The Keith Medal was a

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ...

, for a scientific paper published in the society's

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...

s, preference being given to a paper containing a discovery, either in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

s. The Medal was inaugurated in 1827 as a result of a gift from Alexander Keith of Dunnottar, the first Treasurer of the Society. It was awarded quadrennially, alternately for a paper published in: Proceedings A (Mathematics) or Transactions (Earth and Environmental Sciences). The medal bears the head of

John Napier John Napier of Merchiston ( ; Latinisation of names, Latinized as Ioannes Neper; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8 ...

of Merchiston. The medal is no longer awarded.

Recipients of the Keith Gold Medal

Source (1827 to 1913)
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
;19th century *1827–29:

David Brewster Sir David Brewster Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order, KH President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, PRSE Fellow of the Royal Society of London, FRS Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA Scot Fellow of the Scottish Society of ...

, ''on his Discovery of Two New Immiscible Fluids in the Cavities of certain Minerals'' *1829–31:

, ''on a New Analysis of Solar Light'' *1831–33: Thomas Graham, ''on the Law of the Diffusion of Gases'' *1833–35: James David Forbes, ''on the Refraction and Polarization of Heat'' *1835–37:

John Scott Russell John Scott Russell (9 May 1808, Parkhead, Glasgow – 8 June 1882, Ventnor, Isle of Wight) was a Scottish civil engineer, naval architecture, naval architect and shipbuilder who built ''SS Great Eastern, Great Eastern'' in collaboration with Is ...

, ''on Hydrodynamics'' *1837–39: John Shaw, ''on the Development and Growth of the Salmon'' *1839–41: ''Not awarded'' *1841–43: James David Forbes, ''on Glaciers'' *1843–45: ''Not awarded'' *1845–47: Sir

Thomas Brisbane Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Sir Thomas MacDougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet, (23 July 1773 – 27 January 1860), was a British Army officer, administrator, and astronomer. Upon the recommendation of the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke ...

, ''for the Makerstoun Observations on Magnetic Phenomena'' *1847–49: ''Not awarded'' *1849–51:

Philip Kelland Philip Kelland PRSE FRS (17 October 1808 – 8 May 1879) was an English mathematician. He was known mainly for his great influence on the development of education in Scotland. Life Kelland was born in 1808 the son of Philip Kelland (d.1847), ...

, ''on General Differentiation, including his more recent Communication on a process of the Differential Calculus, and its application to the solution of certain Differential Equations'' *1851–53:

William John Macquorn Rankine William John Macquorn Rankine (; 5 July 1820 – 24 December 1872) was a Scottish mathematician and physicist. He was a founding contributor, with Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), to the science of thermodynamics, particularl ...

, ''on the Mechanical Action of Heat'' *1853–55: Thomas Anderson, ''on the Crystalline Constituents of Opium, and on the Products of the Destructive Distillation of Animal Substances'' *1855–57:

George Boole George Boole ( ; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in Ireland. H ...

, ''on the Application of the Theory of Probabilities to Questions of the Combination of Testimonies and Judgments'' *1857–59: ''Not awarded'' *1859–61:

John Allan Broun John Allan Broun Fellow of the Royal Society of London, FRS (21 September 1817 – 22 November 1879) was a Scottish scientist with interests in magnetism, particularly of the earth, and meteorology. Broun studied in Edinburgh University and work ...

, ''on the Horizontal Force of the Earth’s Magnetism, on the Correction of the Bifilar Magnetometer, and on Terrestrial Magnetism generally'' *1861–63: William Thomson, ''on some Kinematical and Dynamical Theorems'' *1863–65: James David Forbes, ''for Experimental Inquiry into the Laws of Conduction of Heat in Iron Bars'' *1865–67:

Charles Piazzi Smyth Charles Piazzi Smyth (3 January 1819 – 21 February 1900) was a British astronomer who was Astronomer Royal for Scotland from 1846 to 1888; he is known for many innovations in astronomy and, along with his wife Jessica Duncan Piazzi Smyth, hi ...

, ''on Recent Measures at the Great Pyramid'' *1867–69:

Peter Guthrie Tait Peter Guthrie Tait (28 April 18314 July 1901) was a Scottish Mathematical physics, mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook ''Treatise on Natural Philosophy'', which he ...

, ''on the Rotation of a Rigid Body about a Fixed Point'' *1869–71:

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism an ...

, ''on Figures, Frames, and Diagrams of Forces'' *1871–73:

, ''First Approximation to a Thermo-electric Diagram'' *1873–75:

Alexander Crum Brown Alexander Crum Brown Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (26 March 1838 – 28 October 1922) was a Scottish Organic chemistry, organic chemist. Alexander Crum Brown Road in Edinburgh's King's Buildi ...

, ''on the Sense of Rotation, and on the Anatomical Relations of the Semicircular Canals of the Internal Ear'' *1875–77:

Matthew Forster Heddle Matthew Forster Heddle FRSE (28 April 1828 – 19 November 1897) was a Scottish physician and amateur mineralogist active through the 19th century. Life He was born at Melsetter in Orkney, the son of Robert Heddle (1780–1842) and his wife, ...

, ''on the Rhombohedral Carbonates'' and ''on the Felspars of Scotland'' *1877–79:

Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin FRS FRSE (; 25 March 1833 – 12 June 1885) was a British engineer, inventor, economist, linguist, actor and dramatist known as the inventor of the cable car or telpherage. He was Regius Professor of Engineering ...

, ''on the Application of Graphic Methods to the Determination of the Efficiency of Machinery'' *1879–81:

George Chrystal George Chrystal FRSE FRS (8 March 1851 – 3 November 1911) was a Scottish mathematician. He is primarily known for his books on algebra and his studies of seiches (wave patterns in large inland bodies of water) which earned him a Gold Meda ...

, ''on the Differential Telephone'' *1881–83: Sir Thomas Muir, ''Researches into the Theory of Determinants and Continued Fractions'' *1883–85: John Aitken, ''on the Formation of Small Clear Spaces in Dusty Air'' *1885–87:

John Young Buchanan John Young Buchanan FRSE FRS FCS (20 February 1844 – 16 October 1925) was a Scottish chemist, oceanographer and Arctic explorer. He was an important part of the Challenger Expedition. Life He was born in Partickhill, Glasgow on 20 February ...

, ''for a series of communications, extending over several years, on subjects connected with Ocean Circulation, Compressibility of Glass, etc.'' *1887–89: Edmund Albert Letts, ''for his papers on the Organic Compounds of Phosphorus'' *1889–91:

Robert Traill Omond Robert Traill Omond FRSE LLD SMS (1858–1914) was a British physicist, geologist and meteorologist who set up the Ben Nevis Observatory. Life He was born on 5 June 1858, the son of Mary Eliza Traill, daughter of Thomas Stewart Traill, and Rob ...

, ''for his contributions to Meteorological Science'' *1891–93: Sir

Thomas Richard Fraser Sir Thomas Richard Fraser (5 February 1841 – 4 January 1920) was a British physician and pharmacologist. Together with Alexander Crum Brown he discovered the relationship between physiological activity and chemical constitution of the body ...

, ''for his papers on Strophanthus hispidus, Strophanthin, and Strophanthidin'' *1893–95:

Cargill Gilston Knott Cargill Gilston Knott FRS, FRSE LLD (30 June 1856 – 26 October 1922) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was a pioneer in seismological research. He spent his early career in Japan. He later became a Fellow of the Royal Society, ...

, ''for his papers on the Strains produced by Magnetism in Iron and in Nickel'' *1895–97: Sir Thomas Muir, ''for his continued communications on Determinants and Allied Questions'' *1897–99: James Burgess, ''on the Definite Integral ...'' ;20th/21st century

References

External links

Awards of Keith Prize 1827-1890
{{Royal Society of Edinburgh British science and technology awards Mathematics awards Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish awards 1827 establishments in Scotland Awards established in 1827

Recipients of the Keith Gold Medal

See also

References

External links