# Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society

The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awards have been given for "outstanding personal researches in the fields of astronomy and geophysics" as well as general contributions to astronomy and geophysics "that may be made through leadership in research programmes, through education and through scientific administration". It has been awarded both for research that has taken a lifetime (it has most frequently been given to recognise an extraordinary lifetime achievement), and for specific pieces of research.

## History

The RAS was founded in 1820 and the first Gold Medals were awarded in 1824. Silver medals were also awarded in 1824 and 1827, but that practice was quickly abandoned, instead the RAS established other awards.
In the early years, more than one medal was often awarded in a year, but by 1833 only one medal was being awarded per year. This caused a problem when Neptune was discovered in 1846, because many felt an award should jointly be made to John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier. A controversy arose and no award was made in 1847. The controversy was resolved by giving 12 "testimonial" awards in 1848 to various people including Adams and Le Verrier, and in 1849 awards resumed, with a limit of one per year. Adams and Le Verrier did not get their gold medals until 1866 and 1868, respectively. Adams, who was then President of the RAS, presented Le Verrier with the medal.
In some years, particularly early on, the RAS sometimes decided that there were no suitable nominations and so did not award the gold medal. There are therefore 17 years without an award, the most recent being 1942 (on that occasion due to the disruption of the Second World War). One medal per year was the usual practise, although two medals were awarded in both 1867 and 1886. To ensure balance in research areas, in 1964 the award was expanded to two medals per year, one in astronomy (including astrophysics, cosmology etc.) and one in geophysics (including planetary science, tectonics etc.), which remains the current system. All recipients are listed below, along with the years when no award was made.
The first woman to receive the Gold Medal was Caroline Herschel in 1828. No other woman received the award until Vera Rubin in 1996. Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge were jointly awarded the 2005 Gold Medal in astronomy, the first joint award since 1886.
The medal features an image of the 40-foot telescope constructed by Sir William Herschel, the first President of the RAS.

## Recipients

| Year | Astronomy | Geophysics |
| 1824 | Charles Babbage Johann Franz Encke | Charles Babbage Johann Franz Encke |
| 1825 | No award | No award |
| 1826 | John Herschel James South Wilhelm Struve | John Herschel James South Wilhelm Struve |
| 1827 | Francis Baily | Francis Baily |
| 1828 | Thomas Makdougall Brisbane James Dunlop Caroline Herschel | Thomas Makdougall Brisbane James Dunlop Caroline Herschel |
| 1829 | Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel William Pearson Heinrich Christian Schumacher | Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel William Pearson Heinrich Christian Schumacher |
| 1830 | Johann Franz Encke William Richardson | Johann Franz Encke William Richardson |
| 1831 | Marie-Charles Damoiseau Henry Kater | Marie-Charles Damoiseau Henry Kater |
| 1832 | No award | No award |
| 1833 | George Biddell Airy | George Biddell Airy |
| 1834 | No award | No award |
| 1835 | Manuel John Johnson | Manuel John Johnson |
| 1836 | John Herschel | John Herschel |
| 1837 | Otto August Rosenberger | Otto August Rosenberger |
| 1838 | No award | No award |
| 1839 | John Wrottesley | John Wrottesley |
| 1840 | Jean Plana | Jean Plana |
| 1841 | Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel | Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel |
| 1842 | Peter Andreas Hansen | Peter Andreas Hansen |
| 1843 | Francis Baily | Francis Baily |
| 1844 | No award | No award |
| 1845 | William Henry Smyth | William Henry Smyth |
| 1846 | George Biddell Airy | George Biddell Airy |
| 1847 | No award | No award |
| 1848 | No award | No award |
| 1849 | William Lassell | William Lassell |
| 1850 | Otto Wilhelm von Struve | Otto Wilhelm von Struve |
| 1851 | Annibale de Gasparis | Annibale de Gasparis |
| 1852 | Christian August Friedrich Peters | Christian August Friedrich Peters |
| 1853 | John Russell Hind | John Russell Hind |
| 1854 | Charles Rümker | Charles Rümker |
| 1855 | William Rutter Dawes | William Rutter Dawes |
| 1856 | Robert Grant | Robert Grant |
| 1857 | Heinrich Schwabe | Heinrich Schwabe |
| 1858 | Robert Main | Robert Main |
| 1859 | Richard Christopher Carrington | Richard Christopher Carrington |
| 1860 | Peter Andreas Hansen | Peter Andreas Hansen |
| 1861 | Hermann Goldschmidt | Hermann Goldschmidt |
| 1862 | Warren de la Rue | Warren de la Rue |
| 1863 | Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander | Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander |
| 1864 | No award | No award |
| 1865 | George Phillips Bond | George Phillips Bond |
| 1866 | John Couch Adams | John Couch Adams |
| 1867 | William Huggins William Allen Miller | William Huggins William Allen Miller |
| 1868 | Urbain Le Verrier | Urbain Le Verrier |
| 1869 | Edward James Stone | Edward James Stone |
| 1870 | Charles-Eugène Delaunay | Charles-Eugène Delaunay |
| 1871 | No award | No award |
| 1872 | Giovanni Schiaparelli | Giovanni Schiaparelli |
| 1873 | No award | No award |
| 1874 | Simon Newcomb | Simon Newcomb |
| 1875 | Heinrich d'Arrest | Heinrich d'Arrest |
| 1876 | Urbain Le Verrier | Urbain Le Verrier |
| 1877 | No award | No award |
| 1878 | Ercole Dembowski | Ercole Dembowski |
| 1879 | Asaph Hall | Asaph Hall |
| 1880 | No award | No award |
| 1881 | Axel Möller | Axel Möller |
| 1882 | David Gill | David Gill |
| 1883 | Benjamin Apthorp Gould | Benjamin Apthorp Gould |
| 1884 | Andrew Ainslie Common | Andrew Ainslie Common |
| 1885 | William Huggins | William Huggins |
| 1886 | Edward Charles Pickering Charles Pritchard | Edward Charles Pickering Charles Pritchard |
| 1887 | George William Hill | George William Hill |
| 1888 | Arthur Auwers | Arthur Auwers |
| 1889 | Maurice Loewy | Maurice Loewy |
| 1890 | No award | No award |
| 1891 | No award | No award |
| 1892 | George Howard Darwin | George Howard Darwin |
| 1893 | Hermann Carl Vogel | Hermann Carl Vogel |
| 1894 | Sherburne Wesley Burnham | Sherburne Wesley Burnham |
| 1895 | Isaac Roberts | Isaac Roberts |
| 1896 | Seth Carlo Chandler | Seth Carlo Chandler |
| 1897 | E. E. Barnard | E. E. Barnard |
| 1898 | William Frederick Denning | William Frederick Denning |
| 1899 | Frank McClean | Frank McClean |
| 1900 | Henri Poincaré | Henri Poincaré |
| 1901 | Edward Charles Pickering | Edward Charles Pickering |
| 1902 | Jacobus Kapteyn | Jacobus Kapteyn |
| 1903 | | Hermann Struve |
| 1904 | | George Ellery Hale |
| 1905 | Lewis Boss | |
| 1906 | William Wallace Campbell | |
| 1907 | | Ernest William Brown |
| 1908 | | David Gill |
| 1909 | Oskar Backlund | |
| 1910 | | Friedrich Küstner |
| 1911 | Philip Herbert Cowell | |
| 1912 | Arthur Robert Hinks | Arthur Robert Hinks |
| 1913 | | Henri-Alexandre Deslandres |
| 1914 | Max Wolf | |
| 1915 | | Alfred Fowler |
| 1916 | John Louis Emil Dreyer | |
| 1917 | Walter Sydney Adams | |
| 1918 | | John Evershed |
| 1919 | Guillaume Bigourdan | |
| 1920 | No award | No award |
| 1921 | Henry Norris Russell | |
| 1922 | James Jeans | |
| 1923 | Albert A. Michelson | |
| 1924 | Arthur Eddington | |
| 1925 | | Frank Watson Dyson |
| 1926 | Albert Einstein | |
| 1927 | Frank Schlesinger | |
| 1928 | | Ralph Allen Sampson |
| 1929 | Ejnar Hertzsprung | |
| 1930 | John Stanley Plaskett | |
| 1931 | Willem de Sitter | |
| 1932 | Robert Grant Aitken | |
| 1933 | Vesto Slipher | |
| 1934 | Harlow Shapley | |
| 1935 | Edward Arthur Milne | |
| 1936 | | Hisashi Kimura |
| 1937 | | Harold Jeffreys |
| 1938 | William Hammond Wright | |
| 1939 | | Bernard Lyot |
| 1940 | Edwin Hubble | |
| 1941 | No award | No award |
| 1942 | No award | No award |
| 1943 | | Harold Spencer Jones |
| 1944 | Otto Struve | |
| 1945 | | Bengt Edlén |
| 1946 | Jan Oort | |
| 1947 | | Marcel Minnaert |
| 1948 | Bertil Lindblad | |
| 1949 | | Sydney Chapman |
| 1950 | Joel Stebbins | |
| 1951 | Anton Pannekoek | |
| 1952 | John Jackson | |
| 1953 | Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar | |
| 1954 | Walter Baade | |
| 1955 | Dirk Brouwer | |
| 1956 | | Thomas George Cowling |
| 1957 | Albrecht Unsöld | |
| 1958 | | André Danjon |
| 1959 | Raymond Arthur Lyttleton | |
| 1960 | Viktor Ambartsumian | |
| 1961 | Herman Zanstra | |
| 1962 | Bengt Strömgren | |
| 1963 | | Harry Hemley Plaskett |
| 1964 | Martin Ryle | Maurice Ewing |
| 1965 | Gerald Maurice Clemence | Edward Bullard |
| 1966 | Ira Sprague Bowen | Harold Clayton Urey |
| 1967 | Allan Sandage | Hannes Alfvén |
| 1968 | Fred Hoyle | Walter Munk |
| 1969 | Martin Schwarzschild | Albert Thomas Price |
| 1970 | Horace W. Babcock | |
| 1971 | Richard van der Riet Woolley | Frank Press |
| 1972 | Fritz Zwicky | Hal Thirlaway |
| 1973 | Edwin Salpeter | Francis Birch |
| 1974 | Ludwig Biermann | Keith Bullen |
| 1975 | Jesse Greenstein | Ernst Öpik |
| 1976 | William McCrea | J. A. Ratcliffe |
| 1977 | John Bolton | David Bates |
| 1978 | Lyman Spitzer | James Van Allen |
| 1979 | Charles Gorrie Wynne | Leon Knopoff |
| 1980 | Maarten Schmidt | Chaim L. Pekeris |
| 1981 | Bernard Lovell | James Freeman Gilbert |
| 1982 | Riccardo Giacconi | Harrie Massey |
| 1983 | M. J. Seaton | Fred Whipple |
| 1984 | Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich | Keith Runcorn |
| 1985 | Stephen Hawking | Thomas Gold |
| 1986 | Alexander Dalgarno | George E. Backus |
| 1987 | Martin Rees | Takesi Nagata |
| 1988 | Cornelis de Jager | Don L. Anderson |
| 1989 | Ken Pounds | Raymond Hide |
| 1990 | Bernard Pagel | James Dungey |
| 1991 | Vitaly Ginzburg | Gerald J. Wasserburg |
| 1992 | Eugene Parker | Dan McKenzie |
| 1993 | Donald Lynden-Bell | Peter Goldreich |
| 1994 | James Gunn | Thomas Reeve Kaiser |
| 1995 | Rashid Sunyaev | John Houghton |
| 1996 | Vera Rubin | Kenneth Creer |
| 1997 | Donald Osterbrock | Donald Farley |
| 1998 | Jim Peebles | Robert L. Parker |
| 1999 | Bohdan Paczyński | Kenneth Budden |
| 2000 | Leon Lucy | Robert Hutchison |
| 2001 | Hermann Bondi | Henry Rishbeth |
| 2002 | Leon Mestel | John Arthur Jacobs |
| 2003 | John Bahcall | David Gubbins |
| 2004 | Jerry Ostriker | Grenville Turner |
| 2005 | Margaret Burbidge Geoffrey Burbidge | Carole Jordan |
| 2006 | Simon White | Stan Cowley |
| 2007 | Leonard Culhane | Nigel Weiss |
| 2008 | Joseph Silk | Brian Kennett |
| 2009 | David Williams | Eric Priest |
| 2010 | Douglas Gough | John Woodhouse |
| 2011 | Richard Ellis | Eberhard Grün |
| 2012 | Andy Fabian | John Brown |
| 2013 | Roger Blandford | Chris Chapman |
| 2014 | Carlos Frenk | John Zarnecki |
| 2015 | Michel Mayor | Mike Lockwood |
| 2016 | John Barrow | Philip England |
| 2017 | Nick Kaiser | Michele Dougherty |
| 2018 | Jim Hough | Bob White |
| 2019 | Robert Kennicutt | Margaret Kivelson |
| 2020 | Sandra Faber | Yvonne Elsworth |
| 2021 | Jocelyn Bell Burnell | Thorne Lay |
| 2022 | George Efstathiou | Richard B. Horne |
| 2023 | John Peacock | Tim Palmer |
| 2024 | Gilles Chabrier | John-Michael Kendall |
| 2025 | James Binney | Jonathan Tennyson |
* ↑ Silver medalists: Jean-Louis Pons, Charles Rümker
* ↑ Silver medalists: Mark Beaufoy, William Samuel Stratford
* 1 2 The first woman to receive the Gold Medal was Caroline Herschel in 1828. No other woman did so until Vera Rubin in 1996.
* ↑ Replaced by testimonial medals, awarded to John Couch Adams, George Biddell Airy, Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander, George Bishop, George Everest, Peter Andreas Hansen, Karl Ludwig Hencke, John Herschel, John Russell Hind, John William Lubbock, Urbain Le Verrier & Maxmilian Weisse
* ↑ Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge received the first joint award since 1886