The Gold Medal The Gold Medal is the highest award in the Society's gift, often awarded in recognition of a lifetime’s work. Year Astronomy Geophysics 2000 Leon Lucy Robert Hutchison Year Astronomy Geophysics 1999 Bohdan Kenneth Budden 2020 Sandra Moore Yvonne Elsworth Paczyński Faber 1998 James Peebles Robert L. Parker 2019 Robert Margaret Kivelson 1997 Donald Donald Farley Kennicutt Osterbrock 2018 James Hough Robert White 1996 Vera Rubin Kenneth Creer 2017 Nick Kaiser Michele Dougherty 1995 Rashid Sunyaev John T. Houghton 1994 James E. Gunn Thomas R. Kaiser 2016 John D. Barrow Philip England 1993 Donald Lynden- Peter Goldreich 2015 Michel Mayor Mike Lockwood Bell 2014 Carlos Frenk John Zarnecki 1992 Eugene N. Dan P. McKenzie 2013 Roger Chris Chapman Parker Blandford 1991 Vitaly Ginzburg Gerald J. 2012 Andy Fabian John Brown Wasserburg 2011 Richard Ellis Eberhard Grün 1990 Bernard James W. Dungey 2010 Douglas Gough John Woodhouse Ephraim Julius 2009 David A. Eric Priest Pagel Williams 1989 Ken Pounds Raymond Hide 2008 Joseph Silk Brian Kennett 2007 John L. Culhane Nigel O. Weiss 1988 Cornelis de Don L. Anderson 2006 Simon White Stan Cowley Jager 2005 Margaret Carole Jordan 1987 Martin J. Rees Takesi Nagata Burbidge & 1986 Alexander George E. Backus Geoffrey Dalgarno Burbidge 1985 Stephen Thomas Gold 2004 Jeremiah P. Grenville Turner Hawking Ostriker 1984 Yakov Stanley Keith 2003 John Bahcall David Gubbins Borisovich Runcorn 2002 Leon Mestel John Arthur Jacobs Zel'dovich 2001 Hermann Bondi Henry Rishbeth 1983 Michael John Fred Whipple 1956 Thomas George Seaton Cowling 1982 Riccardo Harrie Massey 1955 Dirk Brouwer Giacconi 1981 Bernard Lovell James Freeman 1954 Walter Baade Gilbert 1953 Subrahmanyan 1980 Maarten Chaim L. Pekeris Chandrasekhar Schmidt 1952 John Jackson 1979 Charles Gorrie Leon Knopoff 1951 A. Pannekoek Wynne 1950 Joel Stebbins 1978 Lyman Spitzer James Van Allen 1949 Sydney Chapman 1977 John Gatenby David Robert Bates 1948 Bertil Lindblad Bolton 1976 William H. John Ashworth 1947 Marcel G. J. McCrea Ratcliffe Minnaert 1975 Jesse Ernst Ӧpik 1946 Jan Hendrik Greenstein Oort 1945 Bengt Edlén 1974 Ludwig Keith Edward Biermann Bullen 1944 Otto Struve 1973 Edwin Salpeter Francis Birch 1943 Harold Spencer Jones 1972 Fritz Zwicky Henry Ivison Shipley Thirlaway 1940 Edwin P. Hubble 1971 Richard van der Frank Press Riet Woolley 1939 Bernard Lyot 1938 William 1970 Horace W. Hammond Babcock Wright 1969 Martin Albert Thomas Price 1937 Harold Jeffreys Schwarzschild 1968 Sir Fred Hoyle Walter Munk 1936 Hisashi Kimura 1967 Allan R. Hannes Alfven 1935 Edward Arthur Sandage Milne 1966 Ira Sprague Harold Clayton 1934 Harlow Shapley Bowen Urey 1965 Gerald Maurice Edward Bullard 1933 Vesto Slipher Clemence 1932 Robert Grant 1964 Martin Ryle Maurice Ewing Aitken 1931 Willem de Sitter 1963 Harry Hemley 1930 John Stanley Plaskett Plaskett 1962 Bengt 1929 Ejnar Strömgren Hertzsprung 1961 Herman 1928 Ralph Allen Zanstra Sampson 1960 Viktor 1927 Frank Ambartsumian Schlesinger 1959 Raymond 1926 Albert Einstein Arthur 1925 Frank Watson Lyttleton 1958 André Danjon Dyson 1924 Arthur Eddington 1957 Albrecht Unsöld 1923 Albert A. 1894 Sherburne Michelson Wesley 1922 James Burnham Hopwood Jeans 1893 Hermann Carl 1921 Henry Norris Vogel Russell 1892 George 1919 Guillaume Howard Darwin Bigourdan 1889 Maurice Loewy 1918 John Evershed 1888 Arthur Auwers 1917 Walter Sydney 1887 George William Adams 1916 John L. E. Hill 1886 Edward Charles Dreyer 1915 Alfred Fowler Pickering, Charles 1914 Max Wolf Pritchard 1913 Henri-Alexandre 1885 William Deslandres Huggins 1912 Arthur Robert Arthur Robert Hinks Hinks 1884 Andrew Ainslie 1911 Philip Herbert Common Cowell 1883 Benjamin A. 1910 Friedrich Kűstner Gould 1909 Oskar Backlund 1882 David Gill 1908 David Gill 1881 Axel Möller 1907 Ernest William 1879 Asaph Hall Brown 1906 William 1878 Ercole Wallace Dembowski 1876 Urbain Le Campbell 1905 Lewis Boss Verrier 1875 Heinrich d'Arrest 1904 George Ellery Hale 1874 Simon 1903 Hermann Struve Newcomb 1902 Jacobus 1872 Giovanni Kapteyn Schiaparelli 1901 Edward Charles 1870 Charles Pickering Delaunay 1900 Henri Poincaré 1869 Edward James Stone 1899 Frank McClean 1868 Urbain Le 1898 William Verrier Frederick 1867 William Denning Huggins, 1897 Edward William Allen Emerson Miller Barnard 1866 John Couch Adams 1896 Seth Carlo Chandler 1865 George Phillips 1895 Isaac Roberts Bond 1863 Friedrich # Maxmilian Wilhelm Weisse, Argelander 1862 Warren de la Rue 1861 Hermann Goldschmidt 1860 Peter Andreas 1845 William Henry Hansen Smyth 1859 Richard Christopher Carrington 1858 Robert Main 1857 Heinrich 1843 Francis Baily Schwabe 1842 Peter Andreas 1856 Robert Grant Hansen 1855 William Rutter 1841 Friedrich Dawes Wilhelm Bessel 1854 Charles 1840 Jean Plana Rümker 1853 John Russell 1839 John Hind Wrottesley 1852 Christian 1837 Otto A. August Rosenberger Friedrich 1836 John Herschel Peters 1835 Manuel J. 1851 Annibale de Johnson Gasparis 1833 George Biddell 1850 Otto Struve Airy 1849 William Lassell 1831 Marie-Charles 1848 # John Couch # George Everest Damoiseau, Adams, # Henry Kater George Biddell 1830 Johann Franz Airy, # Encke, William Richardson Friedrich Wilhelm 1829 Friedrich August Wilhelm Argelander, # Bessel, William George Bishop, Pearson, # Peter Heinrich Andreas Christian Hansen, # Karl Schumacher Ludwig Hencke 1828 Thomas 1846 George Biddell Makdougall Airy, # John Brisbane, James Herschel, # Dunlop, John Russell Caroline Hind, # John Herschel William Lubbock, # Urbain Le Verrier, 1827 Francis Baily, * Mark Beaufoy, * William Samuel Stratford 1826 John Herschel, James South, Wilhelm Struve 1824 Charles Babbage, Johann Franz Encke, * J.L. Pons, *Charles Rumker * Silver Medal # Testimonial .