Executive Order 10910—Providing for the Design and Award of the National Medal of Science

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the act of August 25, 1959, entitled "An Act To Establish a National Medal of Science To Provide Recognition for Individuals Who Make Outstanding Contributions in the Physical, Biological, Mathematical, and Engineering Sciences" (73 Stat. 431), and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows:

SECTION 1. Specifications of Medal. Consonant with recommendations submitted by the National Science Foundation pursuant to the first section of the said act of August 25, 1959, the National Medal of Science established by that act, hereinafter referred to as the Medal, shall be of bronze, shall be of the design hereto attached, which is hereby made a part of this order, and shall have suitable accompanying appurtenances. Each medal shall be suitably inscribed. Each individual awarded the Medal shall also receive a citation, on parchment, descriptive of the award.

SEC. 2. Award of Medal. (a) The President shall award the Medal on the basis of recommendations received by him in accordance with the provisions of this order to individuals who in his judgment are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences.

(b) In addition to the criterion stated in section 2(a) of this order, the following shall govern the award of the Medal:

(1) Not more than twenty individuals may be awarded the Medal in any one calendar year.

(2) No individual may be awarded the Medal unless at the time such award is made he

(i) is a citizen or other national of the United States; or

(ii) is an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence who (A) has filed a petition for naturalization in the manner prescribed by section 334(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and (B) is not permanently ineligible to become a citizen of the United States.

(3) The Medal may be awarded post-humously, the provisions of paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of this section not-withstanding. The Medal shall be so awarded only to an individual who at the time of his death met the conditions set forth in item (i) or item (ii) of that paragraph and not later than the fifth anniversary of the day of his death.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE,

January 17, 1961.

The medal is struck in Bronze 31/4" over all. Its obverse side has the figure of a man holding a crystal in his left hand as he writes an equation in the sand on which he kneels. Behind him is the sea and there is a star above his shoulder.

Man is portrayed against the background of earth, sea, and heavens.

The inscription of National Medal of Science is around the upper portion of the perimeter of the medal.