New York, (AP). Dr. Frederick G. Cottrell, whose research on an inexpensive process for recovering helium from oil well gases made possible its commercial use, Sunday was announced as the winner of the 1938 medal of the American Institute of Chemists.

Dr. Cottrell, a graduate of the University of California and a former head of the U.S. bureau of mines, was the inventor of the Cottrell precipitator which by electrostatic attraction cleans gases of fine particles of dust.