Awards and Honors
Throughout his distinguished career, Timoshenko was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and honors, a testament to his significant contributions to the field, as detailed by Eugene A. Vetchorine in the foreword to "As I Remember." His academic and professional achievements were recognized worldwide, beginning with his election to several esteemed academies, including the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev (1918), the Russian Academy of Sciences in Leningrad-Petersburg (1928), the Polish Academy of Technical Sciences in Warsaw (1935), the French Academy of Sciences in Paris (1939), the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. (1940), the Royal Society in London (1944), and the Italian Academy of Sciences in Rome (1948).
Photo: Stephen Timoshenko (2nd from left) at an ASME meeting, in New York City- The American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Photograph of Stephen Timoshenko's statue in Kiev, Ukraine.
From left to right (below):
- Academy of Sciences in Kiev Certificate for S. P. Timoshenko
- Academy of Technical Sciences in Warsaw Member Appointment Letter
- AIAA Fellow Appointment Letter
- American Philosophical Society Certificate
- ASME Certificate of Honorary Member
- ASME Fellow Appointment Letter
- California Academy of Sciences Fellow Appointment Letter
- French Academy of Sciences Fellow Appointment Letter
- French Ministry of Education Academy Officer Appointment Letter
- Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences Certificate of Membership
- International Astronautica Academia Confirmation Letter
- International Academy of Astronautics Letter on the Rosette of the Academy
- Society of Automotive Engineers Certificate
- Society of Ukrainian Engineers in America Honorary Fellowship Appointment Letter
- Society of the Sigma Xi Membership Diploma
- St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute Congratulatory Letter
Honorary Degree from University of Michigan.
Honorary Degree from University of Bologna
Lehigh University Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science
His accolades began with the Jourowski Medal and Prize in 1911 for his groundbreaking work on elastic stability, followed by the Salov Prize in Russia in 1945 for his insightful article on "Stresses in Rail Type Tracks." In the United States, his contributions were recognized with several awards including the Worcester Reed Warner Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1935, the Lamme Medal from the American Society of Engineering Education in 1939, the Levy Medal in 1944 and the Cresson Medal in 1958, both from the Franklin Institute, as well as the Grande Médaille from the Association des Ingenieurs-Docteurs in France. He also received the prestigious James Watts International Medal from the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Trasenter Medal from the Association des Ingénieurs Sortis de l'Ecole de Liège in Belgium in the same year.
Highlighting his enduring legacy, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers established the Timoshenko Medal in his honor in 1957, making him its first recipient. Furthermore, the British Institution of Civil Engineers awarded him the James Ewing Medal in 1963, acknowledging his lifetime of exceptional contributions to engineering and mechanics.
Elliot Cresson Medal from the Franklin Institute
Worcester Reed Warner Medal certificate
Second scan in this PDF shows a 1992 letter from Ukraine to Gregory Timoshenko about a project to make a film about Stephen Timoshenko. Not coincidentally, this was just after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. On December 1, 1991, Ukrainians voted "Yes" to their Independence Declaration and to secede from the 'Soviet Union'.
Source: National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs, photographs obtained from SPT's family.