1937
The Washington Award is given by the Western Society of Engineers. Their website explains that the Society is “a multi-discipline engineering society, whose purpose is to actively encourage the development of engineering leaders and promote engineering excellence and innovation; educate the general public regarding the practice of engineering; recognize the achievements of the member engineers; and promote high professional and ethical standards.”
In 1916, the Society created an honorary award to recognize “devoted, unselfish, and preeminent service in advancing human progress.” The award was named in honor of the first president of the U.S. who was also an engineer.
Research Corporation’s founder, Frederick Gardner Cottrell, received the Washington Award in 1937 “for his social vision in dedicating to the perpetuation of research the rewards of his achievements in science and engineering.”
The Holley Medal was established in 1924 in honor of Alexander Lyman Holley, charter member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. It is presented annually in “recognition of a great or unique act of an engineering nature, which accomplishes a great and timely public benefit.”
Cottrell was awarded the medal in 1937. Henry Ford had won the previous year; Cottrell’s associates Vannevar Bush and Ernest Lawrence received the honor in subsequent years.