Medals relating to Science

The medal's obverse bears alchemist seated in recliner with large tome, manuscripts and alchemical apparatus scattered about him. Around bottom, SEARCH FOR THE ALCHEMICAL FORMULA

The reverse bears Fisher Scientific logo with f in circle and rays radiating from it. Across, Serving Science and Health / Through the Laboratory / FisherScientific

Fisher Scientific was founded in Pittsburgh in 1902 by Chester Garfield Fisher, when he was only 20. His company was the first commercial source of equipment and reagents for the laboratories of western Pennsylvania's booming factories, as America became an industrial nation.

The circular medal measures 76.2mm in diameter and was struck in bronze by the Medallic Art Company of Danbury, Connecticut. No mintage is reported.

The medal's obverse bears heads of female figure at left and male figure at right, female figure's hair extending down left edge and up between figures. Around, L'ERE DE L'INFORMATION - THE INFORMATION AGE; across, MONTRÉAL / 1992; signed at lower left, Hunt

The reverse bears legend, XIIe CONGRESS INTERNATIONAL / DES ARCHIVES / XIIth INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS / ON ARCHIVES / MONTREAL / 1992

The International Council on Archives was established around 1940 to promote cooperation amongst the national archival communities to develop better archival policies, procedures, and services to meet the challenges of an ever-changing society. Congresses are held every four years when delegates from all over the world meet to discuss topics of current concern. The XIIth meeting was held from the 7-11 September 1992 in Montreal, Canada. The theme of the congress was "The Profession of the Archivist in the Information Age".

The circular medal measures 50mm in diameter and was struck in bronze by the Lombardo Mint. No mintage is reported.

The medal's obverse bears planet Earth with two oversized people on surface before spectacular sun and space-scape with satellite and swirling galaxy. IBM logo at top and bold 2000 across Earth. Around, THE NEW MILLENIUM / LOOKING BEYOND THE Y2K CHALLENGE

The reverse bears IBM logo over TWO THOUSAND THANKS / FOR MAKING Y2K / "THE NON-EVENT"

For the benfit of those who were too young in 2000. The Y2K crisis was probably the first global computer panic.  In the early days of the information economy computer memory and storage were really expensive and programmers had saved spaec by storing dates with two-digit years, for example "99" instead of "1999". They realized that this would cause problems in software that would misinterpret the year "00" as 1900 instead of 2000. 

For many years leading up to the year 2000, media were full of possible horror scenarios, including nuclear meltdowns, satellites and planes falling out of the sky, supply chains collapsing.  The large software companies and tens of thousands of contractors combed through old software to proactively deal with the problem. As the big date change arrived, the world held its breath... and nothing happened. 

We will probably never know how big an issue it would have been withiout all the work that was done and the money that was spent preparing.

The circular medal measures 76.2mm in diameter and was struck in bronze. No mintage is reported but if it was handed to all IBM consultants working on Y2K problems it must be in the tens of thousands.

The medallion's obverse bears portrait of Helmholtz, facing right, squinting through an optical instrument. Around top right, HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ; signed at lower left, DAUB

The reverse show optical diagram of object, lenses and observer's eye to left.

Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) was a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions in several scientific fields.

In physiology and psychology, he is known for his mathematics of the eye, theories of vision, ideas on the visual perception of space, color vision research, and on the sensation of tone, perception of sound, and empiricism in the physiology of perception.

In physics, he is known for his theories on the conservation of energy, work in electrodynamics, chemical thermodynamics, and on a mechanical foundation of thermodynamics.

As a philosopher, he is known for his philosophy of science, ideas on the relation between the laws of perception and the laws of nature, the science of aesthetics, and ideas on the civilizing power of science.

The circular medallion measures 98mm in diameter and was cast in bronze. No mintage is reported.