Institute of Refrigeration Gold Medal 2011

The Institute of Refrigeration (IOR, UK) awarded its annual J&E Hall Gold Medal at the Institute’s annual dinner in London on Thursday, February 10th, 2011.  The Institute awards this gold medal annually to an individual who has made the most noteworthy practical contribution to advance refrigeration and air conditioning technology.  The refrigeration company J and E Hall International has been sponsor of this international award for 32 years.  In some of the past years, contributors to superconductivity-related cryocooling were recognized.  This was not the case in 2011.  The medal went to Professor Donald Cleland, Head, School of Engineering and Advanced Technology of Massey University, New Zealand.  His original contributions include “predicting the effect of shape on rates of food heating and cooling; determining moisture sorption characteristics of food packaging, measuring air infiltration into refrigerated spaces and quantifying latent heat loads in refrigerated facilities” (excerpt from the IOR citation).

Contributions to cryocooling of superconducting devices and systems should be nominated for 2012.