The prestigious John Ericsson Medal is awarded to the best students in each educational area with a degree in Engineering or Architecture from Chalmers in the year preceding the awarding of the medal. The winners will receive a solid silver medal with their name engraved on it, a diploma and a book about John Ericsson at a ceremony in the “Chalmerska Huset” (William Chalmers’ House).
John Ericsson medalists 2025
During a ceremony at Chalmersska huset on 14 May, Jörgen Blennow, Vice President for Education and Lifelong Learning, awarded five out of this year's six John Ericsson Medals. The medalists for 2025 are presented below.
Background to the John Ericsson Medal
John Ericsson was born in Värmland in 1803 and began working as an engineering apprentice on the construction of the Göta Canal when he was 13 years old. At the age of 24, he settled in England and then in the United States, where he remained until his death in 1889. During the years he spent in England and the United States, John Ericsson achieved enormous success as an inventor. Some of his most famous inventions include a tube steam boiler used on the Novelty locomotive, a propeller and the warship Monitor.
The medal was established in memory of John Ericsson in 1897 through a collection of SEK 4,317. The initiative was taken by Chalmers student Claes Adolf Adelsköld. Most of the proceeds were to be used for scholarships and “a small proportion for medals with John Ericsson's image on them, to be awarded at graduation to ‘deserving pupils of the educational institution.