/ Medals and awards

Davy Medal

This medal is awarded to an outstanding researcher in the field of chemistry.

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  • Winners announcement

    Exact date TBC

The award

The Davy Medal is awarded for outstanding contributions in the field of chemistry. The medal is named after Humphry Davy FRS, the chemist and inventor of the Davy Lamp, and was first awarded in 1877. The medal is of bronze, is awarded annually and is accompanies by a gift of £2,000.

Eligibility

The Davy medal is open to UK/Commonwealth/Republic of Ireland citizens or those who have been residents for three or more years. There are no restrictions on career stage and nominations will remain valid and shall be considered by the award selection committee throughout three nomination cycles. Teams or groups may now be nominated for this award.

Nominations are now open

Nominations are now open and will close on 21 February 2025. 

2024 winner

  • Professor Véronique Gouverneur FRS

    Professor Véronique Gouverneur FRS

    The Davy Medal 2024 is awarded to Professor Véronique Gouverneur FRS for contributions to the field of fluorine chemistry with applications in both medicine and positron emission tomography imaging.

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Past winners

  • Margaret Brimble
    Awarded in 2023

    Professor Dame Margaret Brimble CNZM FRS

    For outstanding contributions to organic chemistry with wide-ranging applications across the life sciences.
  • Peter Sadler
    Awarded in 2022

    Professor Peter Sadler FRS

    For pioneering the research field of medicinal inorganic chemistry, "Metals in Medicine", and the design of new metallodrugs with novel mechanisms of action.
  • Malcolm Levitt
    Awarded in 2021

    Professor Malcolm Levitt FRS

    For his contributions to the theory and methodology of nuclear magnetic resonance, including composite pulses, symmetry-based recoupling, long-lived nuclear spin states, and the study of endofullerenes by electromagnetic spectroscopies and neutron scattering.
  • Benjamin David
    Awarded in 2020

    Professor Benjamin Davis FMedSci FRS

    For inventing powerful chemical methods that directly manipulate complex biological molecules, enabling elucidation and control of biological function and mechanism in vitro and in vivo, beyond the limits of genetics
  • Varinder Aggarwal
    Awarded in 2019

    Professor Varinder Aggarwal FRS

    For his ground-breaking methods coupling boronic esters creating 3-D architectures with full control over shape and functionality with broad ranging applications across the sciences.
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    Awarded in 2018

    Professor John Pyle CBE FRS

    For pioneering leadership in understanding the depletion of the global ozone layer by halocarbons, particularly coupling between chemistry, radiation, and dynamics, and the special vulnerability of Arctic ozone.
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    Awarded in 2017

    Professor Matthew Rosseinsky OBE FRS

    For his advances in the design and discovery of functional materials, integrating the development of new experimental and computational techniques.
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    Awarded in 2016

    Professor Stephen Mann FRS

    For distinguished contributions to the chemistry of bio-mineralization and for pioneering the bioinspired synthesis and self-assembly of functional nanostructures and hybrid nanoscale objects.
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    Awarded in 2015

    Professor Gideon Davies FMedSci FRS

    For his field-defining work in determining the reaction chemistry of enzyme-catalysed carbohydrate transformations with major applications in medicine and biotechnology.
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    Awarded in 2014

    Dame Clare Grey DBE FRS

    For further pioneering applications of solid state nuclear magnetic resonance to materials of relevance to energy and the environment.
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    Awarded in 2013

    Professor Graham Hutchings CBE FREng FRS

    For the discovery of catalysis by gold and for his seminal contributions to this new field of chemistry.
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    Awarded in 2012

    Professor Fraser Armstrong FRS

    For his pioneering protein film electrochemistry allowing exquisite thermodynamic and kinetic control of redox enzymes, exemplified by hydrogenases, key in energy technology.