The Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award (Thurston Award or Thurston Lecture) is an honor of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the oldest named lectureship in mechanical engineering.[1] Established in 1925, it is named in honor of Robert Henry Thurston, the first president of ASME, and is awarded each year to a leader in pure and/or applied science or engineering to deliver a lecture on a subject of broad interest to engineers.[1] It is the only award administered directly by ASME's central scientific body, the Technical and Engineering Communities Sector, and the recipient delivers the Thurston Lecture as the main plenary lecture at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE).[1]
| Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award | |
|---|---|
| Description | A lecture on a subject of broad interest to engineers, delivered by a leader in pure or applied science or engineering |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) |
| First award | 1925 |
| Website | www |
History
editThe lectureship was established in 1925 in honor of Robert Henry Thurston (1839–1903), who served as the first president of ASME.[1] The inaugural lecture was delivered in 1925 by the metallurgist Zay Jeffries, on the subject "Engineering and Science".[2]
For most of its history the lecture was administered at the division level. In 2000 ASME elevated it to a Society-level award, beginning with recipient John W. Hutchinson in 2001.[1] As a Society-level award, a single recipient is named each year and selected as a leader in pure and/or applied science or engineering.[1]
Recipients and notable lectures
editRecipients of the lectureship include engineers and scientists who have received major national and international honors. Jack Kilby (1990) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the integrated circuit,[3] as well as the National Medal of Science[4] and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.[5] Other recipients have received the National Medal of Science, including Theodore von Kármán and Yuan-Cheng Fung (1985),[6] while Chauncey Starr (1976) received the National Medal of Technology.[7]
Over 80% of recipients since the founding of the National Academy of Engineering are fellows of the NAE, and several, such as Fung, Hutchinson, George F. Carrier, Stephen Crandall, Jacob Den Hartog, Hugh Dryden, Howard Emmons, Huajian Gao, Yonggang Huang, Van C. Mow, Robert Nerem, John Rogers, Ares Rosakis, Zhigang Suo and Savio Woo belong to multiple United States national academies.[8]
Several Thurston Lectures have had a lasting scholarly influence. The 1950 lecture by Theodore von Kármán, "What Price Speed?", introduced the concept of specific power and the diagram now known as the Gabrielli–von Kármán diagram, comparing the efficiency of different modes of transport.[9]
Society-level award (2001–present)
edit| Year | Recipient |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Gang Bao[10] |
| 2024 | Xin Zhang[11] |
| 2023 | Ramamoorthy Ramesh[12] |
| 2022 | Robert O. Ritchie[13] |
| 2021 | M. Cynthia Hipwell[14][15] |
| 2020 | Andrew Alleyne[16] |
| 2019 | Yonggang Huang[17] |
| 2018 | Guruswami Ravichandran[18] |
| 2017 | Mohammed A. Zikry[19] |
| 2016 | Romesh C. Batra[20] |
| 2015 | Horacio D. Espinosa |
| 2014 | Ken P. Chong |
| 2013 | John A. Rogers |
| 2012 | Zhigang Suo |
| 2011 | Francis C. Moon |
| 2010 | Ares J. Rosakis[21] |
| 2009 | Huajian Gao |
| 2008 | Vijay K. Dhir |
| 2007 | Wing Kam Liu |
| 2006 | Sia Nemat-Nasser |
| 2005 | Savio L-Y. Woo |
| 2004 | Bharat Bhushan |
| 2003 | Yogesh Jaluria |
| 2002 | Elias P. Gyftopoulos |
| 2001 | John W. Hutchinson |
Division-level award (1969–2000)
edit| Year | Recipient |
|---|---|
| 2000 | Duncan Dowson |
| 1999 | Adrian Bejan |
| 1998 | Van C. Mow |
| 1997 | Raymond Viskanta |
| 1996 | Don P. Giddens |
| 1995 | Paul Cooper[22] |
| 1994 | Robert M. Nerem |
| 1993 | Chang-Lin Tien |
| 1992 | John H. Lienhard |
| 1991 | Frank Kreith |
| 1990 | Jack S. Kilby |
| 1989 | Stephen J. Kline |
| 1988 | Stephen H. Crandall |
| 1987 | Simon Ostrach[23] |
| 1986 | Daniel C. Drucker |
| 1985 | Yuan-Cheng B. Fung |
| 1984 | Robert A. Frosch |
| 1983 | Ernst R. G. Eckert |
| 1982 | Hans M. Mark |
| 1981 | John Erik Jonsson |
| 1980 | Milton S. Plesset |
| 1979 | W. Dale Compton |
| 1978 | Allen F. Rhodes |
| 1977 | Robert C. Dean Jr. |
| 1976 | Chauncey Starr |
| 1975 | Myron Tribus |
| 1974 | Howard W. Emmons |
| 1973 | Henry M. Paynter |
| 1972 | George F. Carrier |
| 1971 | Milton C. Shaw |
| 1970 | Jacob P. Den Hartog |
| 1969 | Jakob Ackeret |
Notable earlier awardees (1925-1969)
edit| Year | Lecturer | Lecture |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | George R. Irwin | "The Leading Edges of Fracture Mechanics"[24] |
| 1965 | Hugh L. Dryden | A lecture on how "the space program was already having an impact on engineering because of new requirements in weight, size, performance, and reliability under extreme environmental conditions."[25] |
| 1950 | Theodore von Kármán | "What Price Speed?"[9] |
| 1925 | Zay Jeffries | Inaugural lecture, "Engineering and Science"[2] |
See also
editReferences
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award". American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
- 1 2 "The American Society of Mechanical Engineers". Science (Editorial). 62 (1611): 432. November 1925. doi:10.1126/science.62.1611.432-a.
- ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2000". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Jack St. Clair Kilby". National Science & Technology Medals Foundation. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "National Medal of Technology and Innovation Recipients". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Yuan-Cheng B. Fung". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
- ↑ Wald, Matthew L. (19 April 2007). "Chauncey Starr, 95, Pioneer in Nuclear Energy, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Dr. Yuan-Cheng B. Fung". National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
- 1 2 Gabrielli, Giuseppe; von Kármán, Theodore (1950). "What Price Speed? Specific Power Required for Propulsion of Vehicles". Mechanical Engineering. 72 (10): 775–781.
- ↑ Schilcutt, Katharine (November 3, 2025). "Bao wins Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award". Rice University News. Rice University. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
- ↑ "Zhang Wins the 2024 Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award". bu.edu.
- ↑ Peters, Sarah (November 2, 2023). "Rice VP for research addresses energy demand at international engineering conference". Rice University News and Media Relations. Rice University. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
- ↑ "Professor Ritchie Awarded ASME Robert Henry Thurston Award". Department of Materials Science and Engineering. University of California, Berkeley. May 17, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
- ↑ "NAE Newsmakers". The Bridge. 51 (4). National Academy of Engineering: 58. Winter 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
- ↑ Simmons, Laura (October 20, 2021). "Hipwell receives Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award". Texas A&M University Engineering News. Texas A&M University. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
- ↑ "Alleyne Honored with ASME Thurston Lecture Award". Coordinated Science Laboratory. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. September 20, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
- ↑ Zhang, Yuhui (October 25, 2019). "ASME Robert Henry Thurston Lecture at IMECE 2019". iMechanica. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
- ↑ Pourbahrami, Trity (October 26, 2018). "Professor Ravichandran to Give 2018 Robert Henry Thurston Lecture". Division of Engineering and Applied Science. California Institute of Technology. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
- ↑ "Zikry receives ASME Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award". College of Engineering News. North Carolina State University. November 6, 2017. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
- ↑ "Virginia Tech's Romesh Batra honored as University Distinguished Professor". Virginia Tech, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics. 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2026-06-21.
- ↑ "Ares Rosakis Receives 2010 Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award". Caltech News. 2010.
- ↑ Cooper, Paul (December 1996). "Perspective: The New Face of R&D—A Case Study of the Pump Industry". Journal of Fluids Engineering. 118 (4): 655–664. doi:10.1115/1.2835493.
- ↑ Ostrach, Simon (July 1988). "The Hidden Potential of Transfer Phenomena". Mechanical Engineering. 110 (7): 83.
- ↑ Irwin, G. R. (August 1968). "Linear fracture mechanics, fracture transition, and fracture control". Engineering Fracture Mechanics. 1 (2): 241–257. doi:10.1016/0013-7944(68)90001-5.
- ↑ Hunsaker, Jerome C.; Seamans Jr., Robert C. (1969). "Hugh Latimer Dryden". Biographical Memoirs (PDF). Vol. 42. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences. pp. 36–68.