Frank Rhodes, President of the American Philosophical Society, Presents the Benjamin Franklin Medal [0:06:10] Three days after his death at the age of 98, Hans Bethe, one of the most honored scientists ever to grace Cornell, received a final tribute -- the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the American Philosophical Society (APS). "It is a day of sadness, but it is also a day of pride," said Rhodes, the APS president, in making the award.