Actonian Prize facts for kids

The Actonian Prize was a special award given by the Royal Institution in London. It was created to celebrate the connection between science and the idea of a wise and good creator. For many years, it was a competition where people wrote essays about how different areas of science showed the "wisdom and goodness of the Almighty."

What Was the Actonian Prize?

The Actonian Prize was set up as an award given every seven years. It honored the best essay that showed how science revealed the wisdom and goodness of a higher power. The Royal Institution's managers would choose a specific area of science for the essays each time.

How the Prize Started

The prize began because of a generous gift from a woman named Hannah Acton. In 1838, she gave £1,000 to the Royal Institution. This gift was a way to remember her husband, Samuel Acton, who was an architect. The money from her gift was used to fund the prizes. It was specifically for essays that explored how science showed the goodness of the Almighty.

The Competition Process

When the prize was a competition, the Royal Institution would announce the subject for the essays. People who wanted to compete would write their essays and send them to the Royal Institution in London. A few months later, the managers of the Institution would judge the essays. They would then announce the winner.

Notable Winners of the Actonian Prize

The first Actonian Prize was a hundred guineas, which was a lot of money back then. It was awarded to George Fownes in 1844. He won for his essay titled Chemistry as Exemplifies the Wisdom and Beneficence of God. At that time, he taught chemistry at Middlesex Hospital.

Over the years, many other talented individuals received the prize:

• 1851: Thomas Wharton Jones won for his work on vision, titled With the Wisdom and Beneficence of The Almighty as displayed in The Sense of Vision.
• 1858: No prize was given this year. The topic was solar radiation, but no essay was good enough. The money was saved for a future award.
• 1865: George Warington received the prize for his essay on radiation.
• 1872: Two awards were given for essays on "The Theory of the Evolution of Living Things." One went to Rev. George Henslow, and the other to Benjamin Thompson Lowne.
• 1879: George Simonds Boulger won for his essay about the retina in animals and its connection to evolution.
• 1886: Sir George Gabriel Stokes, who was the president of the Royal Society, received the prize.
• 1893: Agnes Mary Clerke, a well-known astronomer, was a recipient.
• 1900: Sir William Huggins and Lady Huggins were honored for their book, Atlas of Representative Stellar Spectra.
• 1907: The famous scientist Marie Curie won for her research on radioactive substances.
• 1921: George Ellery Hale was recognized for his important work on solar phenomena.
• 1928: Archibald Vivian Hill received the award.
• 1935: William T. Astbury from the University of Leeds was a winner.
• 1949: Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, also received the prize, which was still 100 guineas.
• 1977: Ralph Louis Wain was among the later recipients.

The Prize Today

Today, the Actonian Prize is no longer a competition where people submit essays. Instead, the Royal Institution now gives the prize to a special invited lecturer. This means it's an honor given to someone who has already done great work in science, rather than a contest.

Related links

• Actonian Prize competition announcement in the journal Nature (1871)
• Review of Lowne's essay in The Popular Science Review (1873)