The Institution of Engineering and Technology

The IET Achievement Awards

Awards for senior professionals

Awards and medals

Faraday Medal

The Faraday Medal of the IET is a bronze medal established to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the first Ordinary Meeting of the Society of Telegraph Engineers.

The medal is awarded by the IET not more frequently than once a year (either for notable scientific or industrial achievement in engineering or for conspicuous service rendered to the advancement of science, engineering and technology) without restriction as regards nationality, country of residence or membership of the IET.

The award of the Faraday Medal is made by the Board of Trustees, on the recommendation of the Awards & Prizes Committee.

How to nominate

Members and Non members of the IET are invited to propose the names of men and woman from around the world to be considered for the award of the Faraday Medal. Nominations can be made by clicking onto the on-line nomination form on the right hand side. Proposals should be accompanied by brief biographical information, a short statement of the grounds on which the nomination is made and a brief CV of the person you are nominating.

2011 Faraday Medal recipient: Professor Donald E Knuth

Professor Donald E Knuth has been awarded the 2011 Faraday Medal in recognition of his pioneering contribution to computer science. Donald E. Knuth (BS and MS, Case Institute of Technology 1960; PhD, California Institute of Technology 1963) is Professor Emeritus of The Art of Computer Programming at Stanford University, where he supervised the PhD dissertations of 28 students since becoming a professor in 1968.

Professor Knuth is the author of numerous books, including three widely translated volumes of The Art of Computer Programming, recently augmented by a new hardback released as 4A, five volumes of Computers & Typesetting, and a non-technical book entitled 3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated. His software systems TeX and MF are extensively used for book publishing throughout the world.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, and he is a foreign associate of the French, Norwegian, Russian and Bavarian science academies as well as the Royal Society of London.

In 1974 he received the Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery followed by the BCS Distinguished Fellowship in 1980; the National Medal of Science from President Carter in 1979; the Steele Prize from the American Mathematical Society in 1986; the Adelsköld Medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1994; the Harvey Prize from the Technion of Israel in 1995; the John von Neumann Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in 1995; and the Kyoto Prize from the Inamori Foundation in 1996.

Professor Knuth holds honorary doctorates from Oxford University, the University of Paris, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, the University of St. Petersburg, the University of Marne-la-Vallée, Masaryk University, St. Andrews University, Athens University of Economics and Business, the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, the Universities of Tübingen, Antwerp, ETH, Oslo and Bordeaux, and at least eighteen colleges and universities in America.

2010 Faraday Medal winner: Professor Donal Bradley CBE FRS.