John Scott Medal

John Scott Award, created in 1816 as the John Scott Legacy Medal and Premium, is presented to men and women whose inventions improved the "comfort, welfare, and happiness of human kind" in a significant way. Since 1919 the Board of Directors of City Trusts of Philadelphia provide this award, recommended by an advisory committee.

In 1822 the first awards were given to thirteen people by the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture entrusted by the "Corporation of the city of Philadelphia".

The druggist John Scott of Edinburgh organized a $4,000 fund which, after his death in 1815 was administered by a merchant until the first award, a copper medal and "an amount not to exceed twenty dollars", was given in 1822. (At the time, $20 could buy one ox or a 12-volume encyclopedia.) Several hundred recipients have since been selected by the City Council of Philadelphia, which decides from the annual list of nominees made by the Franklin Institute.

Notable recipients
Most awards have been given for inventions in science and medicine. Notable recipients include:
 * Luis W. Alvarez
 * Frederick G. Banting
 * John Bardeen
 * James Black
 * William T. Bovie
 * Ralph L. Brinster
 * Marie Curie
 * William Duane
 * Thomas Edison
 * Alexander Fleming
 * Peter Koch
 * Irving Langmuir
 * Edwin Land
 * Christian J. Lambertsen
 * Luther D. Lovekin
 * Benoît Mandelbrot
 * Guglielmo Marconi
 * Edgar Sharp McFadden
 * Humberto Fernandez Moran
 * Kary B. Mullis
 * Jonas Salk
 * Glenn Seaborg
 * Richard E. Smalley
 * Nikola Tesla
 * Wright brothers
 * Robert Burns Woodward
 * David Gestetner