ANNALS OF THE ACADEMY 55 



International Commission for the Establishment of Electrical 

 Units." '' 



The international conference opened in Paris on October i6, 

 1882, but the delegates of the United States were not able to 

 attend until the second meeting which was held on October 26, 

 1882." 



The work of this session was chiefly preliminary. The dele- 

 gates were not present at the second session, which was held in 

 1884, the United States being represented by Mr. Vignaud, sec- 

 retary of the American Legation, who presented several com- 

 munications on their behalf.^'* At this conference the " legal," 

 or " congress " ohm, ampere, and volt were established. 



1883-1887 



Dr. Henry Draper, an astronomer of note, and a member of 

 the National Academy, died on November 20, 1882. At the 

 spring session of the following year the President announced 

 that Mrs. Mary Anna Palmer Draper, his widow, had presented 

 to the Academy the sum of $6000 for the purpose of establishing 

 a gold medal to be called the " Henry Draper Medal," and to 

 be awarded to " any person in the United States of America or 

 elsewhere who shall make an original investigation in Astro- 

 nomical Physics, the results of which shall be made known to the 

 public, such results being, in the opinion of the said National 

 Academy of Sciences, of sufficient importance and benefit to 

 science to merit such recognition." 



The first Henry Draper Medal was awarded in 1885 to Pro- 

 fessor S. P. Langley. In making this award the committee 

 remarked, " The committee bases this recommendation upon the 

 numerous investigations of a high order of merit which have 

 been made by Professor Langley within the past few years in 

 solar, physics, and especially in the domain of radiant energy." 



'"Stat, at Large, vol. 22, 1883, P- 302, 47th Congress, ist Session, chap. 433. 



" Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres. Conference Internationale pour la Determination des 

 Unite Electriques. 16 Octobre, 26 Octobre, 1882. Proces-verbaux. Paris, 1882, pp. 

 8, 154. 



''Idem, 2d Session, 1884, pp. 6, 13, 37, 67, So. 



