European awards to Chadwick

The Sir James Chadwick Nobel Prize Archive

Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) Radioactivity 1896 Medal: Bronze, 58 mm. diameter, by Royal Begeer, of Voorschoten, Holland; inscribed on rim "SIR JAMES CHADWICK" by vendor; weighs 94 grams.

A specimen of this medal, unboxed, is in the Fermi archive (of seventeen medals, incl. his Nobel Prize) at the University of Chicago Regenstein library.
See http://ead.lib.uchicago.edu/uncap_rs3.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.FERMI&q=fermi

Medal commemorating the first Chain Reaction research, 1939, by Joliot, Kowarski, and Halban; reverse depicts the pantheon from Becquerel in 1896, through the Curies in 1898, Einstein in 1905, Rutherford and Bohr in 1912-13, Chadwick in 1932, Fermi in 1934, Joliot-Curie in 1935, to Hahn in 1938

Awards of Outstanding International Importance to Statesmen and Heroines

European Awards to Sir James Chadwick

Kowarski, Lev (1907-1979) Russian-French physicist who was born in St. Petersburg …and died in Geneva…. He was educated in Belgium and France…. With Frédéric Joliot-Curie, he discovered in 1939 that several neutrons were emitted in the fission of uranium-235. He then moved to England and Canada (1940-45). After the war he worked at CEA in Paris, and CERN in Geneva. Kowarski built the first nuclear reactors in Canada and France.
From http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Kowarski.html
_____________________________________________________________

Dr. Hans Halban, atomic scientist … Paris, Nov. 29 … died here yesterday…. He was 56.… After he fled his native Austria, he … came to France shortly before … World War II, and joined the research staff at the College de France. In January 1939 Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann of Germany succeeded in splitting the atom. Two months later, Drs. Joliot-Curie, Halban, and Leo Kowarski announced the possibility of creating nuclear chain reactions…. From then…the scientists had received some rare heavy water from Norway. Dr. Joliot-Curie, fearing the spur this might give to … the Germans if it fell into their hands, ordered Dr. Halban and Dr. Kowarski to take the heavy water to England.… After .. the .. war,…Dr. .. Halban .. directed .. a .. nuclear research laboratory .. at .. Orsay. From 1964 N.Y. Times

Frédéric Joliot-Curie (1900 - 1958)
Jean Frédéric Joliot was born in Paris, France, on March 19, 1900. He was a graduate of the School of Chemistry and Physics in Paris. In 1925, he became an assistant to Marie Curie at the Radium Institute and fell in love with her daughter Irène Curie. He married her in 1926, and they both changed their surnames to Joliot-Curie.
He obtained his Doctor of Science degree in 1930, and became lecturer in the Paris Faculty of Science in 1935. At this time, he carried out considerable research on the structure of the atom, generally in collaboration with his wife. In particular, they worked on the projection of the nuclei, with was an essential step in the discovery of the neutron and the positron. However, their greatest discovery was artificial radioactivity. In 1935, the two received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for this important discovery.
In 1937, Joliot-Curie left the Radium Institute to become a professor at the College de France, working on chain reactions and the requirements for the successful construction of a nuclear reactor that uses controlled nuclear fission to generate energy through the use of uranium and heavy water. At the time of the Nazi invasion in 1940, Joliot managed to smuggle his working documents and materials to England. He was one of the scientists mentioned in Albert Einstein's 1939 letter to President Roosevelt as one of the leading scientists on the course to chain reactions. However, World War II stalled Joliot-Curie's research, as did his subsequent post-war administrative duties. He was on the ALSOS list, which is the Manhattan Project's military intelligence effort to capture known enemy nuclear scientists in an attempt to learn how far Germany had progressed in its efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.
During the French occupation, Joliot-Curie took an active part in the Resistance; he was President of the National Front and formed the French Communist Party. After the war, he served as director of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and became France's first High Commissioner for Atomic Energy. In 1948, he oversaw the construction of the first French atomic reactor. A devout Communist, he was relieved of his duties in 1950 for political reasons. He was one of the 11 signatories to the Russell-Einstein Manifesto in 1955. Although he retained his professorship at the College de France, on the death of his wife in 1956, he succeeded her as Chair of Nuclear Physics at the Sorbonne.
Joliot-Curie and his wife had one daughter, Helene, and one son, Pierre. He died in Paris on August 14, 1958.

From http://www.cfwb.be/arb/EN/presentation.htm

The Royal Academy of Science,
Humanities and Fine Arts of Belgium

A Literary Society was established in Brussels in 1769 under the auspices of the Count of Cobenzl, a plenipotentiary of the Empress Marie-Thérèse, reporting to Prince Charles de Lorraine, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Low Countries. In letters of patent dated 16 December 1772, Marie-Thérèse granted the Literary Society the title of Imperial and Royal Academy of Sciences and Humanities of Brussels, a title to which several privileges were attached. The Sovereign entrusted the members of the new Academy with the task of promoting the country’s intellectual life and stimulating scientific research. Suspended during the twenty-two years of French occupation, the institution was restored by a Royal Decree of 7 May 1816 adopted by King William 1st of the Low Countries. Having survived the 1830 Belgian revolution, the Academy was re-organised under its current title by Royal Decree of King Leopold 1st, who on 1 December

1845 added the Fine Arts Division to the Sciences and Humanities Divisions.
The Academy’s activities reflect fully the provisions in Article 1 of its Statutes, quoted . below:
“… to promote research and to encourage scientific and artistic undertakings which require its material or moral support. It shall be a centre of cooperation between Belgian scholars, scientists and artists, and between the latter and the scholars, scientists and artists of other countries. It shall publish the work of its members and that of the most deserving researchers, to whom it may award prizes and grants. At the request of the Authorities or on its own initiative, it may express any opinion it considers likely to serve the interests of the Sciences, Humanities and Fine Arts.”
The Academy consists of 90 members, 60 correspondent members and 150 associate members (foreign members). There are three Divisions: the Division of Sciences, the Division of Humanities and of Moral and Political Sciences, and the Division of Fine Arts, each one comprising thirty members, twenty correspondent members and fifty associate members.

The Division of Sciences

It consists of two sections, each comprising fifteen members, ten correspondent members and twenty-five associate .. members. The Mathematical and Physical Sciences Section comprises astronomic, mathematical, physical, chemical and engineering .. scientists. The Natural Sciences Section is made up of scholars studying botany, geology,

mineralogy, physiology and zoology.

Royal Academy

Of Science, Humanities and Fine Arts of Belgium
______________________

The Division of Sciences

THE ROYAL ACADEMY, in its meeting of 15
December 1945, appoint

Mr. James Chadwick, of Liverpool
Associate of the section of Sciences, mathematics, and physics.

The Division decides at the same time to deliver to Mr. Chadwick the presentation diploma, endowed with the seal and signature of its Director and of its permanent Secretary,
Done at Brussels, 15 December 1945.

The permanent Secretary The Director
(Signature) (Signature)
_________________________________________

Regulations (translated from French) as included in a 19/09/2006 email from Claudine Voisin; founded in 1932 by the Association of Engineers of the University of Liège, Belgium (founded 1847) (from http://www.ailg.be/). Chadwick award date is from http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD/GBR/0014/CHAD IV 13 )

Regulations

1) Gold medal of merit of science is awarded for exceptional merit for those who have succeeded in advanced invention work in the field of sciences and the services that they have rendered to the faculty of sciences applicable to the University of Liege for the objective and collaboration with the central faculty.
..
2) Gold medal of merit of science is granted to every person preferred by the A.E. of the U. of Liege.
..
3) The criteria for motivation of this distinction will be connected to:
-- the nature of the scientific recognition coming to the study or invention
-- the importance of the impact from the covered sphere
-- the career of the candidate
-- the depth of the link woven with U. of Liege
..
4) The proposal for the conferment of the Gold medal of merit of science originates with at least three (3) members of the Scientific Committee of the A.E. of the U. of Liege and will be witnessed by them. They will be submitted to the Scientific Committee in writing. They will have to produce evidence of an agreement of a 2/3 majority of the Committee. The Council of the Administration of the A.E. of the U. of Liege will return the final decision, certain of the foundation of an agreement of the Scientific Committee, and it, likewise with a 2/3 majority.
.
5) The honor will be granted in each odd year, starting in 2003. There will be a Gold Medal, which will be presented at a dignified public meeting.

The Gustave Trasenster 'Gold’ Medal of merit in science, awarded to Chadwick in 1946 , instituted in 1932. Silver medal is 70 mm. diameter, weighs 184 grams. Sheepskin case is 116 mm. square, w/ interior of silk & wool. . Inscription (on reverse, from "8 o'clock" to "4 o'clock") "Medaille G. TRASENSTER decernee par de l'Association des Ingenieurs sortis de l'Universite de LIEGE" means "G. Trasenster Medal decreed by the Association of Engineers out of the University of Liege."

M. Gustav Trasenster, who died… at the age of 75, was president of the board of the Sté Ame. D’Ougree-Marihaye and was interested in many other industrial undertakings in Belgium. He was chairman of the Belgian Steel Cartel and of the Association of Coal Mines and Steel Works of the province of Liege, and vice-president of the Central Industrial Committee of Belguim….

From The Times (London) 30 January 1931, p. 19.

Antoine Henri Becquerel was born in Paris on December 15, 1852, a member of a distinguished family of scholars and scientists. His father, Alexander Edmond Becquerel, was a Professor of Applied Physics and had done research on solar radiation and on phosphorescence, while his grandfather, Antoine César, had been a Fellow of the Royal Society and the inventor of an electrolytic method for extracting metals from their ores. He entered the Polytechnic in 1872, then the government department of Pontset-Chaussees in 1874, becoming ingénieur in 1877 and being promoted to ingénieur-en-chef in 1894. In 1888 he acquired the degree of docteur-ès-sciences. From 1878 he had held an appointment as an Assistant at the Museum of Natural History, taking over from his father in the Chair of Applied Physics at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers. In 1892 he was appointed Professor of Applied Physics in the Department of Natural History at the Paris Museum. He became a Professor at the Polytechnic in .. 1895.

Becquerel's earliest work was concerned with the plane polarization of light, with the phenomenon of phosphorescence and with the absorption of light by crystals (his doctorate thesis). He also worked on the subject of terrestrial magnetism. In 1896, his previous work was overshadowed by his discovery of the phenomenon of natural radioactivity. Following a discussion with Henri Poincaré on the radiation which had recently been discovered by Röntgen (X-rays) and which was accompanied by a type of

phosphorescence in the vacuum tube, Becquerel decided to investigate whether there was any connection between X-rays and naturally occurring phosphorescence. He had inherited from his father a supply of uranium salts, which phosphoresce on exposure to light. When the salts were placed near to a photographic plate covered with opaque paper, the plate was discovered to be fogged. The phenomenon was found to be common to all the uranium salts studied and was concluded to be a property of the uranium atom. Later, Becquerel showed that the rays emitted by uranium, which for a long time were named after their discoverer, caused gases to ionize and that they differed from X-rays in that they could be deflected by electric or magnetic fields. For his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity Becquerel was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, the other half being given to Pierre and Marie Curie for their study of the Becquerel .. radiation.
Becquerel published his findings in many papers, principally in the Annales de Physique et de Chimie and the Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences.
He was elected a member of the Academie des Sciences de France in 1889 and succeeded Berthelot as Life Secretary of that body. He was a member also of the Accademia dei Lincei and of the Royal Academy of Berlin, amongst others. He was made an Officer of the Legion .. of .. Honour .. in .. 1900.
He was married to Mlle. Janin, the daughter of a civil engineer. They had a son Jean, b. 1878, who was also a physicist: the fourth generation of scientists in the Becquerel family.
Antoine Henri Becquerel died at Le Croisic on August 25, 1908 .

from http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1903/becquerel-bio.html,

A specimen of this medal, unboxed, is in the Fermi archive (of seventeen medals, incl. his Nobel Prize) at the University of Chicago Regenstein library. ..
See .. http://ead.lib.uchicago.edu/uncap_rs3.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.FERMI&q=fermi

Scroll down for:
1 Medal commemorating the first Chain Reaction research, 1939
2 The Royal Academy of Science, Humanities and Fine Arts of Belgium, Associate
Membership diploma, 1945
3 The Gustave Trasenster 'Gold’ Medal of merit in science, 1946
4 The Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) Radioactivity 1896 Medal
5 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences 150th Anniversary Medal

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The Royal Academy of Science, Humanities and Fine Arts of Belgium

Associate Membership diploma to Chadwick, 1945; 290 x 380 mm., (translation from French)

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (In Dutch: Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organisation dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands . The Academy is housed at the Trippenhuis, Kloveniersburgwal 29, in Amsterdam .
In addition to various advisory and administrative functions it operates a number of research institutes and awards many prizes, including the Lorentz Medal in theoretical physics, the Leeuwenhoek Medal in microbiology, and the Dr. A.H. Heineken prizes .
Main functions of the Academy

The Academy advises the Dutch government on scientific matters. While its advice often pertains to genuine scientific concerns, it also counsels the government on such topics as policy on careers for researchers or the Netherlands' contribution to major international projects. The Academy offers solicited and unsolicited advice to parliament, ministries, universities and research institutes, funding

agencies and international organisations.
· Advising the government on matters related to scientific research
· Assessing the quality of scientific research (peer review)
· Providing a forum for the scientific world and promoting international scientific cooperation
· Acting as an umbrella organisation for the institutes primarily engaged in basic and strategic scientific research and disseminating information

Members and Organization of the Academy
The members (at most 200 regular members younger than 65) are appointed for life by co-optation . Nominations for candidate membership by persons or organizations outside the Academy are accepted. The acceptance criterion is delivered scientific achievements. Academy membership is therefore regarded as a great honor, and prestigious. Besides regular members, there are retired members (members older than 65 years old), regular members living abroad, foreign members, and corresponding members.
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences has long embraced the entire field of learning. The Royal Academy comprises two departments:

· Science (mathematics, physics, astronomy, life sciences, and engineering sciences) with 110 regular members;
· Humanities and Social Sciences (humanities, law, behavioural sciences and social sciences) with 90 regular members.

Both departments have their own board. The departments, in turn, are divided into sections. The highest organ in the Academy is the general meeting of members, the united meeting of both departments.

History

During the French occupation of the Dutch Republic , it was founded as the Koninklijk Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letterkunde en Schoone Kunsten (Royal Institute of Sciences, Literature and Fine Arts) by Lodewijk Napoleon on May 4 , 1808 . After the occupation, in 1816 , it was renamed to Koninklijk-Nederlandsch Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schoone Kunsten. In 1851 it was disbanded and reestablished as the Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen and in 1938 acquired its present name.

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences 150th Anniversary Medal , 1808-1958

Bronze, 60 mm. diameter; 550 bronze medals were struck and distributed and 1 silver medal for the Queen.

Books pertaining to the Chain Reaction Medal:
Atomic Rivals, by Bertrand Goldschmidt (Rutgers, 1990)

Scientists in Power, by Spencer R. Weart (Harvard, 1979): mostly on Joliot, Halban, & Kowarski

40 Jahre Kernspaltung. Eine Einfhrung in die Originalliteratur , by Horst Wolfforth (Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1979)

Book pertaining to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences Anniversary Medal:
De leden van de akademie 1808-2000, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen

Together with Chadwick's Nobel Prize diploma, the Nobel presentation book and the Chadwick portrait photo; the other medals and diplomas given to Chadwick; the accompanying archive of related books and research dossiers; and the accompanying group of other Nobel Prize Medals struck by Royal Swedish Mint, the Chadwick Nobel package constitutes a ready-made museum exhibit.

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