Wright Brothers Medal - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Conceived of in 1924 by the Dayton Section of the SAE, the SAE established Wright Brothers Medal in 1927 to recognize individuals who have made notable contributions in the engineering design, development, or operation of air and space vehicles. Its award is based on contributed research papers.

The award honors Wilbur and Orville Wright

Wright brothers

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...

as the first successful builders of heavier-than-air craft.

Awardees and Research Topics: 1928-1975

1928 Clinton Hunter Havill - Aircraft Propellers.
1929 Ralph Hazlett Upson - Wings - A Coordinated System of Basic Design.
1930 Theodore Paul Wright
Theodore Paul Wright
Theodore Paul Wright was a U.S. aeronautical engineer and educator. Born in Galesburg, Illinois, he served as acting president of Cornell University in 1951. Theodore P...

- The Development of a Safe Airplane - The Curtis Tanager.
1931 Stephen Joseph Zand: A Study of Airplane and Instrument Board Vibration
1932 Edward Pearson Warner
Edward Pearson Warner
Edward Pearson Warner was an American pioneer in aviation and a teacher in aeronautical engineering...

: The Rational Specifications of Airplane Load Factors
1933 Eastman Nixon Jacobs: The Aerodynamics of Wing Sections for Airplanes
1934 Rex Buren Beisel, A. L. MacClain, and F. M. Thomas: Cowling and Cooling of Radial Air-Cooled Aircraft Engines
1935 William Littlewood
William Littlewood
William Littlewood was an aeronautical engineer noted for his contributions to the design and operational requirements of Transport aircraft. He was the only person to preside over both SAE and AIAA, two of the main aerospace professional organizations...

: Operating Requirements for Transport Airplanes
1936 R. J. Minshall, J. K. Ball, and F. P. Laudan: Problems in the Design and Construction of Large Aircraft
1937 Richard V. Rhode
Richard V. Rhode
Richard V. Rhode was an early aeronautical engineer at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, who researched aerodynamic loading. He was awarded the Wright Brothers Medal in 1937 for this work...

- Gust Loads on Airplanes
1938 no award given
1939 Kenneth A. Browne: Dynamic Suspension - A Method of Aircraft Engine Mounting
1940 Clarence Leonard Johnson: Rudder Control Problems on Four-Engined Airplanes
1941 Samuel Jasper Loring: General Approach to the Flutter Problem
1942 Charles R. Strang: Progress in Structural Design Through Strain-Gage Technique
1943 Costas E. Pappas: The Determination of Fuselage Moments
1944 Kenneth Campbell (engineer): Engine Cooling Fan Theory and Practice
1945 Myron Tribus
Myron Tribus
Myron T. Tribus was the director of the Center for Advanced Engineering Study at MIT. He headed the center when it published W. Edwards Deming's book, Out of the Crisis, and became a leading supporter and interpreter of W. Edwards Deming...

: Report on Development and Application of Heated Wings
1946 Frederick Van Horne Judd: A Systematic Approach to the Aerodynamic Design of Radial Engine Installations
1947 Henry B. Gibbons: Experiences of an Aircraft Manufacturer with Sandwich Material
1948 Kermit Van Every
Kermit Van Every
Kermit Van Every was a noted American aeronautical engineer best known for his work in the area of very high speed flight. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and had the unusual distinction of receiving the Wright Brothers Medal twice, in 1948 and 1958.Van...

: Aerodynamics of High Speed Airplanes
1949 Homer J. Wood and Frederick Dallenbach: Auxiliary Gas Turbines for Pneumatic Power in Aircraft Applications
1950 James Charles Floyd: The Avro C102 Jetliner
1951 Orville Albert Wheelon: Design Methods and Manufacturing Techniques with Titanium

1952 W. J. Kunz, Jr.: A New Technique for Investigating Jet Engine Compressor Stall and Other Transient Characteristics

1953 D. N. Meyers and Z. Ciolkosz: Matching the Characteristics of Helicopters and Shaft Turbines

1954 John M. Tyler and E. C. Perry, Jr.: Jet Noise

1955 Wendell E. Reed: A New Approach to Turbojet and Ramjet Engine Controls

1956 Charles Horton Zimmerman: Some General Considerations Concerning VTOL Aircraft

1957 Alf F. Ensrud: Problems in the Application of High Strength Steel Alloys in the Design of Supersonic Aircraft
1958 Kermit Van Every
Kermit Van Every
Kermit Van Every was a noted American aeronautical engineer best known for his work in the area of very high speed flight. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and had the unusual distinction of receiving the Wright Brothers Medal twice, in 1948 and 1958.Van...

: Design Problems of Very High Speed Flight
1959 Milford G. Childers: Preliminary Design Considerations for the Structure of a Trisonic Transport
1960 Ferdinand B. Greatrex: By-Pass Engine Noise
1961 Carleton M. Mears and Robert L. Peterson: Mechanization on Minimum-Energy Automatic Lunar Soft-Landing Systems
1962 Robert P. Rhodes, Jr., D. E. Chriss, and Philip M. Rubins: Effect of Heat Release on Flow Parameters in Shock Induced Combustion
1963 Sitaram Rao Valluri, James B. Glassco, and George Eugene Bockrath
George Eugene Bockrath
George Eugene Bockrath was an aeronautical engineer and early researcher in fracture mechanics. He earned a BS in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan and began his research career as an assistant professor at The Catholic University of America in 1936...

: Further Considerations of a Theory of Crack Propagation in Metal Fatigue
1964 Marion O. McKinney, Jr., Richard E. Kuhn, and John P. Reeder: Aerodynamics and Flying Qualities of Jet V/STOL Airplanes
1965 W. W. Williams, G. K. Williams, and W. C. J. Garrard: Soft and Rough Field Landing Gears
1966 Julian Wolkovitch: An Introduction to Hover Dynamics
1967 John A. McKillop: Flutter Characteristics of the Slap Tail
1968 Leonard J. Nestor and Lawrence Maggitti, Jr.: Effects of Dynamic Environments on Fuel Tank Flammability
1969 W. N. Reddisch, A. E. Sabroff, P. C. Wheeler, and J. G. Zaremba: A Semi-Active Gravity Gradient Stabilization System
1970 J. Hong: Advanced Bonding for Large Aircraft
1971 no award given
1972 Dwight Henry Bennett and Robert P. Johannes
Robert P. Johannes
Robert P. Johannes is an aeronautical engineer noted primarily as one of the developers of the control configured vehicle concept...

: Combat Capabilities and Versatility Through CCV
1973 Richard E. Hayden
Richard E. Hayden
Richard E. Hayden is a specialist in acoustics. He earned a BS from Norwich University and an MS from Purdue University, after which he joined Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, where he embarked on a research program in the acoustics of flow/surface interactions...

: Fundamental Aspects of Noise Reduction From Powered Lift Devices
1974 Michael J. Wendl
Michael J. Wendl
Michael John Wendl is an engineer who worked at the McDonnell-Douglas Corporation, mainly in the area of aerospace control. He is noted primarily as one of the early developers of terrain following technology and a proponent of incorporating energy management theory into the design of fighter...

, Gordon G. Grose
Gordon G. Grose
Gordon G. Grose was an engineer at the McDonnell-Douglas Corporation. He won the Wright Brothers Medal in 1974 with Michael J. Wendl, J. L...

, John L. Porter
John L. Porter
John Luke Porter , whose father was a shipwright at Portsmouth, Virginia, was born in 1813. He became a United States Navy civilian employee during the 1840s and a Naval Constructor in 1859. After resigning from the U.S. Navy in May 1861, he began working for the Confederate States Navy at the...

, and Ralph V. Pruitt
Ralph V. Pruitt
Ralph V. Pruitt was an engineer at McDonnell Douglas who won the Wright Brothers Medal in 1974 with Michael J. Wendl, Gordon G. Grose, and J. L...

: Flight/Propulsion Control Integration Aspects of Energy Management
1975 John A. Alic and H. Archang: Comparison of Fracture and Fatigue Properties of Clad 7075-T6 Aluminum in Monolithic and Laminated Forms

Awardees: 1976-2006

1976 no award given
1977 - Raymond M. Hicks and Garret N. Vanderplaats
1978 no award given
1979 Gary E. Erickson, Dale J. Lorincz, William A. Moore, and Andrew M. Skow
1980 Walter S. Cremens
1981 Raymond M. Hicks
1982 Andre Fort and J. J. Speyer
1983 Carol A. Simpson
1984 Robert J. Englar and James H. Nichols Jr.
1985 Charles W. Boppe
1986 James A. Hare
1987 Charles P. Blankenship and Robert J. Hayduk
1988 Benton C. Clark III
1989 Charles W. Boppe and Warren H. Davis
1990 Mariann F. Brown and Susan Schentrup
1991 Lourdes M. Birckelbaw and Lloyd D. Corliss
1992 G. J. Bastiaans, Steve D. Braymen, S. G. Burns, Shelley J. Coldiron, R. S. Deinhammer, William J. Deninger, R. P. O'Toole, Marc D. Porter, and H. R. Shanks
1993 no award given
1994 Timothy Geels, Tom McDavid, Greg Robel, and Tze Siu

1995 Robert R. Wilkins Jr.

1996 B. A. Moravec and Michael W. Patnoe

1997 James R. Fuller

1998 Robert S. McCann, Becky L. Hooey, Bonny Parke, Anthony D. Andre, David C. Foyle, and Barbara G. Kanki

1999 Jeremy S. Agte, Robert Sandusky, and Jaroslaw Sobieski

2000 no award given

2001 Maurizio Apra, Marcello D'Amore, Maria Sabrina Sarto, Alberto Scarlatti, and Valeria Volpi

2002 Gary L. Boyd, Alfred W. Fuller, and Jack Moy

2003 Timothy J. Bencic, Colin S. Bidwell, Michael Papadakis, Arief Rachman, and See-Cheuk Wong

2004 Philip Freeman

2005 John W. Fisher, Michael T. Flynn, Eric J. Litwiller, and Martin Reinhard

2006 James R. Akse, James E. Atwater
James E. Atwater
James E. Atwater is a retired North American multidisciplinary physical scientist with training in geophysics, chemistry and biological science. He was awarded the Wright Brothers Medal for his work on microwave powered methods for microbial stabilization and water recovery from solid waste...

, Roger Dahl, John W. Fisher, Frank C. Garmon, Neal M. Hadley, Richard R. Wheeler Jr, Thomas W. Williams

Awardees and Research Topics: 1928-1975

Awardees: 1976-2006

See also