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# The James Smithson Bicentennial Medal

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The James Smithson Bicentennial Medal, established in 1965 in honor of the 200th anniversary of Smithson’s birth, is given under the Secretary’s authority to persons who have made distinguished contributions to the advancement of areas of interest to the Smithsonian. It is James Smithson’s visionary bequest that established the Smithsonian Institution. The list of recent recipients is: 

**2024**- Thomas Haas**2022**- Gloria Estefan           Emilio Estefan           Dave Grohl           Susan Tedeschi**2017** - Harrison Ford           Betty White**2016** - Jeff Bezos**2015** - Sebastian Thrun           Ellsworth Kelly**2014**- Ralph Lauren**2013** - Robert Gardner**2012** - Clint Eastwood**2010** - Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair Jr.)           Franklin McCain           Joseph McNeil           David Richmond (posthumously)**2009** - Claude Lévi-Strauss**2007** - Patricia B. Wolf           Raul Yzaguirre           Robert H. Rosenblum (posthumously)**2006** - Malcolm Bilson            Jorge Ruiz            **2005** - Stephen W. Hawking            Skitch Henderson                   Anner Bylsma **2004** - Sir David Attenborough                Maestro Jaap Schroeder **2003** - Ellen Ochoa                       Artie Shaw **2002** - Olga Guillot           David N. Baker           Antonia C. Novello, M.D.    **2001** - Henry Z. Steinway            Dolores Huerta                       Celia Cruz **2000** - Dave Brubeck            Jerry Lee Lewis                   Billy Joel            **1999** - Steven Spielberg            Katherine Dunham                   Alberto Rex Gonzalez **1998** - Leslie Casson Stevens           Sir Edmund Hillary           Johnny Smith        **1997** - Wilcomb C. Washburn (posthumously)           Patrick J. McGovern                   Hal Prince           Jim Henson            George Lucas **1996** - Walter Cronkite                   Sir Colin Marshall           Pete Seeger                       Les Paul           Julia Child                       James Whitmore           Jacques Cousteau                   Don Ricardo Alegria                   Dale Chihuly           Chuck Jones            **1995** - Gene Carl Feldman**1992** - Rosemary Clooney           Hal Roach            **1990** - Yevgeny Yevtushenko           Tomie dePaola                       Tito Puente            Robert Redford                   Robert Jastrow           Richard E. Leakey                   Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson           John Birks Gillespie                   International Poetry Forum           Helen Hayes                       Hank Jones           Gordon Parks                       George W. Gross           Geoffrey Holder                   Emerson String Quartet           David Macaulay                   Betty Carter           20th Century Consort 

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SI-145-2024
Media Only
Linda St. Thomas

202-841-2517

stthomasl@si.edu
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