The Kremer prizes are a series of monetary awards, established in 1959 by the industrialist Henry Kremer, that are given to pioneers of human-powered flight. The competitions and prize awards are administered by the Royal Aeronautical Society's Human Powered Aircraft Group.
The first Kremer prize of £50,000 was won on August 23, 1977 by Dr. Paul MacCready when his Gossamer Condor, piloted by Bryan Allen, was the first human-powered aircraft to fly a figure eight around two markers one half mile apart, starting and ending the course at least 10 feet (3.0 m) above the ground.
The second Kremer prize of £100,000 was won on June 12, 1979, again by Paul MacCready, when Bryan Allen flew MacCready's Gossamer Albatross from England to France.
A Kremer prize of £20,000 for speed was won in 1983 by a design team of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for flying their MIT Monarch B craft on a triangular 1.5 km (0.93 mi) course in under three minutes (for an average speed of 32 km/h (20 mph)).
There are currently three Kremer Prizes that have not yet been awarded, for a total of £150,000.
- 26 mile Marathon course in under an hour (£50,000),
- Sporting aircraft challenge stressing maneuverability (£100,000),
- Local challenge that is limited to youth groups (under 18 years) in the UK.
Famous quotes containing the word prize:
“I prize the purity of his character as highly as I do that of hers. As a moral being, whatever it is morally wrong for her to do, it is morally wrong for him to do. The fallacious doctrine of male and female virtues has well nigh ruined all that is morally great and lovely in his character: he has been quite as deep a sufferer by it as woman, though mostly in different respects and by other processes.”
—Angelina Grimké (1805–1879)