The James Watt Medal is the name of two awards named after Scottish engineer James Watt

James Watt

James Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.While working as an instrument maker at the...

, both awarded for excellence in engineering:

James Watt International Gold Medal of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

The James Watt International Gold Medal is awarded by the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Institution of Mechanical Engineers

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is the British engineering society based in central London, representing mechanical engineering. It is licensed by the Engineering Council UK to assess candidates for inclusion on ECUK's Register of professional Engineers...

 (IMechE) to an outstanding mechanical engineer.

"To commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of James Watt on 19 January 1736 - an event which was destined to bring about a revolution in the utilisation of power - the Institution of Mechanical Engineers award every two years a Gold Medal to an engineer of any nationality who is deemed worthy of the highest award the Institution can bestow and that a mechanical engineer can receive. In making the award, the Institution has sought the co-operation and advice of engineering Institutions and Societies in all parts of the world.

To be worthy to receive a medal struck in commemoration of one who was at one and the same time a scientist, an inventor and a producer, the recipient himself should be an engineer who has achieved international recognition both by his works as a mechanical engineer and by the ability with which he has applied science to the progress of mechanical engineering."

Recipients of the James Watt International Gold Medal are:

Year	Recipient	nominated by	Role / Achievements
1937	Sir John Aspinall John Aspinall John Aspinall may refer to:* John Aspinall , zoo owner and gambler* John Aspinall , engineer* John Thomas Walshman Aspinall , English Conservative Party politician, Member of Parliament for Clitheroe 1853...	The Institution of Mechanical Engineers	Locomotive designer
1939	Henry Ford Henry Ford Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...	American Society of Mechanical Engineers
1941	Professor Aurel Stodola Aurel Stodola Aurel Boleslav Stodola was an engineer, physicist, and inventor. He was an ethnic Slovak. He was a pioneer in the area of technical thermodynamics and its applications and published his book Die Dampfturbine in 1903...	Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects, Czechoslovakia Society of Engineers, Engineering Institute of Canada	steam turbine engineer
1943	Anthony Michell Anthony Michell Anthony George Maldon Michell FRS was an Australian mechanical engineer of the early 20th century.-Early life:...	Institution of Engineers, Australia, South African Institute of Engineers, Engineering Institute of Canada
1945	Dr Frederick Lanchester Frederick Lanchester Frederick William Lanchester, Hon FRAeS was an English polymath and engineer who made important contributions to automotive engineering, aerodynamics and co-invented the field of operations research....	Institution of Mechanical Engineers
1947	Professor Stephen Timoshenko Stephen Timoshenko Stanford University:* Bergman, E. O., * Kurzweil, A. C., * , * Huang, Y. S., * Wang, T. K., * Weber, H. S., * , * , * , -Publications:...	Swiss Society of Mechanical Engineers and Architects
1949	Dr Fredrik Ljungström Fredrik Ljungström Fredrik Ljungström was a Swedish engineer, technical designer and an industrialist...	Swedish Society of Engineers
1951	Dr Hans Henrik Blache	Danish Society of Engineers
1953	Sir Harry Ricardo Harry Ricardo Sir Harry Ricardo was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine....	Institution of Mechanical Engineers
1955	Dr Igor Sikorsky Igor Sikorsky Igor Sikorsky , born Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was a Russian American pioneer of aviation in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft...	American Society of Engineers
1957	Professor Walther Bauersfeld Walther Bauersfeld Walther Bauersfeld was a German engineer, employed by the Zeiss Corporation, who, on a suggestion by the German astronomer Max Wolf, started work on the first projection planetarium in 1912. This work was stopped by military needs during World War I, but resumed after the war...	Verein Deutscher Ingenieure
1959	Sir Claude Gibb	Institution of Engineers, Australia, Institution of Mechanical Engineers
1961	Professor Dr Theodore von Karman Theodore von Karman Theodore von Kármán was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer and physicist who was active primarily in the fields of aeronautics and astronautics. He is responsible for many key advances in aerodynamics, notably his work on supersonic and hypersonic airflow characterization...	American Society of Engineers
1963	Sir William Stanier William Stanier Sir William Arthur Stanier, FRS was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.- Biography :...	Institution of Mechanical Engineers	English mechanical engineer and locomotive designer
1965	Professor Sir Geoffrey Taylor Geoffrey Taylor Geoffrey or Geoff Taylor may refer to:* Geoffrey Ingram Taylor , British physicist and mathematician* Geoffrey Taylor , Canadian rower...	Institution of Mechanical Engineers
1967	Academician Ivan Ivanovitch Artobolevskii	Academy of Sciences of the USSR
1969	Dr Hideo Shima Hideo Shima was a Japanese engineer and the driving force behind the building of the first bullet train .Shima was born in Osaka in 1901, and educated at the Tokyo Imperial University, where he studied engineering...	Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers	Chief engineer of Tōkaidō Shinkansen high speed train
1971	Dr Robert R. Gilruth	American Society of Mechanical Engineers
1973	The Rt Hon the Lord Hinton of Bankside Christopher Hinton Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, was a British nuclear engineer, and supervisor of the construction of Calder Hall, the world's first large-scale commercial nuclear power station.-Career:Hinton's career began as graduate engineering apprentice with the Great...	Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects
1975	Professor Dr-Ing Siegfried Meurer	Verein Deutscher Ingenieure
1977	Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle Frank Whittle Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS was a British Royal Air Force engineer officer. He is credited with independently inventing the turbojet engine Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was a British Royal Air...	New Zealand Institution of Engineers
1979	Raymond Heacock Raymond Heacock Raymond L. Heacock , winner of the James Watt International Medal for 1979, was a Caltech engineering graduate who spent his career at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he worked on the Ranger program in the 1960s and on the Voyager program in the 1970s and 80s.-Education and work:Mr Heacock...	American Society of Mechanical Engineers
1981	Professor J. P. Den Hartog J. P. Den Hartog Jacob Pieter Den Hartog was professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He enrolled at TU Delft in 1919 and received his MSc degree in electrical engineering in 1924...	Institution of Mechanical Engineers	Professor emeritus and former head of the department of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1983	Sir Christopher Cockerell Christopher Cockerell Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell CBE FRS was an English engineer, inventor of the hovercraft.-Life:Cockerell was born in Cambridge, where his father, Sir Sydney Cockerell, was curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum, having previously been the secretary of William Morris. Christopher Cockerell was...	Institution of Mechanical Engineers
1985	Sir Hugh Ford Hugh Ford (engineer) Sir Hugh Ford FREng FRS was a British engineer. He was Professor of Applied Mechanics at Imperial College London from 1951 to 1978....	Institution of Mechanical Engineers
1987	Sir Denis Rooke Denis Rooke Sir Denis Eric Rooke, OM, CBE, FRS, FREng was a British industrialist and engineer.-Personal life:Rooke was born in New Cross, London, the younger son of F. G. Rooke. He studied Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering at University College London, then served in REME until 1949, attaining...	Institution of Mechanical Engineers
1989	John E Steiner	Fellowship of Engineering
1991	Soichiro Honda Soichiro Honda was a Japanese engineer and industrialist, and founder of Honda Motor Co., Ltd..Honda was born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan on November 17, 1906. He spent his early childhood helping his father, Gihei, a blacksmith, with his bicycle repair business. At the time his mother, Mika, was a weaver. At...	Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
1993	Frédéric d'Allest	Comitedes Applications Academie des Sciences, France	aero and space engineer, head of ISAE and Arianespace Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial space transportation company. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane 5 rocket launcher as part of the Ariane programme....
1995	Eiji Toyoda Eiji Toyoda is a prominent Japanese industrialist, who was largely responsible for bringing Toyota Motor Corporation to profitability and worldwide prominence during his tenure as president and later chairman.-Career:...	Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
1997	Sydney Gillibrand	Institution of Mechanical Engineers
1999	Professor Sir Bernard Crossland Bernard Crossland Prof Sir Bernard Crossland CBE, FRS was an engineering educator with a career spanning some seven decades. He was made a Freeman of the City of London in 1987 and was knighted in 1990 for services to Northern Ireland.-Life:...	Institution of Engineers of Ireland
2001	Professor Duncan Dowson	Institution of Mechanical Engineers
2003	Sir Ralph Robins Ralph Robins Sir Ralph Robins was the CEO of Rolls-Royce. He served 20 years on the board of Rolls-Royce, retiring in 2003 after 10 years as chairman.He graduated from Imperial College London and joined Rolls-Royce as a graduate apprentice in 1955...	Institution of Mechanical Engineers
2005	Leroy 'Skip' Fletcher	American Society of Mechanical Engineers

James Watt Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers

The James Watt Medal is also a lesser known award of the British Institution of Civil Engineers

Institution of Civil Engineers

Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...

(ICE) for energy engineers.

From the Institution of Civil Engineers website:

"The James Watt Medal is awarded for papers having a substantial mechanical engineering content. The medal, named after James Watt, the Scottish mechanical engineer and inventor who died in 1819, was introduced by Robert Stephenson (President of ICE in 1855 -1856) who recommended Council to acquire the dies of the medal from Joseph S Wyon in 1858."

When he receaved the medal he had a smile ear to ear. He was the most thankful and kind person Birmingham has ever known.
Recipients of the James Watt Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers include:

• Mr. Basil Wood (date of award 1980s?) for his work on Combined Heat and Power
• Paul Kassabian. (2000). structural engineer with interests in design, dynamic control, and deployable structures.
• Professor Sergio Pellegrino (2000). Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Specializes in deployable lightweight structures.
• Choo Yoo Sang, J W Boh, and L Louca (2005).