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Recipients of Franklin Medal

  • Albert EinsteinOn the 14th of March 1879, Albert Einstein was born in Ulm within the Kingdom of Württemberg. His parents were Hermann Einstein and Pauline Koch.
  • J. J. ThomsonJoseph John Thomson entered the world on the 18th of December 1856 in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. His mother Emma Swindells came from a local textile family…
  • James ChadwickJames Chadwick was born on the 20th of October 1891 in Cheshire, England. His father John Joseph Chadwick worked as a cotton spinner while his mother Anne…
  • Enrico FermiEnrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy, on the 29th of September 1901. He grew up at Via Gaeta 19 with his parents Alberto and Ida de Gattis.
  • John Archibald WheelerJohn Archibald Wheeler was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on the 9th of July 1911. He grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, but spent a year from 1921 to 1922 on a…
  • Ernest RutherfordErnest Rutherford was born on the 30th of August 1871 in Brightwater, New Zealand. He was the fourth child among twelve siblings born to James Rutherford and…
  • Thomas EdisonIn 1862, a fifteen-year-old Thomas Edison stood on the tracks near Port Huron, Michigan. He watched a runaway train approach three children who could not…
  • Hendrik LorentzHendrik Antoon Lorentz entered the world on the 18th of July 1853 in Arnhem, Netherlands. He was born to Gerrit Frederik Lorentz and Geertruida van Ginkel.
  • Max PlanckMax Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was born on the 23rd of April 1858 in Kiel, Holstein. He entered the world into a family where theology and law ruled supreme.
  • Eugene WignerEugene Paul Wigner was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary on the 17th of November 1902. He grew up as the son of Elisabeth Elsa Einhorn and Antal Anton…
  • Stephen HawkingStephen William Hawking was born on the 8th of January 1942 in Oxford to Frank and Isobel Eileen Hawking. His mother came from a family of doctors in Glasgow…
  • Svante ArrheniusSvante August Arrhenius was born on the 19th of February 1859 at Vik near Uppsala in Sweden. His father Svante Gustav worked as a land surveyor for Uppsala…
  • Edwin HubbleEdwin Powell Hubble was born on the 20th of November 1889 in Marshfield, Missouri. His early years were defined by physical dominance rather than academic…
  • Niels BohrOn the 7th of October 1885, Niels Henrik David Bohr was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He grew up as the second of three children to Christian Bohr and Ellen…
  • Peter DebyePeter Joseph William Debye was born on the 24th of March 1884 in Maastricht, Netherlands. He enrolled at Aachen University of Technology in 1901 to study…
  • Walther NernstWalther Hermann Nernst entered the world on the 25th of June 1864 in Briesen, a town within the Prussian Province of West Prussia.
  • Theodosius DobzhanskyTheodosius Dobzhansky entered the world on the 25th of January 1900 in Nemirov within the Russian Empire. His parents were Grigory and Sophia Voinarsky.