Personal and Biographical - Nikola Tesla and the Edison Medal

Nikola Tesla, who was awarded the seventh Edison medal on December 13, 1916, "for meritorious achievements in his early original work in polyphase and high-frequency electric currents," will receive the medal at a presentation to be made at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in the Engineering Societies Building, 29 West Thirty-ninth Street, New York City, on May 18 at 8:30 p. m. President H. W. Buck will preside, and addresses will be made by Dr.. A. E. Kennelly, chairman of the Edison Medal Committee; Charles A. Terry, of New York, and B. A. Behrend, of Boston.

The Edison Medal was established upon the initiative of a group of friends and associates of Thomas A. Edison, for the purpose of recounting and celebrating the achievements of a quarter of a century in the art of electric lighting, with which the name of Edison is imperishably identified. It was decided that the most effective means of accomplishing this object would be by the establishment of a gold medal, which should, during the centuries to come, serve as an honorable incentive to scientists, engineers and artisans to maintain by their works a high standard of accomplishment. The Edison Medal was, therefore, established and endowed with a trust fund, under an indenture dated February 11, 1904, whereby the American Institute of Electrical Engineers agreed to award the medal annually. It is awarded each year by a committee consisting of 24 members of the Institute to a resident of the United States of America and its dependencies, or of the Dominion of Canada, "for meritorious achievement in electrical science or electrical engineering or the electrical arts."