Additions to membership since last report, 5. The Chairman announced that the business of the meeting would be the annual presentation of the Franklin Medal, the Institute's highest award, in recognition of distinguished scientific and technical achievements, and called upon Dr. Harry F. Keller, who gave an account of the work of Dr. Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, of the University of Leiden, recently recommended by the Institute's Committee on Science and the Arts for the Franklin Medal in recognition of " His researches which have so largely contributed to laying on a new foundation our knowledge of the nature of light and in developing our ideas concerning the ultimate constitution of matter." Doctor Keller then presented His Excellency, Chevalier W. L. F. C. van Rappard, Ambassador of the Royal Netherlands Government to the United States, who received the medal for Doctor Lorentz, and conveyed the thanks of his Government and of the recipient for the honor conferred upon him.
Doctor Keller then introduced Admiral David Watson Taylor, U. S. Navy, who had also been recommended for the award of the Franklin Medal in recognition of " His fundamental contributions to the theory of ship resistance and screw propulsion, and of his signal success in the application of correct theory to the practical design of varied types of war vessels in the United States Navy."
The Chairman presented the medal to Admiral Taylor, who expressed his thanks /or the honor conferred upon him and then read his paper on "The Science of Naval Architecture." He gave an outline of the progress in ship design and shipbuilding, and pointed out the dependence of naval architecture on the various other sciences, including mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics, physiology, medicine, and hygiene. Reference was made to the increase in the size of ships, their strength and stability, and consideration was also given to the question of resistance and the results of experiments conducted in the model basin.