376 A HISTORY OF 



The medal was executed by Mr. Alan Wyon, the 

 well-known medallist, and bears on the obverse a pro- 

 file of Boyle taken from the bust in the possession of 

 Trinity College, Dublin, with the following inscrip- 

 tion, which the late Professor Tyrrell was good enough 

 to supply : — In Honorem Roberti Boyle et Augmentum 

 Scientiarum. Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. On 

 the reverse is a modification of the figure of Minerva 

 which was adopted as the seal of the Society, with 

 the inscription : — Regalis Societas Dublinensis condita A.S. 



MDCCXXXI. 



The medal has been awarded four times, and on 

 each occasion the report of the committee, setting forth 

 the grounds upon which the award was made, was pub- 

 lished in the Society's Scientific Proceedings. 



Dr. George Johnstone Stoney, f.r.s., was selected in 

 1899 as the first recipient of the medal, in recognition 

 of his many important contributions to science, especi- 

 ally in molecular physics and the kinetic theory of gases, 

 and of his great personal influence on scientific advance 

 in Ireland. 



A year later the medal was awarded to Professor 

 Thomas Preston, f.r.s., chiefly for the important 

 advances he had made in our knowledge of the 

 phenomena of radiation in a magnetic field, and the 

 publication of his well-known text-books, The Theory of 

 Light, The Theory of Heat, and Spherical Trigonometry. 



In 191 1, Professor John Joly, f.r.s., was selected 

 as the third recipient of the medal. In their report 

 recommending the award, the committee " direct 

 attention to the wide range of subjects covered by Dr. 

 Joly's researches, as well as the general excellence of 

 his work. His researches deal with various branches 

 of physics, geology, mineralogy, botany, and biological 

 theory ; and in several of these widely different subjects 



