Save the Date!
2025 Franklin Institute Awards Week: April 28 to May 2
2025 Franklin Institute Awards Ceremony and Dinner: May 1
Since 1824, The Franklin Institute of Philadelphia has honored the legacy of Benjamin Franklin by presenting awards for outstanding achievements in science, engineering, and industry.
As the oldest comprehensive science and technology awards program in the United States, The Franklin Institute Awards Program has recognized more than 2,000 of the most pioneering scientists, engineers, inventors, and innovators from across the globe.
Its history documents the course of human discovery and advancement through the past two centuries—from the diesel engine to the Mars rover, from the typewriter to the cell phone, and from x-ray technology to genome editing. Previous laureates include Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Pierre and Marie Curie, Max Planck, Orville Wright, Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ruth Patrick, Jacques Cousteau, Stephen Hawking, Martin Rees, Gordon Moore, Shuji Nakamura, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Blackburn, Bill Gates, Jim West and Gerhard Sessler, Cornelia Bargmann, John Goodenough, Jim Allison, and Frances Arnold.
The Franklin Institute Awards presents the Benjamin Franklin Medals, the Benjamin Franklin NextGen Award, the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science, and the Bower Award for Business Leadership.
Franklin Institute Awards Ceremony & Dinner
Save the date for next year’s Awards Ceremony & Dinner: Thursday, May 1, 2025.
Call for Nominations
The Franklin Institute is currently accepting nominations for the Benjamin Franklin Medals, the Benjamin Franklin NextGen Award, the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science, and the Bower Award for Business Leadership.
Case Files
A Unique Repository in the History of Science and Technology. As the documentary record of The Franklin Institute Awards program, the Case Files are filled with stories of scientific enterprise dating back to 1824, when the Institute was founded to train artisans and mechanics in the fundamentals of science.
2024 Franklin Institute Awards
Celebrating its 200th year, The Franklin Institute Awards paid tribute to our namesake and America’s first citizen scientist, Benjamin Franklin, by honoring the greatest minds in science, engineering, and industry during our Bicentennial Awards Week from April 15-19, 2024. Through their boundless creativity and passion for discovery, the 2024 laureates have seen the previously invisible, pushed the limits of nature’s toolkit, and dreamed up solutions to global challenges—advancing health, sustainability, and human connection. Beyond their remarkable achievements, they are mentors and role models, guiding the next generation of trailblazers and creating a better future for us all.
Learn more about the 2024 Laureates here.
Awards Videos
View each year’s Franklin Institute Awards Ceremony and learn about the laureates and their incredible work. Videos are presented in collections by year.
2024 2023 2022 2021 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
Looking for a specific laureate or subject? Check out the laureate search. Video profiles can be found on each laureate’s bio page.