Response of the medalist

I am highly honored to accept this medal in memory of so eminent an engineer as Mr. Lamme. May I also say that I was not only surprised but also, to a degree, shocked when I was first informed of this honor. I had always thought of medals as being given either to bright young men, to encourage them to further efforts, or to distinguished old men, in order to provide an occasion to learn their philosophy of life and work. However, the middle-aged man, in which group I had up to now classified myself, actively engaged in the practice of his profession, is normally under such competitive, family, and financial pressure that he does not need any additional encouragement, while at the same time he has been so busy that he has not yet developed a philosophy worth listening to. So it is truly a special pleasure to be included among the group of distinguished recipients of the Lamme Medal, whose contributions to the development of electrical equipment have been so great. I am especially pleased to recall that I have had the privilege of being personally acquainted with 15 out of the 34 recipients. I recall also that A. B. Field, the first Lamme Medalist, wrote a very stimulating article on liquid cooling of rotating machinery — which today still has a very modern theme — that influenced my own studies of liquid cooling made during the early 1930´s under the direction of H. M. Hobart.