/ Medals and awards

Royal Medals

These medals are awarded for the most important contributions in the physical, biological and applied sciences.

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  • Opening date

  • Closing date

  • Winners announcement

    Exact date TBC

The award 

Each year two medals are awarded for the most important contributions to the advancement of "Natural Knowledge” in the physical and biological sciences respectively. A third medal is awarded for distinguished contributions in the applied sciences.

The three Royal Medals, also known as the King’s Medals, are awarded annually by the Sovereign on the recommendation of the Council of the Society. Frederick Sanger FRS, Max Perutz FRS and Francis Crick FRS are among those who have been awarded a Royal Medal.

The Royal Medals were founded by HM King George IV in 1825. Between 1826 and 1964 two medals were awarded each year. In 1965 the third medal, covering the applied sciences, was introduced on behalf of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Eligibility

The Royal medals are open to UK/Commonwealth/Republic of Ireland citizens or those who have been residents for three or more years. They are restricted to senior scientists 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 these awards.

Nominations are now open

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

2024 winners

  • Sir Tejinder Virdee FRS

    Sir Tejinder Virdee FRS

    Sir Tejinder Virdee FRS is awarded the Royal Medal 2024 for extraordinary leadership and profound impact on all phases of the monumental CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, including the crucial discovery of the Higgs boson through its decays to two photons.
  • Sir Michael Stratton FMedSci FRS

    Sir Michael Stratton FMedSci FRS

    Sir Michael Stratton FMedSci FRS is awarded the Royal Medal 2024 for his foundational contributions to cancer genomics, the discovery of cancer genes and the identification of mutational signatures, which have transformed our understanding of cancer and somatic mutation. Picture credit: Onur Pinar; Wellcome Sanger Institute
  • Sir Ravinder Maini FMedSci FRS and Professor Sir Marc Feldmann AC FMedSci FRS

    Sir Ravinder Maini FMedSci FRS and Professor Sir Marc Feldmann AC FMedSci FRS

    Sir Ravinder Maini FMedSci FRS and Professor Sir Marc Feldmann AC FMedSci FRS are jointly awarded the Royal Medal 2024 for inventing anti-TNF therapy to treat rheumatoid arthritis, bringing their therapeutic from bench to bedside in one of the biggest success stories in modern medicine, and laying the groundwork for biologics to improve the quality of life for millions of people. Picture credit: The Lasker Foundation

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Past winners

  • Antony Hoare
    Awarded in 2023

    Sir Antony Hoare FREng FRS

    For groundbreaking contributions that have revolutionised the computer programming field, the development of "Hoare logic" that has paved the way for provably correct code, providing a robust framework for ensuring software reliability.
  • Herman Waldmann
    Awarded in 2023

    Professor Herman Waldmann FMedSci FRS

    For pioneering monoclonal antibodies for human therapy.
  • Patrick Vallance and Christopher Whitty
    Awarded in 2023

    Sir Patrick Vallance KCB FMedSci FRS and Sir Christopher Whitty KCB FRS

    For their pivotal role in ensuring that the UK’s response to the covid-19 pandemic has benefitted from the very best science and evidence.
  • Richard Ellis
    Awarded in 2022

    Professor Richard Ellis CBE FRS

    For motivating numerous advances in telescopes and instrumentation, and exploited these facilities to revolutionise the understanding of cosmological evolution.
  • Stephen West
    Awarded in 2022

    Dr Stephen West FMedSci FRS

    For discovering and determining the function of the key enzymes that are essential for recombination, repair and the maintenance of genomes.
  • Geoffrey Hinton
    Awarded in 2022

    Professor Geoffrey Hinton CC FRS

    For pioneering work on algorithms that learn distributed representations in artificial neural networks and their application to speech and vision, leading to a transformation of the international information technology industry.
  • Professor Michael Green FRS
    Awarded in 2021

    Professor Michael Green FRS

    For crucial and influential contributions to the development of string theory over a long period, including the discovery of anomaly cancellation.
  • Dennis Lo
    Awarded in 2021

    Professor Dennis Lo FRS

    For the discovery of foetal DNA in maternal plasma, developing non-invasive prenatal testing, and making foundational contributions for other types of liquid biopsies. He has made a major impact on pre-natal diagnosis.
  • Colin Humphreys
    Awarded in 2021

    Sir Colin Humphreys CBE FREng FRS

    For excelling in basic and applied science, university-industry collaboration, technology development and transfer, academic leadership, promotion of public understanding of science, and advising on science to public bodies.
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    Awarded in 2020

    Professor Herbert Huppert FRS

    He has been at the forefront of research in fluid mechanics. As an applied mathematician he has consistently developed highly original analysis of key natural and industrial processes.
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    Awarded in 2020

    Dame Caroline Dean DBE FRS

    She has elucidated molecular mechanisms underlying seasonal timing in plants, thus discovering fundamental processes of plant developmental timing and the epigenetic basis of vernalisation.
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    Awarded in 2020

    Professor Ian Shanks OBE FREng FRS

    He extended knowledge of liquid crystals and applied this successfully to invent novel LCDs. He developed commercial diabetes test strips, which have revolutionised the control and therefore the lives of diabetics worldwide.