The RSWA Medal is an award from the Royal Society of Western Australia, established to honour outstanding work and achievement in science relative to Western Australia.
In 1924, the Royal Society of Western Australia decided to commemorate the centenary of the birth (26 June 1824) of William Thomson, Lord Kelvin. The event was marked by the creation of the Gold Medal of the Royal Society. The award was established to honour outstanding work and achievement in science relative to Western Australia. Miss Enid Isabel Allum, of 7 Richardson Street West Perth was commissioned to design the medal for £5-5-0 honorarium. Miss Allum was a member of the Royal Society of Western Australia, and had previously been Treasurer and Social Committee member. The Royal Mint at Perth commissioned the firm of Messrs. Stokes & Co, of Melbourne to produce the dye for the medal. In 1924, the inaugural medal was presented to Dr. William John Hancock. The first three medals were struck in gold in 1924, 1929, and 1933, and ever since the medals have been struck in silver. It is also known as the Kelvin Gold Medal.
In 2013, the RSWA Medal was renamed the RSWA Forrest Medal in honour of Sir John Forrest.Jenkins, C. F. H. (1965). A history of the Royal Society of Western Australia, and its role in the community. In Presidential Address. (48): 33-44.Bougher, A., & Semeniuk, V. (1991). A Bibliography and Index to the Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia. Royal Society of Western Australia. (74): 1-35.Recher, H. (1998). A brief history of the Journals, Crests, Medal and Seal of the Royal Society of Western Australia and previous Societies, 1897–1997. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia. (81): 1-4.
Recipients of Kelvin Gold Medal
YearNameRefAffiliationField of Study 1924 William John Hancock Perth Public Hospital radiography; medical application of x-rays. 1929 E S Simpson mineralogy and geology of WA. 1933 W M Carne plant pathology; the bitter pill of apples. 1937 Andrew Gibb Maitland Pilbara survey and artesian water supplies. 1941 Edward de Courcy Clarke geology of WA. 1945 L Glauert natural sciences. 1949 Charles A. Gardner Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew botany, the flora of WA. 1955 Harold William Bennetts veterinary science; live stock diseases. 1959 E J Underwood animal nutrition and husbandry. 1966 Clee Francis Howard Jenkins agricultural entomology and natural history. 1970 R T Prider geology, petrology and mineralogy. 1979 Ronald Murray Berndt anthropology; aboriginal studies. 1979 B J Grieve botany; ecophysiology and the flora of WA. 1979 Dominic Louis Serventy zoology; ornithology and nature conservation. 1983 John Stanley Beard botany; vegetation classification and mapping. 1986 C A Parker soil biology. 1995 Albert Russell Main zoology; ecology and nature conservation. 1997 Ernest Pease Hodgkin estuarine studies. 1997 Arthur James McComb plant growth and ecology. 2001 Phillip E. Playford geology and history of early Dutch exploration 2005 David Groves economic geology 2005 Kenneth J McNamara palaeontology 2010 Sidney Donald Bradshaw ecophysiology 2018 David Blair experimental physicist 2018 Barbara York Main arachnology and zoology
References
External links RSWA Medal