Copley Medal

The Copley Medal is the most prestigious award of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, conferred "for sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science".<ref name="Copley_descr"/> The award alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences.<ref name="cop1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is arguably the highest British and Commonwealth award for scientific achievement,<ref name = "Guidance"/><ref name="Cahan">Template:Cite journal</ref> and has often been included among the most distinguished international scientific awards.<ref name="PNAS">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Given annually, the medal is the oldest Royal Society medal awarded and the oldest surviving scientific award in the world,<ref name="Copley_descr">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> having first been given in 1731 to Stephen Gray, for "his new Electrical Experiments: – as an encouragement to him for the readiness he has always shown in obliging the Society with his discoveries and improvements in this part of Natural Knowledge".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The medal is made of silver-gilt and awarded with a £25,000 prize.<ref name="cop1"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It is awarded to "senior scientists" irrespective of nationality, and nominations are considered over three nomination cycles. Since 2022, scientific teams or research groups are collectively eligible to receive the medal;<ref name="Copley_descr"/> that year, the research team which developed the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine became the first collective recipient. John Theophilus Desaguliers has won the medal the most often, winning three times, in 1734, 1736 and 1741. In 1976, Dorothy Hodgkin became the first female recipient; Jocelyn Bell Burnell, in 2021, became the second.

History

In 1709, Sir Godfrey Copley, the MP for Thirsk, bequeathed Abraham Hill and Hans Sloane £100 (roughly equivalent to £Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation-yearTemplate:Inflation-fn) to be held in trust for the Royal Society "for improving natural knowledge to be laid out in experiments or otherwise for the benefit thereof as they shall direct and appoint".<ref name="Copley_establishment"/> After the legacy had been received the following year, the interest of £5 was duly used to provide recurring grants for experimental work to researchers associated with the Royal Society, provided they registered their research within a stipulated period and demonstrated their experiments at an annual meeting.<ref name="Copley_establishment">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="cop2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1726, following a proposal by Sloane, the grants were extended to "strangers" unaffiliated with the Society to encourage "new and useful experiments," though it was only five years later that Stephen Gray became the first such recipient.<ref name="Copley_establishment"/> Prior to Gray, John Theophilus Desaguliers was apparently the only recipient of the grant, but had not always conducted the required annual demonstration.<ref name="strong_box">Template:Cite journal</ref>

In November 1736, Martin Folkes, then vice-president of the Society, suggested the Copley grant be converted to "a medal or other honorary prize to be bestowed on the person whose experiment should be best approved...a laudable emulation might be excited among men of genius to try their invention, who in all probability may never be moved for the sake of lucre". On 7 December 1736, the Council of the Royal Society agreed to Folkes' proposal, passing a resolution that the annual Copley grant of five pounds (roughly equivalent to £Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation-yearTemplate:Inflation-fn) be converted to a gold medal "of the same Value, with the Arms of the Society impress’d on it," to be gifted "for the best Experiment produced within the Year, and bestowed in such a manner as to avoid any Envy or Disgust in Rivalship".<ref name="strong_box"/> John Belchier was the first to receive the new award in 1737; due to delays in approving a medal design, however, the medal, designed and struck by John Sigismund Tanner of the Royal Mint, was only presented to Belchier in 1742. Gray and Desaguliers received their medals retrospectively.<ref name="strong_box"/>

Into the early 19th century, medal recipients were selected by the President of the Royal Society, though not always on the basis of publications and experimental demonstrations; political and social connections were also key considerations, along with service in the general interests of the Society.<ref name="Copley_establishment"/> During the long presidency of Joseph Banks, the medal was frequently awarded to recipients whose researches were of a practical or technical nature, involving improvements to scientific equipment or instrument design.<ref name="Copley_establishment"/> In 1831, new regulations adopted by the Royal Society Council made the medal an annual award, dropped the requirement for conducting the qualifying research within a certain period and officially opened it to scientists from any nation; although the medal had previously been awarded to foreign scientists including Alessandro Volta, the majority of recipients had been British subjects.<ref name="Copley_establishment"/> A second donation of £1666 13s. 4d. (roughly equivalent to £Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation-yearTemplate:Inflation-fn) was made by Sir Joseph William Copley in 1881, and the interest from that amount is used to pay for the medal.<ref name="cop2"/>

Prestige of the medal

By the 1840s, the Copley Medal had achieved international prestige; in 1850, George Airy noted the distinction of the medal was that it was "offered to the competition of the world."<ref name="Copley_establishment"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="cop2"/> The Copley medal has been characterised as a predecessor to the Nobel Prize.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="strong_box"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Since its inception, it has been awarded to many distinguished scientists, including 52 winners of the Nobel Prize: 17 in Physics, 21 in Physiology or Medicine, and 14 in Chemistry.

Medal recipients

Year	Image	Name	Rationale	Notes
1731	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his new Electrical Experiments: – as an encouragement to him for the readiness he has always shown in obliging the Society with his discoveries and improvements in this part of Natural Knowledge"	<ref name="odnb1">Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1732	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For the Experiments he made for the year 1732"	<ref name="odnb1"/>
1733	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1734	File:John Theophilus Desaguliers.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In consideration of his several Experiments performed before the Society"	<ref name="odnb2">Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1735	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1736	File:John Theophilus Desaguliers.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his experiments made during the year"	<ref name="odnb2"/>
1737	File:Belchier John 1706-1785.png	Template:Sortname	"For his Experiment to show the property of a Diet of Madder Root in dyeing the Bones of living animals of a red colour"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1738	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his invention of an Engine for driving the Piles to make a Foundation for the Bridge to be erected at Westminster, the Model whereof had been shown to the Society"	—
1739	File:Stephen Hales.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Experiments towards the Discovery of Medicines for dissolving the Stone; and Preservatives for keeping Meat in long voyages at Sea"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1740	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his Lectures on Muscular Motion. As a further addition for his services to the Society in the care and pains he has taken therein"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1741	File:John Theophilus Desaguliers.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Experiments towards the discovery of the properties of Electricity. As an addition to his allowance (as Curator) for the present year."	<ref name="odnb2"/>
1742	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For the communication of his Observations in the attempt of discovering a North-West passage to the East Indies through Hudsons Bay"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1743	File:Abraham Trembley.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Experiments on the Polypus"	—
1744	File:Henry Baker (naturalist).jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his curious Experiments relating to the Crystallization or Configuration of the minute particles of Saline Bodies dissolved in a menstruum"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1745	File:William Watson.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of the surprising discoveries in the phenomena of Electricity, exhibited in his late Experiments"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1746	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"On account of his curious Experiments for showing the resistance of the Air, and his rules for establishing his doctrine thereon for the motion of Projectiles"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1747	File:Gowin Knight from Science & Society 10198868.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of several very curious Experiments exhibited by him, both with Natural and Artificial Magnets"	<ref name="cav1">Template:Cite book</ref>
1748	File:James Bradley by Thomas Hudson.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of his very curious and wonderful discoveries in the apparent motion of the Fixed Stars, and the causes of such apparent motion"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1749	File:John Harrison Uhrmacher.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of those very curious Instruments, invented and made by him, for the exact mensuration of Time"	<ref name="cav2">Template:Harvtxt</ref>
1750	File:Edwards George 1693 1773.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of a very curious Book lately published by him, and intiyled, A Natural History of Birds, &c. – containing the Figures elegantly drawn, and illuminated in their proper colours, of 209 different Birds, and about 20 very rare Quadrupeds, Serpents, Fishes, and Insects."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1751	File:John Canton from NPG.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of his communicating to the Society, and exhibiting before them, his curious method of making Artificial Magnets without the use of Natural ones"	<ref name="cav3">Template:Harvtxt</ref>
1752	File:John Pringle.jpg	Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet	"On account of his very curious and useful Experiments and Observations on Septic and Anti-septic Substances, communicated to the Society"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1753	File:Feke - Benjamin Franklin.png	Template:Sortname	"On account of his curious Experiments and Observations on Electricity"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1754	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For the many Experiments made by him on Platina, which tend to the discovery of the sophistication of gold: – which he would have entirely completed, but was obliged to put a stop to his further enquiries for want of materials"	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1755	File:John Huxham.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his many useful Experiments on Antimony, of which an account had been read to the Society"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1756	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1757	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"On account of his very curious and useful invention of making Thermometers, showing respectively the greatest degrees of heat and cold which have happened at any time during the absence of the observer"	<ref name="cav1"/>
1758	File:John Dollond, by Benjamin Wilson.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of his curious Experiments and Discoveries concerning the different refrangibility of the Rays of Light, communicated to the Society"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1759	File:John Smeaton.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of his curious Experiments concerning Water-wheels and Wind-mill Sails, communicated to the Society. For his experimental enquiry concerning the powers of water and wind in the moving of Mills"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1760	File:Benjamin Wilson, by Benjamin Wilson.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his many curious Experiments in Electricity, communicated to the Society within the year"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1761	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1762	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1763	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1764	File:John Canton from NPG.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his very ingenious and elegant Experiments in the Air Pump and Condensing Engine, to prove the Compressibility of Water, and some other Fluids"	<ref name="cav3"/>
1765	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1766	File:Cavendish Henry signature.jpg	Template:Sortname, Edward Delaval and Henry Cavendish	"For an experimental enquiry into the Mineral Elastic Spirit, or Air, contained in Spa-Water; as well as into the Mephitic qualities of this Spirit. (Brownrigg)" "For his Experiments and Observations on the agreement between the specific gravities of the several Metals, and their colours when united to glass, as well as those of their other preparations. (Delaval)" "For his Paper communicated this present year, containing his Experiments relating to Fixed Air. (Cavendish)"	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1767	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his Papers of the year 1767, On the animal nature of the Genus of Zoophytes called Corallina, and the Actinia Sociata, or Clustered Animal Flower, lately found on the sea coasts of the new-ceded Islands"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1768	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his Experiments on the Distillation of Acids, Volatile Alkalies, and other substances"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1769	File:William Hewson b1739.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Two Papers, entitled, An Account of the Lymphatic System in Amphibious Animals, – and An Account of the Lymphatic System in Fish"	—
1770	File:Sir William Hamilton by David Allan.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Paper, entitled, An Account of a Journey to Mount Etna<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>"	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1771	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his paper entitled, An Enquiry into the value of ancient Greek and Roman Money<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>"	—
1772	File:Priestley.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of the many curious and useful Experiments contained in his observations on different kinds of Air"
1773	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his Paper on the Torpedo"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1774	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1775	File:Maskelyne Nevil.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In consideration of his curious and laborious Observations on the Attraction of Mountains, made in Scotland, – on Schehallien"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1776	File:Captainjamescookportrait.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Paper, giving an account of the method he had taken to preserve the health of the crew of H.M. Ship the Resolution, during her late voyage round the world. Whose communication to the Society was of such importance to the public"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1777	File:J.Mudge.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of his valuable Paper containing directions for making the best Composition for the metals of Reflecting Telescopes; together with a description of the process for grinding, polishing, and giving the best speculum the true parabolic form"	—
1778	File:Charles Hutton.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his paper, entitled, The force of Fired Gunpowder, and the initial velocity of Cannon Balls, determined by Experiments"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1779	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1780	File:Samuel-Vince.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his paper, entitled, An investigation of the Principles of Progressive and Rotatory Motion, printed in the Philosophical Transactions<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1781	File:William Herschel01.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For the Communication of his Discovery of a new and singular Star; a discovery which does him particular honour, as, in all probability, this star has been for many years, perhaps ages, within the bounds of astronomic vision, and yet till now, eluded the most diligent researches of other observers"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1782	File:Kirwan Richard portrait.jpg	Template:Sortname	"As a reward for the merit of his labours in the science of Chemistry. For his chemical analyses of Salts"	<ref name="nla"/>
1783	File:Goodricke John.jpg	Template:Sortname and Thomas Hutchins	"For his discovery of the Period of the Variation of Light in the Star Algol. (Goodricke)" "For his Experiments to ascertain the point of Mercurial Congelation. (Hutchins)"	<ref name="nla"/>
1784	File:Edwardwaring.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Mathematical Communications to the Society. For his Paper On the Summation of Series, whose general term is a determinate function of z the distance from the first term of the series"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1785	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his Measurement of a Base on Hounslow Heath"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1786	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1787	File:John Hunter by John Jackson.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his three Papers, – On the Ovaria, On the identity of the dog, wolf, and jackall species, and On the anatomy of Whales, printed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1787"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1788	File:Sir Charles Blagden Wellcome M0013989.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his two Papers on Congelation, printed in the last (78th) volume of the Philosophical transactions"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1789	File:Thomas Lawrence - Portrait of William Morgan (1750-1833).jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his two Papers on the values of Reversions and Survivorships, printed in the two last volumes of the Philosophical Transactions"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1790	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1791	File:James Rennell 1799.jpg File:Jean-André Deluc.jpg	Template:Sortname and Jean-André Deluc	"For his Paper on the Rate of Travelling as performed by Camels, printed in the last (81st) volume of the Philosophical Transactions. (Rennell)" "For his Improvements in Hygrometry. (De Luc)"	<ref name=RoyalSocCitations>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1792	File:Benjamin Thompson.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his various Papers on the Properties and Communication of Heat"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1793	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1794	File:Alessandro Volta.jpeg	Template:Sortname	"For his several Communications explanatory of certain Experiments published by Professor Galvani"	<ref name=RoyalSocCitations/>
1795	File:Jesse Ramsden. Mezzotint by J. Jones, 1790, after R. Home. Wellcome V0004900.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his various inventions and improvements in the construction of the Instruments for the Trigonometrical measurements carried on by the late Major General Roy, and by Lieut. Col. Williams and his associates"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1796	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his Paper on the construction and analysis of geometrical propositions determining the positions assumed by homogeneal bodies which float freely, and at rest; and also determining the Stability of Ships and other floating bodies"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1797	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1798	File:Catalogue of portraits, miniatures &c. - in the possession of Cecil George Savile, 4th Earl of Liverpool, Lord Steward, &c (1905) (14760258041).jpg File:Charles Hatchett. Soft-ground etching by F. C. Lewis after T Wellcome V0002614 (cropped).jpg	Template:Sortname and Charles Hatchett	"For his various Communications printed in the Philosophical Transactions. (Evelyn)" "For his Chemical Communications printed in the Philosophical Transactions. (Hatchett)"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1799	File:John Hellins.jpeg	Template:Sortname	"For his improved Solution of a problem in Physical Astronomy, &c. printed in the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1798; and his other Mathematical Papers"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1800		Template:Sortname	"For his Paper on a New Fulminating Mercury"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1801	File:Astley Paston Cooper 4.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Papers – on the effects which take place from the destruction of the Membrana Tympani of the Ear; with an account of an operation for the removal of a particular species of Deafness"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1802	File:Wollaston William Hyde Jackson color.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his various Papers printed in the Philosophical Transactions"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1803	File:Chenevix Richard.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his various Chemical Papers printed in the Philosophical Transactions"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1804	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his various Chemical Discoveries communicated to the Society, and printed in several volumes of the Philosophical Transactions"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1805	File:Sir Humphry Davy, Bt by Thomas Phillips.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his various Communications published in the Philosophical Transactions"	<ref name="od"/>
1806	File:Thomas Andrew Knight (1758–1838).jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his various Papers on Vegetation, printed in the Philosophical Transactions"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1807	File:Sir Everard Home 1756–1832.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his various Papers on Anatomy and Physiology, printed in the Philosophical Transactions"	—
1808	File:William Henry.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his various papers communicated to the society, and printed in the Philosophical Transactions"	—
1809	File:Edward Troughton.jpeg	Template:Sortname	"For the Account of his Method of dividing Astronomical Instruments, printed in the last volume of the Philosophical Transactions"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1810	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1811	File:Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 1st Bt 1856.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Papers printed in the Philosophical Transactions. On the influence of the Brain on the action of the Heart, and the generation of Animal Heat; and on the different modes in which death is brought on by certain Vegetable Poisons"	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1812	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1813	File:William Thomas Brande 1855.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Communications concerning the Alcohol contained in Fermented Liquors and other Papers, printed in the Philosophical Transactions"	—
1814	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his various Mathematical Contributions printed in the Philosophical Transactions"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1815	File:David-Brewster.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Paper on the Polarization of Light by Reflection from Transparent Bodies"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1816	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1817	File:Henry Kater00.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Experiments on the Pendulum"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1818	File:Robert Seppings (1767-1840), by William Bradley.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Papers on the construction of Ships of War, printed in the Philosophical Transactions"	—
1819	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1820	File:Hans Christian Ørsted daguerreotype.jpg	Template:Sort	"For his Electro-magnetic Discoveries"	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1821	File:Edward Sabine 1860s.jpg File:Julia Margaret Cameron - John Herschel (Metropolitan Museum of Art copy, restored) levels.jpg	Template:Sortname and John Herschel	"For his various Communications to the Royal Society relating to his researches made in the late Expedition to the Arctic Regions. (Sabine)" "For his Papers printed in the Philosophical Transactions. (Herschel)"	<ref name="her1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1822	File:William Buckland c1845.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Paper on the Fossil Teeth and Bones discovered in a Cave at Kirkdale"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1823	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his various Communications to the Royal Society"	—
1824	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his various Communications to the Royal Society"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1825	File:Arago Francois portrait.jpg File:Peter Barlow(math).jpg	Template:Sortname and Peter Barlow	"For the Discovery of the Magnetic Properties of substances not containing Iron. For the Discovery of the power of various bodies, principally metallic, to receive magnetic impressions, in the same, though in a more evanescent manner than malleable Iron, and in an infinitely less intense degree. (Arago)" "For his various Communications on the subject of Magnetism. (Barlow)"	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1826	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his observations of Double Stars, and his Paper on the Discordances between the Suns observed and computed Right Ascensions, published in the Transactions of the Society. For his Paper of Observations of the Apparent Distances and Positions of Four Hundred and Fifty-eight Double and Triple Stars, published in the present volume (1826, Part 1.) of the Transactions"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1827	File:Prout William painting.jpg	Template:Sortname and Henry Foster	"For his Paper entitled, On the ultimate Composition of simple alimentary substances, with some preliminary remarks on the analysis of organized bodies in general. (Prout)" "For his magnetic and other observations made during the Arctic expedition to Port Bowen. (Foster)"	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1828	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1829	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1830	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1831	File:George Biddell Airy.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his Papers, On the principle of the construction of the Achromatic Eye-pieces of Telescopes, – On the Spherical Aberration of the Eye-pieces of Telescopes, and for other Papers on Optical Subjects in the Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1832	File:Faraday-Millikan-Gale-1913.jpg File:Simeon Poisson.jpg	Template:Sortname and Siméon Denis Poisson	"For his discovery of Magneto-Electricity as detailed in his Experimental Researches in Electricity, published in the Philosophical Transactions for the present year. (Faraday)" "For his work entitled, Nouvelle Theorie de lAction Capillaire. (Poisson)"	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1833	File:No image.svg	No Award	—	—
1834	File:Giovanni Plana, ante 1864 - Accademia delle Scienze di Torino Ritratti 0105 C.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his work entitled, Theorie du Mouvement de la Lune"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1835	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his experimental investigations of the force of electricity of high intensity contained in the Philosophical Transactions of 1834"	<ref name="od"/>
1836	File:Jöns Jacob Berzelius.jpg	Template:Sortname and Francis Kiernan	"For his systematic application of the doctrine of definite proportions to the analysis of mineral bodies, as contained in his Nouveau Systeme de Mineralogie, and in other of his works. (Berzelius)" "For his discoveries relating to the structure of the liver, as detailed in his paper communicated to the Royal Society, and published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1833. (Kiernan)"	—
1837	File:Antoine Becquerel 2.jpg File:Daniell chemist b.jpg	Template:Sortname and John Frederic Daniell	"For his various memoirs on the subject of electricity, published in the Memoires deacademie Royale des Sciences de lInstitut de France, and particularly for those on the production of crystals of metallic sulphurets and of sulphur, by the long-continued action of electricity of very low tension, and published in the tenth volume of those Memoires. (Becquerel)" "For his two papers on voltaic combinations published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1836. (Daniell)"	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1838	File:Carl Friedrich Gauss.jpg File:Faraday-Millikan-Gale-1913.jpg	Template:Sortname and Michael Faraday	"For his inventions and mathematical researches in magnetism. (Gauss)" "For his researches in specific electrical induction. (Faraday)"	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1839	File:Robert Brown (botanist).jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his discoveries during a series of years, on the subject of vegetable impregnation"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1840	File:Justus von Liebig NIH.jpg File:Charles Sturm.jpeg	Template:Sortname and Jacques Charles François Sturm	"For his discoveries in organic chemistry, and particularly for his development of the composition and theory of organic radicals. (Liebig)" "For his "Memoire sur la Resolution des Equations Numeriques," published in the Memoires des Savans Etrangers for 1835. (Sturm)"	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1841	File:Georg Simon Ohm3.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches into the laws of electric currents contained in various memoirs published in Schweiggers Journal, Poggendorffs Annalen and in a separate work entitled Die galvanische Kette mathematisch bearbeitet"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1842	File:James MacCullagh.png	Template:Sortname	"For his researches connected with the wave theory of light, contained in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1843	File:Jean Baptiste André Dumas.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his late valuable researches in organic chemistry, particularly those contained in a series of memoirs on chemical types and the doctrine of substitution, and also for his elaborate investigations of the atomic weights of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and other elements"	—
1844	File:Carlo Matteucci.jpeg	Template:Sortname	"For his various researches in animal electricity"	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1845	File:Theodor Schwann Litho.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his physiological researches on the development of animal & vegetable textures, published in his work entitled Mikroskopische Untersuchungen uber die Uebereinstimmung in der Struktur u. dem Wachsthun der Thiese u. Pflanzen"	—
1846	File:Urbain Le Verrier.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his investigations relative to the disturbances of Uranus by which he proved the existence and predicted the place of the new Planet; the Council considering such prediction confirmed as it was by the immediate discovery of the Planet to be one of the proudest triumphs of modern analysis applied to the Newtonian Theory of Gravitation"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1847	File:Julia Margaret Cameron - John Herschel (Metropolitan Museum of Art copy, restored).jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his work entitled Results of Astronomical Observations made during the years 1834, 1835, 1836, 1837 and 1838, at the Cape of Good Hope; being a completion of a telescopic survey of the whole surface of the visible heavens, commenced in 1825"	<ref name="her1"/>
1848	File:John Couch Adams.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his investigations relative to the disturbances of Uranus, and for his application of the inverse problem of perturbations thereto"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1849	File:Murchison Roderick.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For the eminent services he has rendered to geological science during many years of active observation in several parts of Europe; and especially for the establishment of that classification of the older Palaeozoic deposits designated the Silurian System, as set forth in the two works entitled The Silurian System founded on Geological Researches in England, and The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains"	—
1850	File:P.A.Hansen.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in physical astronomy"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1851	File:Richard-owen2.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On account of his important discoveries in comparative anatomy & palaeontology, contained in the Philosophical Transactions and numerous other works"	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1852	File:AvHumboldt.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his eminent services in terrestrial physics, during a series of years"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1853	File:Heinrich Wilhelm Dove 1857.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his work on the distribution of heat over the surface of the Earth"	—
1854	File:Johannes Peter Müller.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his important contributions to different branches of physiology and comparative anatomy, and particularly for his researches on the embryology of the Echinodermata, contained in a series of memoirs published in the Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1855	File:Foucault 01.png	Template:Sortname	"For his various researches in experimental physics"	<ref name="od"/>
1856	File:Henri Milne-Edwards.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in comparative anatomy and zoology"	—
1857	File:Michel Eugène Chevreul 2.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in organic chemistry, particularly on the composition of the fats, and for his researches on the contrast of coulours"	<ref name="od"/>
1858	File:Charles Lyell00.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his various researches and writings by which he has contributed to the advance of geology"	<ref name="od"/>
1859	File:Wilhelm Eduard Weber II.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For the investigations contained in his Maasbestimmungen and other researches in electricity, magnetism, acoustics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1860	File:Robert Bunsen 02.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches on cacodyls, gaseous analysis, the volcanic phenomena of Iceland; and other researches"	<ref name="od"/>
1861	File:Louis Agassiz H6.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his eminent researches in palaeontology and other branches of science, and particularly for his great works the Poissons Fossiles, and his Poissons du Vieux Gres Rouge dEcosse"	<ref name="od"/>
1862	File:Thomas Graham by Maull & Polybank, 1856.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For three memoirs of the diffusion of liquids, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1850 and 1851; for a memoir on osmotic force in the Philosophical Transactions for 1854; and particularly for a paper on liquid diffusion applied to analysis, including a distinction of compounds into colloids & crystalloids published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1861"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1863	File:Adam Sedgwick.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his original observations and discoveries in the geology of the Palaeozoic Series of rocks, and more especially for his determination of the characters of the Devonian System, by observations of the order of superposition of the Killas rocks & their fossils in Devonshire"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1864	File:Charles Darwin seated crop.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his important researches in geology, zoology, and botanical physiology"	<ref name="od"/>
1865	File:Michel Chasles.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his historical and original researches in pure geometry"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1866	File:Julius Plücker.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in analytical geometry, magnetism, & spectral analysis"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1867	File:Voyages de la Commission scientifique du Nord, en Scandinavie, en Laponie, au Spitzberg et aux Feröe - no-nb digibok 2009040211001-118.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his discoveries in embryology and comparative anatomy, and for his contributions to the philosophy of zoology"	<ref name="od"/>
1868	File:Wheatstone Charles drawing 1868.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in acoustics, optics, electricity and magnetism"	<ref name="od"/>
1869	File:Henri Victor Regnault.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For the second volume of his Relation des Experiences pour determiner les lois et les donnees physiques necessaires au calcul des machines a feu, including his elaborate investigations on the specific heat of gases and vapours, and various papers on the elastic force of vapours"	<ref name="od"/>
1870	File:Joule James sitting.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his experimental researches on the dynamical theory of heat"	<ref name="od"/>
1871	File:Julius Robert Mayer von Friedrich Berrer.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches on the mechanics of heat; including essays on: – 1. The force of inorganic nature. 2. Organic motion in connection with nutrition. 3. Fever. 4. Celestial dynamics. 5. The mechanical equivalent of heat"	<ref name="od"/>
1872	File:Friedrich Wöhler Stich.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his numerous contributions to the science of chemistry, and more especially for his researches on the products of the decomposition of cyanogens by ammonia; on the derivatives of uric acid; on the benzoyl series; on boron, silicon, & their compounds; and on meteoric stones"	<ref name="od"/>
1873	File:Hermann von Helmholtz.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in physics and physiology"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1874	File:Louis Pasteur, foto av Paul Nadar, Crisco edit.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches on fermentation and on pelerine"	<ref name="od"/>
1875	File:Hoffman August Wilhelm von.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his numerous contributions to the science of chemistry, and especially for his researches on the derivatives of ammonia"	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1876	File:Claude Bernard.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his numerous contributions to the science of physiology"	<ref name="od"/>
1877	File:James Dwight Dana by Warren, 1865.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his biological, geological, and mineralogical investigations, carried on through half a century, and for the valuable works in which his conclusions and discoveries have been published"	<ref name="od"/>
1878	File:Jean Baptiste JD Boussingault.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his long-continued and important researches and discoveries in agricultural chemistry"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1879	File:Clausius.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his well-known researches upon heat"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1880	File:James Joseph Sylvester.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his long continued investigations & discoveries in mathematics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1881	File:Charles-Adolphe Wurtz.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his discovery of the organic ammonias, the glycols, and other investigations which have exercised considerable influence on the progress of chemistry"	—
1882	File:Arthur Cayley.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his numerous profound and comprehensive researches in pure mathematics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1883	File:Baron Kelvin 1906.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For (1) his discovery of the law of the universal dissipation of energy; (2) his researches and eminent services in physics, both experimental & mathematical, especially in the theory of electricity and thermodynamics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1884	File:Carl Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his investigations in physiology, and the great services which he has rendered to physiological science"	—
1885	File:Frkekulé.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in organic chemistry"	<ref name="od"/>
1886	File:Franz Ernst Neumann by Carl Steffeck 1886.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in theoretical optics and electro-dynamics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1887	File:Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his services to botanical science as an investigator, author, and traveller"	<ref name="od"/>
1888	File:T.H.Huxley(Woodburytype).jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his investigations on the morphology and histology of vertebrate and invertebrate animals, and for his services to biological science in general during many past years"	<ref name="od"/>
1889	File:GeorgeSalmon(1819-1904).jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his various papers on subjects of pure mathematics, and for the valuable mathematical treatises of which he is the author"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1890	File:Simon Newcomb 01.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his contributions to the progress of gravitational astronomy"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1891	File:Stanislao Cannizzaro 01 (cropped).jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his contributions to chemical philosophy especially for his application of Avogadros theory"	<ref name="od"/>
1892	File:Rudolf Virchow NLM3.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his investigations in pathology, pathological anatomy, and prehistoric archaeology"	<ref name="od"/>
1893	File:Ggstokes.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches and discoveries in physical science"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1894	File:Frankland Edward 26.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his eminent services to theoretical & applied chemistry"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1895	File:Karl Weierstrass.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his investigations in pure mathematics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1896	File:Gegenbaur.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his life-long researches in comparative anatomy in all branches of the animal kingdom. etc., etc"	—
1897	File:Kolliker2.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his important work in embryology, comparative anatomy, and physiology, and especially for his eminence as a histologist"	—
1898	File:Sir William Huggins by John Collier.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in spectrum analysis applied to the heavenly bodies"	<ref name="od"/>
1899	File:John William Strutt.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his contributions to physical science"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1900	File:Marcellin Berthelot.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his brilliant services to chemical science"	<ref name="od"/>
1901	File:Josiah Willard Gibbs -from MMS-.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his contributions to mathematical physics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1902	File:Joseph Lister 1902.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of the value of his physiological and pathological researches in regard to their influence on the modern practice of surgery"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1903	File:Eduard Sueß.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his eminent geological services, & especially for the original researches & conclusions published in his great work 'Das Antlitz der Erde'"	<ref name="od2"/>
1904	File:PSM V10 D660 William Crookes.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his long-continued researches in spectroscopic chemistry, on electrical & mechanical phenomena in highly-rarefied gases, on radio-active phenomena, and other subjects"	<ref name="od2"/>
1905	File:DIMendeleevCab.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his contributions to chemical and physical science"	<ref name="od2"/>
1906	File:Ilya Mechnikov nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of the importance of his work in zoology and in pathology"	<ref name="od2"/>
1907	File:Albert Abraham Michelson2.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his investigations in optics"	<ref name="od2"/>
1908	File:Alfred-Russel-Wallace-c1895.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of the great value of his numerous contributions to natural history, and of the part he took in working out the theory of the origin of species by natural selection"	<ref name="od2"/>
1909	File:Hill1905.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his researches in mathematical astronomy"	<ref name="od2"/>
1910	File:Francis Galton 1850s.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his researches in heredity"	<ref name="od2"/>
1911	File:George Darwin sepia tone.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his researches on tidal theory, the figures of the planets, and allied subjects"	<ref name="od2"/>
1912	File:Felix Klein.jpeg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his researches in mathematics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1913	File:Ray Lankester.png	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of the high scientific value of the researches in zoology carried out by him"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1914	File:J.J Thomson.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his discoveries in physical science"	<ref name="od2"/>
1915	File:Ivan Pavlov NLM3.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his investigations in the physiology of digestion and of the higher centres of the nervous system"	<ref name="od2"/>
1916	File:James Dewar.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his important investigations in physical chemistry, more especially his researches on the liquefaction of gases"	<ref name="od2"/>
1917	File:Pierre Paul Émile Roux 2.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his eminence as a bacteriologist, and as a pioneer in serum therapy"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1918	File:Hendrik Antoon Lorentz.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his distinguished researches in mathematical physics"	<ref name="od2"/>
1919	File:WilliamBayliss1.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his researches in general physiology & biophysics"	<ref name="od2"/>
1920	File:Horace Tabberer Brown c1889.jpg	Template:Sortname	"On the ground of his work on the chemistry of carbohydrates, &c"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1921	File:Joseph Larmor.jpeg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in mathematical physics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1922	File:Sir Ernest Rutherford.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in radio activity & atomic structure"	<ref name="od2"/>
1923	File:Lamb Horace bw.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his researches in mathematical physics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1924	File:PSM V79 D521 Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer.png	Template:Sortname	"For the valuable work he has done in physiology and histology and the position he now occupies as a leader in these sciences"	—
1925	File:Einstein 1921 by F Schmutzer - restoration.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his theory of relativity and his contributions to the quantum theory"	<ref name="od2"/>
1926	File:Frederick Gowland Hopkins nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished and fruitful work in biochemistry"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1927	File:Prof. Charles Scott Sherrington.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished work on neurology"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1928	File:Charles Algernon Parsons.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his contributions to engineering science"	—
1929	File:Max Planck 1933.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his contributions to theoretical physics and especially as the originator of the quantum theory"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1930	File:Wh-bragg.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished contributions to crystallography and radioactivity"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1931	File:Schuster Arthur signature.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished researches in optics and terrestrial magnetism"	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1932	File:Portrait of George Ellery Hale.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished work on the solar magnetic phenomena and for his eminence as a scientific engineer, especially in connexion with Mount Wilson Observatory"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1933	File:Theobald Smith 2.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his original research and observation on diseases of animals and man"	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1934	File:John Scott Haldane 1910.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his discoveries in human physiology and of their application to medicine, mining, diving and engineering"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1935	File:CTR Wilson.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his work on the use of clouds in advancing our knowledge of atoms and their properties"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1936	File:SirArthurEvans.JPG	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his pioneer work in Crete, particularly his contributions to the history and civilization of its Minoan age"	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1937	File:Henry Dale nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his important contributions to physiology and pharmacology, particularly in relation to the nervous and neuro-muscular systems"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1938	File:Niels Bohr.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished work in the development of the quantum theory of atomic structure"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1939	File:Thomas Hunt Morgan.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his establishment of the modern science of genetics which had revolutionized our understanding, not only of heredity, but of the mechanism and nature of evolution"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1940	File:Langevin.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his pioneer work on the electron theory of magnetism, his fundamental contributions to discharge of electricity in gases, and his important work in many branches of theoretical physics"	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1941	File:Thomas Lewis (cardiologist).jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his clinical and experimental investigations upon the mammalian heart"	citation	CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
1942	File:Robert Robinson organic chemist.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his research work of outstanding originality and brilliance which has influenced the whole field of organic chemistry"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1943	File:Joseph Barcroft c1940.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished work on respiration and the respiratory function of the blood"	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1944		Template:Sortname	"For his many contributions to aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, and the structure of metals, which have had a profound influence on the advance of physical science and its applications"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1945	File:Oswald T. Avery portrait 1937.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his success in introducing chemical methods in the study of immunity against infective diseases"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1946	File:Edgar Douglas Adrian nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished researches on the fundamental nature of nervous activity, and recently on the localization of certain nervous functions"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1947	File:[email protected]	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished part in the development of mathematical analysis in England during the last thirty years"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1948	File:Archibald Vivian Hill.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished researches on myothermal problems and on biophysical phenomena in nerve and other tissues"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1949	File:George de Hevesy.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished work on the chemistry of radioactive elements and especially for his development of the radioactive tracer techniques in the investigation of biological processes"	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1950	File:James Chadwick.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his outstanding work in nuclear physics and in the development of atomic energy, especially for his discovery of the neutron"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1951	File:David Keilin 1931.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his fundamental researches in the fields of protozoology, entomology and the biochemistry of enzymes"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1952	File:Dirac 4.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his remarkable contributions to relativistic dynamics of a particle in quantum mechanics"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1953	File:Dr. A.J. Kluyver, 1921.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished contributions of a fundamental character to the science of microbiology"	—
1954	File:Edmund Taylor Whitakker by Arthur Trevor Haddon.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his distinguished contributions to both pure and applied mathematics and to theoretical physics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1955	File:Youngronaldfisher2.JPG	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his numerous and distinguished contributions to developing the theory and application of statistics for making quantitative a vast field of biology"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1956	File:Blackett-large.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his outstanding studies of cosmic ray showers and heavy mesons and in the field of palaeomagnetism"	—
1957	File:Howard Walter Florey 1945.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to experimental pathology and medicine"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1958	File:John Edensor Littlewood.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to many branches of analysis, including Tauberian theory, the Riemann zeta function, and non-linear differential equations"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1959	File:Burnet 2jpg.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to knowledge of viruses and of immunology"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1960		Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished work in many branches of geophysics, and also in the theory of probability and astronomy"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1961	File:Hans Adolf Krebs.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to biochemistry, in particular his work on the ornithine, tricarboxylic acid and glyoxylate cycles"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1962	File:Cyril Norman Hinshelwood Nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished researches in the field of chemical kinetics, including the study of biological reaction mechanisms, and of his outstanding contributions to natural philosophy"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1963	File:Sir Paul Fildes by Sir (Samuel) Luke Fildes.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his pioneering contributions to bacteriology."	—
1964	File:Sydney Chapman.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his theoretical contributions to terrestrial and interplanetary magnetism, the ionosphere and the aurora borealis"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1965	File:Alan Lloyd Hodgkin nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his discovery of the mechanism of excitation and impulse conduction in nerve, and his outstanding leadership in the development of neurophysiology"	—
1966	File:Wl-bragg.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to the development of methods of structural determination by X-ray diffraction"	<ref name="od2"/>
1967	File:Sir Bernard Katz.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to knowledge of the fundamental processes involved in transmission across the neuromuscular junction"	—
1968	File:Thadeus Reichstein ETH-Bib Portr 10137.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished work on the chemistry of vitamin C and his authoritative studies of the cortico-steroids"	—
1969	File:Peter Brian Medawar.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished studies of tissue transplantation and immunological tolerance"	<ref name="od2"/>
1970	File:Alexander Todd Nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his outstanding contributions to both the analytical and synthetic chemistry of natural products of diverse types"	<ref name="od2"/>
1971	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to biochemistry and especially for his elucidation of the nature of plant viruses"	—
1972		Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his original contributions over a long period to atomic and solid state physics"	<ref name="od2"/>
1973	File:Andrew Fielding Huxley nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his outstanding studies on the mechanisms of the nerve impulse and of activation of muscular contraction"	—
1974	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his pioneering work in algebraic geometry, notably in his theory of harmonic integrals"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1975	File:Francis Crick crop.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his elucidation of the structure of DNA and his continuing contribution to molecular biology"	<ref name="od2"/>
1976	File:Dorothy Hodgkin Nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of her outstanding work on the structures of complex molecules, particularly Penicillin, vitamin B12 and insulin"	<ref name="od2"/>
1977	File:Frederick Sanger2.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished work on the chemical structure of proteins and his studies on the sequences of nucleic acids"	<ref name="od2"/>
1978	File:Robert Woodward Nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his masterly contributions to the synthesis of complex natural products and his discovery of the importance of orbital symmetry"	<ref name="od2"/>
1979	File:Max Perutz.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to molecular biology through his own studies of the structure and biological activity of haemoglobin and his leadership in the development of the subject"	<ref name="od2"/>
1980	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished contributions to a wide range of problems in structural and synthetic organic chemistry and, in particular, his introduction of conformational analysis into stereochemistry"	<ref name="od2"/>
1981		Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished contribution to biology in his formulation and development of the chemiosmotic theory of energy transduction"	<ref name="od2"/>
1982	File:John Cornforth 1975.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished research on the stereochemically-controlled synthesis and biosynthesis of biologically important molecules"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1983	File:Rodney Robert Porter.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his elucidation of the structure of immunoglobulins and of the reactions involved in activating the complement system of proteins"	—
1984	File:Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.gif	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his distinguished work on theoretical physics, including stellar structure, theory of radiation, hydrodynamic stability and relativity"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1985	File:Aaron Klug 1979.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his outstanding contributions to our understanding of complex biological structures and the methods used for determining them"	—
1986	File:Peierls,Rudolf 1966 Göttingen.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his fundamental contributions to a very wide range of theoretical physics, and signal advances in proposing the probable existence of nuclear chain reactions in fissile materials"	—
1987		Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his pioneering contributions to the understanding of the nature and mechanism of the main pathway of electron transport in photosynthesis"	—
1988	File:Michael Francis Atiyah.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his fundamental contributions to a wide range of topics in geometry, topology, analysis and theoretical physics"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1989	File:Milstein lnp.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his outstanding contributions to immunology, in particular to the discovery of monoclonal antibodies and to the understanding of the role of somatic mutations in the maturation of the immune response"	—
1990	File:Abdus Salam 1987.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his work on the symmetries of the laws of nature, and especially the unification of the electromagnetic and weak forces"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1991	File:EMLederberg GStent SBrenner JLederberg 1965 wiki.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his many contributions to molecular genetics and developmental biology, and his recent role in the Human Genome mapping project"	—
1992	File:George Porter Nobel.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his contributions to fundamental understanding of fast photochemical and photophysical processes and their role in chemistry and biology"	<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
1993	File:James D Watson.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his tireless pursuit of DNA, from the elucidation of its structure to the social and medical implications of the sequencing of the human genome"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1994		Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his fundamental contribution to the theory of crystal morphology, in particular to the source of dislocations and their consequences in interfaces and crystal growth; to fundamental understanding of liquid crystals and the concept of disclination; and to the extension of crystallinity concepts to aperiodic crystals. He has also contributed through a variety of remarkable insights into a great number of physical problems"	—
1995		Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his contribution to animal virology with special emphasis on the pox and myxomatosis viruses and their relationship with the host in causing disease"	—
1996	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his contribution to the understanding of mechanical properties of materials and related topics through his pioneering studies on crystal plasticity, dislocation impurity interactions, fracture and irradiation effects"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1997	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his pioneering work on the structure of muscle and on the molecular mechanisms of muscle contraction, providing solutions to one of the great problems in physiology"	—
1998		Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his profound contributions to many fields within fluid mechanics including important aspects of the interaction of sound and fluid flow and numerous other contributions which have had practical applications in aircraft engine design. He is noted also for his ground-breaking work on both external bio-fluid-dynamics – analysis of mechanisms of swimming and flying – and internal bio-fluid-dynamics, including flow in the cardiovascular system and the airways, and cochlear mechanics and other aspects of hearing"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1999	File:John Maynard Smith.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his seminal contributions to evolutionary biology, including his experimental work on sexual selection, his important contributions to our understanding of ageing, his introduction of game theoretical methods for the analysis of complex evolutionary scenarios and his research into molecular evolution, both through his classic work on genetic hitchhiking, and with his more recent, ongoing work on bacterial population growth"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2000	File:ARBOffice.jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his pioneering work in elucidating the detailed biosynthetic pathways to all the major families of plant alkaloids. His approach, which stands as a paradigm for future biosynthetic studies on complex molecules, combines isolation work, structure determination, synthesis, isotopic labelling and spectroscopy, especially advanced NMR, as well as genetics and molecular biology. This spectacular research revealed the entire pathway to vitamin B12"	—
2001	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his work on the immunological function of the thymus and of T cells, which has revolutionised the science of immunology. Professor Millers work is paving the way for designing new methods to improve resistance to infections, producing new vaccines, enhancing graft survival, dealing with autoimmunity and even persuading the immune system to reject cancer cells"	—
2002	File:John Anthony Pople.png	Template:Sortname	"For his development of computational methods in quantum chemistry. His work transformed density functional theory into a powerful theoretical tool for chemistry, chemical physics and biology"	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2003	File:John Gurdon Cambridge 2012.JPG	Template:Sortname	"For his unique range of groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of cell and developmental biology. He pioneered the concept that specialised cells are genetically equivalent and that they differ only in the genes they express not the genes they contain, a concept fundamental to modern biology"	—
2004	File:Harold Kroto 1c389 8471.sweden.jpg	Template:Sortname	"in recognition of his seminal contributions to understanding the fundamental dynamics of carbon chain molecules, leading to the detection of these species (polyynes) in the interstellar medium by radioastronomy, and thence to the genesis of a new era in carbon science"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2005	File:Paul Nurse portrait.jpg	Template:Sortname	"for his contributions to cell biology in general, and to the elucidation of the control of cell division."	—
2006	File:Stephen Hawking.StarChild.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his outstanding contribution to theoretical physics and theoretical cosmology. "	<ref name="haw"/>
2007	File:BobMayHarvard.jpg	Template:Sortname	"for his seminal studies of interactions within and among biological populations that have reshaped our understanding of how species, communities and entire ecosystems respond to natural or human created disturbance."	—
2008	File:Roger Penrose-6Nov2005.jpg	Template:Sortname	"for his beautiful and original insights into many areas of mathematics and mathematical physics. Sir Roger has made outstanding contributions to general relativity theory and cosmology, most notably for his work on black holes and the Big Bang."	—
2009	File:Martin Evans Nobel Prize.jpg	Template:Sortname	"for his seminal work on embryonic stem cells in mice, which revolutionised the field of genetics."	—
2010	File:Nci-vol-8182-300 david cox.jpg	Template:Sortname	"for his seminal contributions to the theory and applications of statistics."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	File:Tomas Lindahl 0113.jpg	Template:Sortname	"for his seminal contributions to the understanding of the biochemistry of DNA repair."	<ref name="medals2010"/>
2011	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his seminal contributions to the understanding of geological and geophysical phenomena including tectonic plates."	—
2012	File:John Ernest Walker.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his ground-breaking work on bioenergetics, discovering the mechanism of ATP synthesis in the mitochondrion."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2013	File:Andre Geim 2010-1.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his numerous scientific contributions and, in particular, for initiating research on two‐dimensional atomic crystals and their artificial heterostructures."	—
2014	File:Alec Jeffreys.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his pioneering work on variation and mutation in the human genome."	<ref name="AJ2014">Template:Cite news</ref>
2015	File:Higgs, Peter (1929)3.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his fundamental contribution to particle physics with his theory explaining the origin of mass in elementary particles, confirmed by the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2016	File:Richard Henderson D81 4486 (38005042695).jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his fundamental and revolutionary contributions to the development of electron microscopy of biological materials, enabling their atomic structures to be deduced."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2017	File:Andrew wiles1-3.jpg	Template:Sortname	"For his beautiful and unexpected proof of Fermat's Last Theorem which is one of the most important mathematical achievements of the 20th century."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2018	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	"For his contributions to understanding the role of gut microbial communities to human health and disease."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2019	File:John B. Goodenough (cropped).jpg	Template:Sortname	"In recognition of his exceptional contributions to the science and technology of materials, including his discovery that led to rechargeable lithium batteries."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2020	File:Alan Fersht.jpg	Template:Sortname	"He has developed and applied the methods of protein engineering to provide descriptions of protein folding pathways at atomic resolution, revolutionising our understanding of these processes."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2021	File:Launch of IYA 2009, Paris - Grygar, Bell Burnell cropped.jpg	Template:Sortname	"for her work on the discovery of pulsars, one of the major astronomical discoveries of the 20th century"	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2022	File:Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine AZD1222 - 4.jpg	Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Team	"for rapidly developing and deploying a COVID-19 vaccine."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2023	File:Official portrait of Lord Rees of Ludlow crop 2.jpg	Template:Sortname	"for being arguably the most distinguished theoretical astrophysicist of his generation, responsible for numerous and varied conceptual breakthroughs, with influence spreading far beyond the specialist academic community."	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2024	File:Gregory Winter, 2016 (cropped).jpg	Template:Sortname	"for pioneering protein engineering, especially antibody engineering for the successful production of therapeutic antibodies."	<ref>Copley Medal 2024</ref>

See also

• List of biology awards
• List of chemistry awards
• List of geology awards
• List of mathematics awards
• List of physics awards

External links

• {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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