The Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award (Thurston Award or Thurston Lecture) is an honor of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the oldest named lectureship in mechanical engineering. Established in 1925, it is named in honor of Robert Henry Thurston, the first president of ASME, and is awarded each year to a leader in pure and/or applied science or engineering to deliver a lecture on a subject of broad interest to engineers. It is the only award administered directly by ASME's central scientific body, the Technical and Engineering Communities Sector, and the recipient delivers the Thurston Lecture as the main plenary lecture at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE).

History The lectureship was established in 1925 in honor of Robert Henry Thurston (1839–1903), who served as the first president of ASME. The inaugural lecture was delivered in 1925 by the metallurgist Zay Jeffries, on the subject "Engineering and Science".

For most of its history the lecture was administered at the division level. In 2000 ASME elevated it to a Society-level award, beginning with recipient John W. Hutchinson in 2001. As a Society-level award, a single recipient is named each year and selected as a leader in pure and/or applied science or engineering.

Recipients and notable lectures

Recipients of the lectureship include engineers and scientists who have received major national and international honors. Jack Kilby (1990) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the integrated circuit, as well as the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Other recipients have received the National Medal of Science, including Theodore von Kármán and Yuan-Cheng Fung (1985), while Chauncey Starr (1976) received the National Medal of Technology.

Over 80% of recipients since the founding of the National Academy of Engineering are fellows of the NAE, and several, such as Fung, Hutchinson, George F. Carrier, Stephen Crandall, Jacob Den Hartog, Hugh Dryden, Howard Emmons, Huajian Gao, Yonggang Huang, Van C. Mow, Robert Nerem, John Rogers, Ares Rosakis, Zhigang Suo and Savio Woo belong to multiple United States national academies.

Several Thurston Lectures have had a lasting scholarly influence. The 1950 lecture by Theodore von Kármán, "What Price Speed?", introduced the concept of specific power and the diagram now known as the Gabrielli–von Kármán diagram, comparing the efficiency of different modes of transport.

Society-level award (2001–present) Year Recipient 2025 Gang Bao 2024 Xin Zhang 2023 Ramamoorthy Ramesh 2022 Robert O. Ritchie 2021 M. Cynthia Hipwell 2020 Andrew Alleyne 2019 Yonggang Huang 2018 Guruswami Ravichandran 2017 Mohammed A. Zikry 2016 Romesh C. Batra 2015 Horacio D. Espinosa 2014 Ken P. Chong 2013 John A. Rogers 2012 Zhigang Suo 2011 Francis C. Moon 2010 Ares J. Rosakis 2009 Huajian Gao 2008 Vijay K. Dhir 2007 Wing Kam Liu 2006 Sia Nemat-Nasser 2005 Savio L-Y. Woo 2004 Bharat Bhushan 2003 Yogesh Jaluria 2002 Elias P. Gyftopoulos 2001 John W. Hutchinson

Division-level award (1969–2000) Year Recipient 2000 Duncan Dowson 1999 Adrian Bejan 1998 Van C. Mow 1997 Raymond Viskanta 1996 Don P. Giddens 1995 Paul Cooper 1994 Robert M. Nerem 1993 Chang-Lin Tien 1992 John H. Lienhard 1991 Frank Kreith 1990 Jack S. Kilby 1989 Stephen J. Kline 1988 Stephen H. Crandall 1987 Simon Ostrach 1986 Daniel C. Drucker 1985 Yuan-Cheng B. Fung 1984 Robert A. Frosch 1983 Ernst R. G. Eckert 1982 Hans M. Mark 1981 John Erik Jonsson 1980 Milton S. Plesset 1979 W. Dale Compton 1978 Allen F. Rhodes 1977 Robert C. Dean Jr. 1976 Chauncey Starr 1975 Myron Tribus 1974 Howard W. Emmons 1973 Henry M. Paynter 1972 George F. Carrier 1971 Milton C. Shaw 1970 Jacob P. Den Hartog 1969 Jakob Ackeret

Notable earlier awardees (1925-1969) Year Lecturer Lecture 1966 George R. Irwin "The Leading Edges of Fracture Mechanics" 1965 Hugh L. Dryden A lecture on how "the space program was already having an impact on engineering because of new requirements in weight, size, performance, and reliability under extreme environmental conditions." 1950 Theodore von Kármán "What Price Speed?" 1925 Zay Jeffries Inaugural lecture, "Engineering and Science"

See also List of engineering awards American Society of Mechanical Engineers#Awards

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