Lord Dainton, the Chancellor of the University of Sheffield commissioned a special silver medal, to be given annually at the University awards ceremony. I had quite a few meetings to discuss the design and he showed his own personal medal awards collection to understand the qualities he was looking for. My design sought to represent the centre or the core of research or endeavour.

The quotation written on the university coat of arms is as follows

“Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas” is verse 490 of Book 2 of the "Georgics", by the Latin poet Virgil. It is literally translated as: “Fortunate, who was able to know the causes of things”.

Dryden translated it as: "Happy the Man, who, studying Nature's Laws, Through known Effects can trace the secret Cause".

Lord Dainton met me while I was exhibiting at The Goldsmiths Fair one year and told me he had donated one of the medals to the Goldsmiths Hall collection, you can imagine that I was delighted.

Helen Sharman the first UK astronaut was the first recipient.