Bridgman Gets Comstock Prize at Academy Dinner

At the fall dinner of the National Academy of Sciences, held last night in Lowell House, the Comstock Prize, given every five years to a man who has done outstanding work in the field of Physics, was awarded to Professor Percy W. Bridgman '04, Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.

As distinguished scientists from all over the country looked on, Dr. Max Mason, president of the Rockefeller Foundation and chairman of the Comstock Fund Committee, presented Professor Bridgman with a gift of $2,500, given as a recognition of his investigations into the electrical constitution of matter. The prize is awarded "for the most important discovery or investigation in electricity, magnetism, or radiant energy, or to aid investigation in these fields."

In awarding the prize, Dr. Mason lauded Professor Bridgman as a man who has served the broad field of science in a most significant way. Referring to Professor Bridgman's scientific and philosophical writings, Dr. Mason stated that "such contributions could be made only by the rare person who is at the same time a gifted experimenter, an able theorist, and a sensible man."