Abstract :
Elihu Thomson (A´84, M´91, F´13, HM´28, past-president, and member for life) consulting engineer, General Electric Company, and director, Thomson Research Laboratory, Lynn, Mass., was awarded the medal of honor of the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure on the occasion of his eighty-second birthday in March 1935. The society which presents this outstanding award of the German engineering profession is the oldest and largest of engineering societies in the world, and the award has previously been conferred upon only 5 non-Germans, only one of whom, the late C. W. Rice (A´97, M´97, F´12) was an American. The citation read, “On Elihu Thomson, the great pioneer in the realm of engineering, the inventor and research scientist, the promoter of co-operation among engineers, there is conferred, on the anniversary of his eighty-second birthday, the V.D.I, medal of honor.” Doctor Thomson was confined to his home by ill health, and the medal was accepted on his behalf by E. W. Rice, Jr. (A´87, M´88, F´13, HM´33, past-president, and member for life). Many honors and awards for his achievements have previously been bestowed upon Doctor Thomson, who was one of the founders of the General Electric Company and holds more than 700 United States patents. He was a vice president of the Institute 1887–89, and president 1889–90, later serving as a member of the Edison medal committee, 1910–15, and as representative on the United States National Committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission, 1914–30.