808 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 856 



CONCLUSIONS 



After this recital, a long commentary 

 woiald be useless. We see how great has 

 been the variety of Hilbert 's researches, the 

 importance of the problems he has at- 

 tacked. We shall signalize the elegance 

 and the simplicity of the methods, the 

 clearness of the exposition, the solicitude 

 for absolute rigor. In seeking to be per- 

 fectly rigorous one risks at times being 

 long, and this is not to buy too dear a cor- 

 rectness without which mathematics would 

 be nothing. But Hilbert has known how to 

 avoid the tedium of such diffuseness for his 

 readers in never letting them lose from 

 view the guiding thread which has served 

 him to orient himself. We always easily 

 see by what chain of ideas he has been led 

 to set himself a problem and find its solu- 

 tion. 



We realize that, more analyst than geom- 

 eter in the ordinary sense of the word, 

 he nevertheless has seen at one view the 

 totality of his work before distinguishing 

 details and he knows how to give his reader 

 the advantage of this all-embracing vision. 



Hilbert has had a tremendous influence 

 upon the recent progress of the mathe- 

 matical sciences, not alone by his personal 

 work, but by his teaching, by the counsel 

 he has given to his scholars and which has 

 enabled them to contribute in their turn 

 to this development of our knowledge by 

 using the methods created by their master. 



There is no need, so it seems, to say more 

 in justification of the decision of the com- 

 mission which has unanimously awarded 

 to Hilbert the Bolyai prize for the period 

 1905-1909. M. PoiNCAKE 



TBE WILLABD GIBBS MEDAL 

 In the early part of 1909 Mr. William Con- 

 verse, of Chicago, proposed to the Chicago 

 Section of the American Chemical Society to 

 found a gold medal to be awarded annually by 



the Section. Mr. Converse stated that the ob- 

 ject of his proposition was to stimulate in- 

 terest in the work of the Section and of the 

 society at large and to encourage the highest 

 ideals of the science in their members. The 

 Section gladly welcomed and accepted the 

 offer made. It was proposed to name the 

 medal after the most eminent chemist Amer- 

 ica has given to the science, and the consent 

 of Mrs. Van Name, the surviving sister of 

 Willard Gibbs, having been secured, the medal 

 founded by Mr. Converse was named the Wil- 

 lard Gibbs Medal. After various plans had 

 been suggested and discussed, the Section de- 

 cided that the medal should be awarded an- 

 nually, by invitation, rather than by competi- 

 tion and the following rules were adopted for 

 the award. 



RULES FOR THE AWARD OF THE WILLABD GIBBS 

 MEDAL, FOUNDED BY WILLIAM A. CONVERSE 



1. A gold medal shall be awarded annually by 

 the Chicago Section of the American Chemical 

 Society at its May meeting, which meeting shall 

 be open to the public. 



The medal is to be known as the Willard Gibbs 

 Medal founded by William A. Converse. 



The award shall be made according to the rules 

 here set forth and made a part of the by-laws of 

 the Chicago Section. 



2. The award shall be made by a two-thirds 

 vote of a jury of twelve, to anybody who because 

 of his eminent work in and original contributions 

 to pure or applied chemistry, is deemed worthy of 

 special recognition by the jury. 



3. A condition of the award shall be that the 

 recipient of the medal shall deliver an address 

 upon a chemical subject of his own selection and 

 satisfactory to the jury at the May meeting of 

 the Chicago Section of the American Chemical 

 Society. He shall be notified of the award three 

 months in advance of this meeting by the chair- 

 man of the Chicago Section. 



4. The jury of the award, to be known as the 

 Jury of the Willard Gibbs Medal, shall consist of 

 twelve members, six of them to be members of the 

 Chicago Section. The chairman of the Chicago 

 Section shall be chairman of the jury, but shall 

 have no vote. 



5. Four members of the jury shall be elected 

 each year to serve three years, in the same manner 



