Peter Harding (Metallurgy ’47) was a great inspiration to generations of RSM students. A working group was established in 2006 under Kurt Budge’s leadership to consider ways of honouring Peter’s memory recognising and honouring the commitment and outstanding contribution that Peter made over many decades to the Royal School of Mines and Imperial College communities as a student and an alumnus. It was agreed that a pewter tankard be acquired and kept in the Union bar, and a lunch event be organised; the main thrust, however, was to be the award annually of a silver medal.
The medal proposal was registered with The Senate under the title of The Peter Harding Memorial Prize. It was to comprise a silver medal and a cheque for £150, and was to be awarded to someone who had demonstrated a sustained commitment and outstanding contribution to the RSM, Faculty of Engineering or ImperialCollege communities. An endowment of £5000 was proposed to fund the Prize and something over £3000 was raised; the balance was donated by the Trust to make the Prize fully funded.
The first award was made for 2007 to Dr John Bramley. Several of the subsequent recipients were resident overseas and partly for this reason it was agreed in 2012 that the cash element of the Prize be discontinued with effect from 2013. In 2023 the Medal was replaced by an RSM Shield engraved with the winners name.
The prize has been awarded as follows:
2007 Dr John Bramley
2008 Bill Harman (posthumous)
2009 Prof John Monhemius
2010 Giles Baynham (Canada)
2011 Alan Dickson (Australia)
2012 Ron Butler (Australia)
2013 Harry Burgess (Canada)
2014 Glynne Lloyd-Davis
2015 Dr Teresa J Sergot
2016 Paul Holmes
2017 Lorraine Craig
2018 Prof Rees Rawlings
2019 John O’Reilly
2020 Fiona Cassidy
2021 Not awarded
2022 Not awarded
2023 Tim Cotton and David Bishop
Suggestions for the award should be made by the end of March to rsma@imperial.ac.uk