MANY honours came to Jeans. The Merchant Taylors' Company admitted him to the Honorary Freedom of the Company—a rare distinction—and he received honorary degrees from many universities, including those of Oxford, Manchester, Dublin, Benares, St Andrews, Aberdeen, Johns Hopkins and Calcutta; but no award gave him greater pleasure than that of the Franklin Medal by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia in 1931. On 24 February of that year he wrote to G. E. Hale:

At last, to my great pleasure, I find it is possible to visit Mount Wilson, as far as I can tell in the first fortnight in May. I am writing at once to enquire whether there is any prospect of seeing you at that time in Pasadena, or if you will not be there, where you are likely to be. You have probably seen in the newspapers that the Franklin Institute have been good enough to award me their Medal, and I am crossing to receive it on May 20th. I shall leave here as soon as Olivia returns to College, which I think is the 17th April, and shall come almost directly to the Observatory.

I much hope it may be possible to see you somehow or other. My wife joins me in sincerest good wishes to Mrs Hale and yourself. We both hope your health is much better.

Hale, in reply, expressed his delight that the Franklin Institute had voted their highest distinction to Jeans and went on:

Adams and Millikan, who are arranging for the coming meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Pasadena, have cabled to ask if you can come after instead of before the Franklin Institute presentation, so as to be the principal speaker during the sessions, which extend from June 15 to June 20. Although I still have to avoid all scientific and social functions (thereby missing the many opportunities afforded by Einstein's visit), I sincerely hope you can accept this invitation, as they naturally wish to make this first meeting of the whole Association in the West as successful as possible.