The award was created through the endowment of US$5,000 to the Academy by Benjamin Thompson, who held the title "Count Rumford of the United Kingdom," in 1796.
[1] Previous prizewinners include Thomas Alva Edison, for his investigations in electric lighting; Enrico Fermi, for his studies of radiation theory and nuclear energy; and Charles H. Townes, for his development of the laser.
The prize has been given to researchers outside of the United States only twice—once to John Stanley Plaskett, from British Columbia, and once to a group of Canadian scientists "for their work in the field of long-baseline interferometry.
"[4] Source: American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Past Prizes Canadian Group (Norman W. Broten, R. M. Chisholm, John A. Galt, Herbert P. Gush, Thomas H. Legg, Jack L. Locke, Charles W. McLeish, Roger S. Richards, Jui Lin Yen) NRAO–Cornell Group (Claude C. Bare, Barry G. Clark, Marshall H. Cohen, David L. Jauncey, Kenneth I. Kellermann) National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Bare, Clark, Kellerman); Cornell University (Cohen, Jauncey)[6][7] Robert Mills Columbus, Ohio Martin Deutsch Vernon Willard Hughes Norman Foster Ramsey Cambridge, Massachusetts New Haven, Connecticut Cambridge, Massachusetts Frank J.
Low Gerry Neugebauer Tucson, Arizona Pasadena, California Joseph J. Katz George Feher Chicago, Illinois San Diego, California Sam Nunn William J. Perry George P. Shultz Nuclear Threat Initiative[d] Stanford University Stanford University Alfred Cho Alcatel-Lucent Bell Laboratory