Madison, James, Medal

Madison, James, Medal is awarded annually to a Graduate School alumnus who has attained distinction in his professional career, in the advancement of higher education, or in public service. It is named for the fourth president of the United States who, after receiving his bachelor's degree from the College in 1771, remained here another year to continue his studies under President Witherspoon. Madison Medalists have included John Bardeen Ph.D. '36, twice a Nobel laureate in physics; Thornton Wilder, A.M. '26, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright; William O. Baker Ph.D. '39, president, Bell Telephone Laboratories; General Andrew J. Goodpaster Ph.D. '50, Supreme Commander of NATO 1969-1974; John Willard Milnor '51, Ph.D. '54, mathematics professor in the University and later at the Institute for Advanced Study.

From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).