2 THE RUMFORD FUND 



Rumford, after the New Hampshire town from which 

 the family of his wife had come. 



In 1799 he returned to England, and soon after pro- 

 jected the Royal Institution of Great Britain. He 

 went to France in 1804, subsequently married the 

 widow of Lavoisier, and died in 1814. By a bequest 

 in his will he founded the Rumford Professorship of 

 the Application of Science to the Useful Arts in Har- 

 vard University. 



The Rumford Fund had its origin in the gift by 

 Count Rumford to the American Academy of Arts 

 and Sciences of the sum of $5000 ; which was simul- 

 taneous with the gift of a like sum, 1000, to the 

 Royal Society of Great Britain. The purpose of the 

 fund was the same in each case, the award of a suitable 

 premium for discoveries or improvements in Heat and 

 Light. 



The intention of the donor was announced to the 

 Academy in the following letter : 



LONDON, July 12, 1796. 



To the Hon. JOHN ADAMS, President of the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences. 



SIR, Desirous of contributing efficaciously to the advancement 

 of a branch of science which has long employed my attention, and 

 which appears to me to be of the highest importance to mankind, 

 and wishing at the same time to leave a lasting testimony of rny 

 respect for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, I take 

 the liberty to request that the Academy would do me the honour to 

 accept of Five Thousand Dollars, three per cent stock in the funds of 

 the United States of North America, which Stock I have actually 



