Frederick Seitz - Awards and Recognition

Awards and Recognition

Seitz was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1952, serving as its President from 1962 to 1969. He received the Franklin Medal (1965). In 1973 he was awarded the National Medal of Science "for his contributions to the modern quantum theory of the solid state of matter." He also received the United States Department of Defense Distinguished Service Award; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Distinguished Public Service Award; and the Compton Award, the highest honor of the American Institute of Physics. In addition to Rockefeller University, 31 universities in the US and abroad awarded Seitz honorary degrees. He was also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Seitz served on a range of boards of charitable institutions, including (as chair) John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1976 - 1983) and Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and (as trustee) American Museum of Natural History (from 1975) and Institute of International Education. He was also a board member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Other appointments to a range of national and international agencies included serving on the Defense Science Board and serving as chair of the US delegation to the United Nations Committee on Science and Technology. He also served on the board of trustees of Science Service, now known as Society for Science & the Public, from 1971-1974.