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IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award

The IEEE and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland, with funding from Wolfson Microelectronics plc, created a joint award in November 2006 to recognize groundbreaking contributions that have had an exceptional impact on the development of electronics and electrical engineering or related fields.

The annual IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award includes a US $20 000 (or British pound sterling equivalent) honorarium, a gold medal, and a certificate.

The award is named in honor of the 19th century Scottish mathematician and physicist James Clerk Maxwell who laid the foundations of electromagnetic wave theory, radio propagation, microwave techniques, and radio communications.

Wolfson Microelectronics plc is a leading global provider of high performance, mixed-signal semiconductors to the consumer electronics market, with headquarters in Edinburgh.

Nominations

This award is administered by the IEEE Awards Board.

Recipient selection is performed by a joint IEEE/RSE Selection Committee which is administered by the IEEE Awards Board.

The award is open to anyone who has made groundbreaking contributions to the electronics or electrical engineering fields.

Nominees are not required to be members of either the IEEE or the RSE.

This award may be presented each year to an individual, team or multiple recipients up to two in number.
It is expected that the recipient of the IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award will, within the first year subsequent to the receipt of the award, make a presentation in Scotland about his/her work.
Fellows are encouraged to propose those who will maintain the very high standard of this award for work that builds upon Maxwell's fields of interest. Nominations will be considered by a joint Selection Board.
Nominations will not be accepted from the IEEE Board of Directors, the RSE Council, the IEEE Awards Board, the Award Selection Committee, and employees of the IEEE and RSE.

Self-nominations are not permitted.

Award Winners

2013. Professor Richard Muller and Professor Richard White, both of the University of California, USA

Both for pioneering innovation and leadership in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology.

2012. Gerhard Sessler. Professor, Darmstadt University of Technology, Darmstadt, Germany

For pioneering contributions to electroacoustic transducers, the development of silicon microphone technology, and seminal work on electroactive materials.

2011.  Marcian Edward Hoff. Chief Technologist (Retired), Teklicon, Inc.; Los Altos Hills, CA, USA

For developments in programmable integrated circuitry for a wide range of applications.

2010. Amar G. Bose. Chairman, Bose Corporation, Framingham, MA, USA

For outstanding contributions to consumer electronics in sound reproduction, industrial leadership, and engineering education.

2009. Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli. Edgar L. and Harold H. Buttner Chair of Electrical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

For pioneering innovation and leadership in Electronic Design Automation that has enabled the design of modern, complex, electronics and communications systems and their industrial implementation.

2008. Sir Timothy Berners-Lee. Director, World Wide Web Consortium, Science Researcher, CSAIL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

For conceiving and further developing the World Wide Web

2007. Dr Irwin M Jacobs and Dr Andrew J Viterbi, co-founders of Qualcomm Incorporated, were jointly awarded the first IEEE/RSE/Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award in 2007

They received the award for fundamental contributions, innovation and leadership that enabled the growth of wireless communications.