thumb|260px|[[Albert Einstein in his later years.]]

The Albert Einstein Award was an award in theoretical physics, given periodically from 1951 to 1979, that was established to recognize high achievement in the natural sciences. It was endowed by the Lewis and Rosa Strauss Memorial Fund in honor of Albert Einstein's 70th birthday. it also included a prize money of $15,000,) of the Institute for Advanced Study, which administered the award. Lewis L. Strauss used to be one of the trustees of the institute.

This award should not be confused with many others named after the famous physicist, such as the Albert Einstein World Award of Science given by the World Cultural Council (since 1984), the Albert Einstein Medal given by the Albert Einstein Society (since 1979), nor with the Hans Albert Einstein Award, named after his son and given by the American Society of Civil Engineers (since 1988). It was established much earlier than these, while Einstein was still alive and was a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, and John Archibald Wheeler had considered it to be under copyright in 1970. Around the same time, it was described as "the highest of its kind in the United States" by The New York Times. Some considered it as "the prestigious equivalent of a Nobel Prize".

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! scope="row" | 1954

| 75px|alt=Picture of Richard Feynman

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! scope="row" | 1959

| 75px|alt=Picture of Willard Libby in 1974

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! scope="row" | 1960

| 75px|alt=Picture of Leo Szilard circa 1960

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! scope="row" | 1961

| 75px|alt=Picture of Luis Alvarez in April 1969

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! scope="row" | 1965

| 75px|alt=Picture of John Archibald Wheeler in 1985

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! scope="row" | 1967

| 75px|alt=Picture of Marshall Rosenbluth in 1994

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! scope="row" | 1970

| 75px|alt=Picture of Yuval Ne'eman in 1950

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! scope="row" | 1972

| 75px|alt=Picture of Eugene Wigner in 1963

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! scope="row" | 1978

| 75px|alt=Picture of Stephen Hawking circa 1980

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! scope="row" | 1979

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See also

  • List of physics awards
  • List of awards named after people

Notes

References

  • Information on the Albert Einstein Award from the Jewish-American Hall of Fame
  • Information about and photos of the medal awarded to Kurt Godel on the website of the Institute for Advanced Study, last accessed 2020-04-18.