The Sir Frank Whittle Medal is awarded annually by the Royal Academy of Engineering to an engineer, normally resident in the United Kingdom, for outstanding and sustained achievement which has contributed to the well-being of the nation. The field of activity in which the medal is awarded changes annually.
Named after Sir Frank Whittle, the award was instituted in 2001.
Previous winners:
| Year | Name | Topics |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Professor Tim Berners-Lee | for creating the World Wide Web. |
| 2002 | Professor John Ffowcs Williams | for contributions to the foundations and applications of Aeroacoustics, which have enabled dramatic reductions in the noise of aircraft and submarines. |
| 2003 | Professor Roland Clift | for his leading role in developing the holistic life cycle assessment of products - cradle to grave analysis - and the recognition of environmental and social issues. |
| 2004 | Professor Ian Young | for pioneering work on Magnetic Resonance Imaging. |
| 2005 | Professor Emeritus Peter John Lawrenson | for engineering innovations in energy. |
| 2006 | Michael Ramsay | for pioneering the TiVo technology |
Famous quotes containing the words sir, frank and/or whittle:
“Thou didst create the night, but I made the lamp.
Thou didst create clay, but I made the cup.
Thou didst create the deserts, mountains and forests,
I produced the orchards, gardens and groves.
It is I who made the glass out of stone,
And it is I who turn a poison into an antidote.”
—Muhammad, Sir Iqbal (1873–1938)
“... in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquillity will return again.”
—Anne Frank (1929–1945)
“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.”
—Will Durant (1885–1981)