What Are Medals?

In the context of IEEE and the broader engineering profession, medals are the highest category of institutional recognition awarded to individuals or small teams for exceptional contributions to technology, engineering, and science. IEEE medals are corporate-level awards administered by the IEEE Awards Board, which distinguishes them from society-level awards given by individual IEEE technical societies. They represent the pinnacle of professional recognition within IEEE's awards portfolio, above technical field awards, fellowships, and society honors.

The tradition of engineering medals in IEEE traces back to the Edison Medal, first awarded in 1909 by the predecessor American Institute of Electrical Engineers to honor Elihu Thomson, and to the Medal of Honor, established by the predecessor Institute of Radio Engineers in 1917. When those two organizations merged to form IEEE in 1963, both medals were carried forward. The portfolio has grown steadily since then to address the expanding fields of interest that IEEE covers.

The IEEE Medals Portfolio

IEEE currently awards more than twenty medals across a range of technical domains. The IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest, awarded when a candidate is identified as having made a contribution that forms a clearly exceptional addition to science and technology; it has been presented since 1917. The Edison Medal recognizes a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science and engineering and is one of the oldest continuously awarded honors in the field. Other medals recognize specific sub-disciplines: the Richard W. Hamming Medal (established 1986) covers information sciences and systems; the Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal (1995) covers signal processing; the Dennis J. Picard Medal (1999) covers radar; the Medal in Power Engineering (2008) covers generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power. Several medals have been established in the 2020s to address newer fields, including the Toby Berger Medal in Neural and Quantum Sciences (2024).

Nomination and Selection Process

All IEEE medals follow a standard nomination and review cycle administered by the IEEE Awards Board. Nominators submit packages that document the candidate's achievements, supported by endorsements from senior IEEE members and evidence in the form of publications, patents, and documented societal impact. Review committees with relevant technical expertise evaluate nominations against published criteria, which typically include the significance of the contribution, its originality, its impact on the profession, and its broader societal benefit. Recommendations from these committees pass to the IEEE Awards Board and ultimately to the IEEE Board of Directors for final approval. Nominations for most medals are accepted annually, with deadlines typically in mid-year.

Historical and Discontinued Medals

Some medals in the IEEE record are no longer awarded. The Medal for Engineering Excellence, established in 1986 and discontinued in November 2009, recognized exceptional achievement in applied engineering. The ETHW Engineering and Technology History Wiki maintains an archive of IEEE Awards history, documenting past recipients and the institutional context in which medals were created or retired.

Applications

IEEE medals are relevant in the following contexts:

• Professional recognition and career documentation for engineers
• Institutional history of electrical engineering and IEEE governance
• Standards for evaluating technical significance and societal impact
• Encouragement of high-achievement engineering research and practice
• Historical record of major advances in electrical, electronic, and computer engineering