Science: Medallists

Edison. Most prized award of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers is the Edison gold medal. Its recipients have included George Westinghouse. Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla, Michael Idvorsky Pupin, Robert Andrews Millikan. Last week in Manhattan it was given to tall, grey-haired Charles Felton Scott, 65, native Ohioan, electrical engineering professor in Yale University. In the field of power transmission his work has been noteworthy; professionally renowned is he for the Scott transformer which changes two-phase to three-phase alternating current.

Gary. Elmer Ambrose Sperry, 69, of Brooklyn, may well have a medal named for him someday. A prolific inventor (gyrocompass, gyrostabilizer, airplane “Mecaviator,” superpower searchlights, airway beacons), he holds over 400 patents, some 12 important awards and decorations. Last week, honoring his method of nondestructive detection of flaws in steel rails and bars, he was first to receive the American Iron & Steel Institute Medal, given by the Institute in memory of its late Founder-President Elbert Henry Gary.