Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society explained

Alt:A gold medal, featuring an image of a telescope. Engraved with 'Asaph Hall 1979' and 'quicquid nitet notandum'
Caption:The RAS gold medal awarded to Asaph Hall
Awarded For:Achievement in astronomy or geophysics
Country:United Kingdom
Reward:Medal
Year:1824
Year2:2024
Holder:Gilles Chabrier & John-Michael Kendall

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 Notes References
1824 [1]
1825 No award
1826
1827 [2]
1828 [3]
1829
1830
1831
1832 No award
1833
1834 No award
1835
1836
1837
1838 No award
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844 No award
1845
1846
1847 No award
1848 No award [4]
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864 No award
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871 No award
1872
1873 No award
1874
1875
1876
1877 No award
1878
1879
1880 No award
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890 No award
1891 No award
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920 No award
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941 No award
1942 No award
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990 James W. Dungey
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000 [5]
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005 [6]
2006
2007
2008
2009 [7]
2010 [8]
2011 [9]
2012 [10]
2013 [11]
2014 [12]
2015
2016
2017
2018 [13]
2019 [14]
2020 Sandra Moore Faber[15]
2021 [16]
2022
2023
2024

See also

Notes and References

  1. Silver medalists: Jean-Louis Pons, Charles Rümker
  2. Silver medalists: Mark Beaufoy, William Samuel Stratford
  3. The first woman to receive the Gold Medal was Caroline Herschel in 1828. No other woman did so until Vera Rubin in 1996.
  4. 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
  5. 2000A&G....41d...7.. News: Appointments and awards. 41. 2000. 7. Astronomy & Geophysics. 10.1046/j.1468-4004.2000.00404-9.x. 4. free.
  6. Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge received the first joint award since 1886
  7. Web site: RAS meeting and Community Forum - JENAM 2009 . 23 April 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090217044739/http://www.jenam2009.eu/default.asp?contentid=1399 . February 17, 2009 .
  8. Web site: RAS Honours Outstanding Astronomers and Geophysicists. Royal Astronomical Society. 25 March 2011.
  9. Web site: RAS honours outstanding astronomers and geophysicists. Royal Astronomical Society. 10 January 2013. 19 January 2011.
  10. Web site: RAS honours leading astronomers and geophysicists. Royal Astronomical Society. 17 February 2012.
  11. Web site: 2013 winners of the RAS awards, medals and prizes. Royal Astronomical Society. 10 January 2013. 12 January 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130120022826/http://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/224-news-2013/2211-2013-winners-of-the-ras-awards-medals-and-prizes. 2013-01-20. dead.
  12. Web site: 2014 winners of the RAS awards, medals and prizes. Royal Astronomical Society. 21 January 2014. 10 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225231/https://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/2379-winners-of-the-2014-awards-medals-and-prizes. 2016-03-03. dead.
  13. Web site: The Royal Astronomical Society. https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20180301082700/http://www.ras.org.uk/news%2Dand%2Dpress/3086%2Dras%2Dmedals%2Dand%2Dawards%2Dhonour%2Dleading%2Dastronomers%2Dand%2Dgeophysicists. dead. 4 June 2018. 2018-03-01.
  14. Web site: Leading astronomers and geophysicists honoured by Royal Astronomical Society. Royal Astronomical Society . 9 January 2019. Morgan Hollis. 14 January 2019.
  15. Web site: Leading astronomers and geophysicists honoured in RAS bicentenary year. Royal Astronomical Society. 25 August 2020.
  16. Royal Astronomical Society Honours Stars of Astronomy and Geophysics . 8 January 2021 . Royal Astronomical Society .

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