Delivered by President Lahey May 29, 2025
The King’s Medal is awarded to the graduating student who stands highest in an honours program in an arts or science subject.
The winner of the King’s Medal for 2025 is Eleanor Friddell.
Eleanor has graduated with a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in Mathematics and Classics with a Minor in History of Science and Technology.
Eleanor is an extraordinary scholar. Her academic record is one of exemplary outstanding achievement and interdisciplinary breadth. Her studies showcase how the seemingly distant worlds of abstract science and ancient languages can be meaningfully bridged, as such, in the uniquely King’s tradition to astonishing success
Eleanor’s instructors tell us that she is brilliant hardworking and engaged. For her honours thesis in mathematics, Eleanor studied visualization methods in group theory for which she surveyed two-dimensional visualization techniques and developed new work 3D printing three-dimensional visualization. This ambitious project highlighted Eleanor’s polymathic skills, mixing the realms of abstract mathematics, sociology of science, engineering and visual art. Eleanor’s honors supervisor remarks that her work was truly excellent and publication worthy and that he had the distinct pleasure of learning from Eleanor about these topics as much as she learned from him.
Alongside her rigorous studies in math, Eleanor distinguished herself in the humanities through her pursuit of classics and the history of science and technology. Her humanities work has been both innovative and thought-provoking, spanning an impressive range of topics from brutalist architecture to contemporary science fiction.
What sets her writing apart is not only her rare talent for weaving insights from multiple disciplines, but also her distinctive, engaging and crip authorial voice.
Notably, her instructors highlight that she is one of the strongest Greek students that the department has graduated. Her passion for the language and deep engagement with texts, such as those of Homer in the original Greek, led her to be awarded a scholarship prize for highest achievement in ancient Greek at the advanced level.
Likewise Eleanor has been the recipient of many scholastic awards and accolades including the Dalhousie Classics Hambrick prize in Greek in 2022, the Katherine M. Buttenshaw Prize in Mathematics in 2023 and the University of Kings College History of Science and Technology essay prize in science fiction in film in 2023. And I’m told that’s to name a few.
In summer 2024, she was awarded an undergraduate student research award by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and later in October 2024 she presented that work at the Science Atlantic Undergraduate Conference in Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science where, of course, she won the undergraduate research award for her presentation.
Eleanor’s demonstrable passion for the intersection of the arts and sciences, science communication and the inclusion of women in STEM, along with her fierce curiosity and grit, truly embodies what it means to be a King’s student and a member of the King’s community.
We know that this significant achievement is only a mere glimpse into the wonderful things that Eleanor will continue to achieve in her future. In the fall, Eleanor will be joining our colleagues at Dalhousie at the Institute of Human Development in a role in project management and communications. We know they are lucky to have you there.
Today we are delighted to celebrate Eleanor’s great contribution to King’s, to the arts and to sciences and more. It gives me great pleasure to present the King’s Medal to Eleanor Friddell.