Rules for the Balthasar Van der Pol and John Howard Dellinger Gold Medals
  1. The Balthasar van der Pol and the John Howard Dellinger Gold Medals honour the memory of two scientists who were closely associated with URSI for many years. The awards are made normally at intervals of three years on the occasion of the General Assembly of URSI. If the interval between two General Assemblies is either considerably greater or considerably less than three years, the Board of Officers is authorized to modify the date on which the next Medals will be awarded, the period referred to in Art. 2, and the dates referred to in Arts. 3 and 4.
  2. The Medals are awarded to outstanding scientists whose achievements in any of the branches of science covered by the Commissions of URSI have been particularly valuable. No member of the URSI Board of Officers shall be eligible. The award is for career achievements of the candidate with evidence of significant contributions within the most recent six-year period.
  3. The names of not more than two candidates may be submitted by any Member Committee of URSI, URSI Commission Chair or Vice-Chair, or former laureate of any URSI award. The names of the candidates must be received by the Secretary General of URSI not later than 15 August of the year preceding that of the General Assembly at which the award is to be made.
  4. The name of each candidate must be accompanied by a nomination form (supplied by the URSI Secretary General) providing information on, inter alia :
    1. a general summary of the candidate’s career and scientific activities;
    2. a review of the candidate’s recent achievements, including references to the most important papers of which the candidate is the sole or a joint author published during the six-year period referred to in Article 2;
    3. an outline of the reasons for the nomination of the candidate.
  5. As soon as possible after 15 August, copies of the nomination forms referred to in Article 4 shall be sent to the Awards Advisory Panel by the Secretary General. The members of the Awards Advisory Panel shall be determined by the President or Past President of URSI, in consultation with the Board of Officers. The Panel is authorized, when necessary, to consult non-members regarding the merits of the candidates before submitting its own considered views to the Board of Officers not later than 1 March of the year of the General Assembly.
  6. The Board of Officers has full authority to select the candidates to whom the awards will be made. In doing so it will take into account the information provided by the proposers of the candidates and also the views expressed by the Awards Advisory Panel. The Board of Officers will bear in mind that it is desirable to make the awards to candidates working in different branches of radio science, and that the J.H. Dellinger Gold Medal should be awarded preferably for work in the field of radio wave propagation.
  7. The Board of Officers has full authority to withhold one or both awards if, in the opinion of the members, there is an insufficient number of qualified candidates.