Edwin Howard Armstrong - Honors

Honors

In 1917 Armstrong was the first recipient of the IRE's, now IEEE Medal of Honor. For his wartime work on radio the French government gave him the Legion of Honor in 1919. He was awarded the 1941 Franklin Medal. He received in 1942 the AIEEs Edison Medal "for distinguished contributions to the art of electric communication, notably the regenerative circuit, the superheterodyne, and frequency modulation". The ITU added him to its roster of great inventors of electricity in 1955. In 1980 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and was on a U.S. postage stamp in 1983. The Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame inducted him in 2000, "in recognition of his contributions and pioneering spirit that have laid the foundation for consumer electronics."

Philosophy Hall, the Columbia building where Armstrong developed FM, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2003 in recognition of that fact. Armstrong's home in Yonkers also received designation in both the NHL and the National Register of Historic Places, but both were withdrawn when the house was later demolished.

Armstrong Hall at Columbia is also named in his honor. The building, at the northeast corner of Broadway and 112th Street, was originally an apartment house but was converted to research space after Columbia bought it. It is now home to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a research institute jointly operated by Columbia and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration dedicated to atmospheric and climate science. A storefront in the corner of the building houses Tom's Restaurant, a longtime neighborhood fixture that was featured as the fictional diner "Monk's" for establishing shots in the television series "Seinfeld". The same restaurant also inspired Susanne Vega's song "Tom's Diner".

In addition, Columbia established the Edwin Howard Armstrong Professorship in Computer Science in Armstrong's memory.

Also, the United States Army Communications and Electronics Life Cycle Management Command (CECOM-LCMC) Headquarters at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland is named Armstrong Hall in his honor.