlands Government will accept from you the Franklin Medal for Professor Onnes. PRESIDENT CLARK: Your Excellency, The Franklin Institute, acting under a recommendation of its Committee on Science and the Arts, has awarded its highest honor the Franklin Medal and Diploma-to your distinguished countryman, Professor Onnes, for his signal services to humanity, rendered in the field of science. Pursuant to your kind consent I now have the privilege of presenting this Medal and Diploma to you, to be transmitted to Professor Onnes, through the State Department of your gracious Sovereign. The Franklin Institute is appreciative of the distinction conferred upon it by the participation of Her Majesty's Government in this ceremony. CHEVALIER VAN RAPPARD (On behalf of the Royal Netherlands Government, for Prof. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes): Mr. President of The Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania and Members of The Franklin Institute: I consider it a great honor and a most agreeable duty to accept at your hands the Franklin Medal, founded by Mr. Samuel Insull, for the recognition of those workers in physical science, without regard to country, whose efforts, in the opinion of the Institute, have done most to advance the knowledge of physical science and its applications. I feel sure that that most distinguished countryman of mine whom you have honored so highly by awarding him the Franklin Medal, if he could be here to-night, to receive himself this high token of your recognition of his abilities and of his labors, would be able to express more eloquently than I am able to do his deep gratitude for the great honor that has been bestowed upon him, and, moreover, he would have found words to express his admiration of your Franklin Institute, and of its influence in the realms of mechanical science and the arts. Therefore, I feel that in this gathering of learned men I am a poor substitute for a man such as Professor Onnes. However, it is perhaps an advantage that he is not here, but that the official representative of the Netherlands now stands before you to receive this great honor that has been bestowed upon one of the Netherlands' most illustrious citizens, because that citizen, illustrious as he may be, is also a modest man, and if he had been here, he probably would have spoken to you only of his personal feeling of gratitude and thankfulness of what you think of him and of your high opinion of his knowledge, but I can do more, I can say that it is not only Professor Onnes who has been honored and is thankful for the great honor that has been given to him, but that also my whole country feels very honored and happy on account of the rare distinction that has been visited on one of its sons. We are proud of Professor Onnes, we know that he is one of the famous men that the old University of Leiden has given not only to Holland, but also to the whole world. It is useless to cite names, you all know them as well as I do. You know that among the famous men Professor Onnes takes a most prominent place, but from to-day we will think more of him and we will rank him higher because that modest worker at the other side of the water has been able to attract upon himself the attention of The Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania. You know I am a layman. I had heard of the scope of The Franklin Institute-and every civilized man may feel interested in an Institute bearing the name of Benjamin Franklin-but, Mr. President, you were kind enough to send me some literature and information relating to the Institute and its activities, which documents I have read with the keenest interest, and the more I read, the more I realized how proud Professor Onnes and the Netherlands must be when the Franklin Medal reaches our shores. It will always be a valuable gem fixed to the scientific crown of our oldest university, the University of Leiden, and it will always be a proof that the Netherlands strives to be great in those things in which also a small country can be great. It is therefore my very agreeable task to accept this medal. And let me say that Holland has always considered the United States of America as its big younger brother. The old Dutch settlers came over to your country many years ago, and brought to you those principles of freedom of thought, of tolerance and appreciation of each other's opinions, which have prompted you to award to one of Holland's most prominent citizens this medal, and this action of yours will and must, I feel sure, render the relationship between the two nations still more affectionate, and lead us to feel still more the esteem and friendship we have for each other. PRESIDENT CLARK: The Chair will again recognize Dr. Keller for a statement of the work of Mr. Edison and the introduction of Mr. Edison for the receipt of the Franklin Medal and Diploma. DR. KELLER: Mr. President, in some respects the life and labors of the man who is present in person to receive from you the medal awarded him bear a resemblance to those of Professor Onnes, for, like the latter, he is an experimenter with a clear vision of the aims for which he strives, is endowed with an infinite capacity for taking pains, and with a truly marvellous perseverance in carrying everything he undertakes to a successful conclusion. But in other respects the stories of the life-work of the two medallists are widely different. While the activities of Onnes, as I have pointed out, have been directed almost exclusively toward augmenting our knowledge in a well-defined province of physical science, those of the second medallist extend over an almost inconceivable range of subjects from which his keen intellect and magic touch have wrested results that have ministered to the well-being, comfort, and pleasure of mankind. Almost from the beginning of his career as an inventor his work attracted widespread interest, and I may say without fear of contradiction that no other inventor's name, either in this or any other country, has become so universally popular as his. His inventions and other achievements are so many that even their mere enumeration here would take up far more time than is allotted to me. In view, however, of the fact that the products of his genius have impressed themselves on the popular mind, and that an excellent and sympathetic narrative of his life has been written, it may suffice to briefly refer to the main achievements which the Institute desires to recognize by its highest award. At the Centennial Exhibition, held in this city in 1876, some electrical inventions were among the objects that aroused the greatest interest, and it was during the decades that followed this event that we witnessed the great burst of activity in the electrical art to which we owe the creation of those vast indus tries which characterize our time as the Age of Electricity. In the galaxy of the great names that will ever be associated with this development not a few of the luminaries of the first magnitude were American inventors, and the one that seems to stand out brightest among them all, both as regards the number and value of his achievements, is our medallist. He began his career as a train boy on a railroad and then became a telegraph operator. As a mere youth he made a number of inventions in connection with telegraphy, among which a stock-ticker became a great commercial success. During the following years we find our inventor engaged upon the development of the automatic telegraph and of duplex and quadruplex telegraphy, and then, after the Centennial year, he turned his attention to the solution of other electrical problems, rapidly forging his way to the front of the pioneers of that time. The enormous difficulties these men encountered in the solution of electrical problems can scarcely be appreciated by the electrical engineer of the present day. After the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell it soon became apparent that something more powerful than the magneto transmitter was necessary, among other things, for its commercial success. This was supplied by our medallist when he invented the carbon transmitter, now in almost universal use. It is well known that it is to him also that we owe the invention of countless devices and methods in the art of telephony which have proved of the greatest value in the wonderful development of this industry. In 1878 he invented the tinfoil phonograph, of which he constructed a number for exhibition purposes. This machine excited a great popular interest, but was succeeded by the wax cylinder machine which he later developed into one of the most perfect phonographs now on the market. Among his greatest achievements, however, are the contributions he made to the art of electric lighting. He was indeed facile princeps among the creators of this industry. After moving to Menlo Park, N. J., in 1876, he was engaged there during a period of ten years on the development of his incandescent electric lamp dynamo, and system of low-pressure electrical distribution. On September 4, 1882, he started the Pearl Street Station in New York City, the first successful electrical station in America, an achievement which will ever remain a monument to his ingenuity, skill, and tireless energy. It was followed by the construction of many similar plants both here and abroad. I can only refer here in passing, as proofs of his marvellous resourcefulness and versatility, to his pioneer work on electric railways, his invention of the motion-picture apparatus, and his successful work on alkaline storage batteries, magnetic ore milling, the manufacture of Portland cement, and reënforced concrete construction. That he has lost none of his youthful energy and determination is evidenced in the rapidity with which he has reconstructed the enormous factories at Orange, N. J., destroyed only last December by a disastrous fire. Writing in 1910, his biographers made an estimate of the extent of those industries which are either founded upon or affected by his inventions. They sum it up by saying that his work "has been one of the most potent factors in bringing into existence new industries now capitalized at nearly $7,000,000,000, earning annually over $1,000,000,000, and giving employment to an army of more than six hundred thousand people." These figures represent only the industries in this country, and are probably far below the actual values and numbers of to-day. The wizard who has made these stupendous achievements is, of course, none other, Mr. President, than the peerless inventor known to all the world as Thomas Alva Edison, whom I now have the honor of presenting to you. PRESIDENT CLARK: Mr. Edison, I have the honor, in the name of The Franklin Institute, upon the recommendation of its Committee on Science and the Arts, and in recognition of your distinguished services to humanity rendered in the field of science, to present to you the Franklin Medal and Diploma―the highest honor in the gift of the Institute. PRESIDENT CLARK: The Chair will now recognize Dr. Hoadley, who will make a statement in connection with the founding of the Franklin Medal Fund. DR. HOADLEY: Mr. President, one of the important functions of The Franklin Institute is that of awarding the various medals and premiums of which it is the custodian. These awards form a notable list, including the Certificate of Merit, the Longstreth Medal, the John Scott Legacy Medal and Premium, the Potts Medal and the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, the winning of any one of which is a mark of recognized merit. All of these awards, however, are for some specific device, invention, or application of scientific principles. The particular award that has hitherto not been available, and the lack of which has been seriously felt by the Institute, is one through the bestowal of which a man's life-work could be recognized and his achievements crowned. It has been the fortunate experience of The Franklin Institute that the character of its work is so well recognized that whenever its needs have become known some friend has come forward to supply the deficiency. The proverbial good fortune of the Institute did not desert it on this occasion, for Mr. Samuel Insull, President of the Commonwealth Edison Company of Chicago, a lifelong friend of Thomas A. Edison, and for many years his valued assistant, undertook to provide a fund sufficient to maintain a medal suitable for the desired purpose. The character of this purpose is outlined in a statement in the deed of trust, indicating that the medal is to be called the Franklin Medal, that it is to contain a medallion of Benjamin Franklin, taken from his portrait by Thomas Sully, which is in the possession of The Franklin Institute, and that the award is to be made "to workers in physical science or technology, without regard to country, whose efforts, in the opinion of the Board of Managers of The Franklin Institute, have done most to advance physical science or its applications." It is indeed fortunate that on this evening, when the first presentation of the Franklin Medal is made, its founder should be with us. It has seemed fitting that on this occasion the appreciation of the Institute should be expressed by a testimonial to the donor, therefore, Mr. President, I have the honor to present to you Mr. Samuel Insull, the founder of the Franklin Medal. PRESIDENT CLARK: Mr. Insull, I am commissioned by The Franklin Institute to formally thank you, in its name, for your contribution toward that encouragement of the mechanic arts which it is the function of the Institute to promote. Through your generosity the Institute is enabled, as never before, to express its appreciation of a life of eminent service in science. As an evidence of our appreciation of the service you have thus rendered toward the promotion of the mechanic arts, the Institute asks you to accept this artist's proof of the medal founded by you, and bearing the immortal name of "Franklin." Before delivering the address of the evening, "Electricity and Modern Industrial Growth," Mr. Insull expressed Mr. Edison's appreciation of the honor conferred upon him in awarding to him the Franklin Medal for his inventions and discoveries, and of his own appreciation of the privilege he felt had been his in contributing to the Institute's means of recognizing the work of great scientists and inventors. COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND THE ARTS. June 2, 1915.) HALL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, MR. G. H. CLAMER in the Chair. The following reports were presented for first reading: No. 2628.-John Underwood and Company's Combined Typewriting No. 2636.-Lenker's L-E-Vation Rod. R. B. OWENS, Secretary. MEMBERSHIP NOTES. ELECTIONS TO MEMBERSHIP. (Stated Meeting, Board of Managers, June 9, 1915.) RESIDENT DR. ENOCH KARRER, United Gas Improvement Company, 3101 Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. MR. E. F. KINGSBURY, United Gas Improvement Company, 3101 Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. NON-RESIDENT MR. H. A. TOULMIN, JR., Schwind Building, Dayton, Ohio. |