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 Year Astronomy Geophysics
2020 Sandra Moore Yvonne Elsworth 2000 Leon Lucy Robert Hutchison
Faber 1999 Bohdan Kenneth Budden Paczynski 2019 Robert Margaret Kivelson
1998 James Peebles Robert L. Parker Kennicutt
1997 Donald Donald Farley 2018 James Hough Robert White
Osterbrock 2017 Nick Kaiser Michele Dougherty
1996 Vera Rubin Kenneth Creer
2016 John D. Barrow Philip England 1995 Rashid Sunyaev John T. Houghton
2015 Michel Mayor Mike Lockwood 1994 James E. Gunn Thomas R. Kaiser
2014 Carlos Frenk John Zarnecki 1993 Donald Lynden- Peter Goldreich
2013 Roger Chris Chapman Bell
Blandford 1992 Eugene N. Dan P. McKenzie
2012 Andy Fabian John Brown Parker
2011 Richard Ellis Eberhard Grün 1991 Vitaly Ginzburg Gerald J.
2010 Douglas Gough John Woodhouse Wasserburg
2009 David A. Eric Priest 1990 Bernard James W. Dungey
Williams Ephraim Julius
2008 Joseph Silk Brian Kennett Pagel
1989 Ken Pounds Raymond Hide 2007 John L. Culhane Nigel O. Weiss
2006 Simon White Stan Cowley
1988 Cornelis de Don L. Anderson 2005 Margaret Carole Jordan Burbidge & Jager
Geoffrey 1987 Martin J. Rees Takesi Nagata
Burbidge 1986 Alexander George E. Backus
2004 Jeremiah P. Grenville Turner Dalgarno
Ostriker 1985 Stephen Thomas Gold
2003 John Bahcall David Gubbins Hawking 2002 Leon Mestel John Arthur Jacobs 1984 Yakov Stanley Keith
Borisovich Runcorn 2001 Hermann Bondi Henry Rishbeth
Zel'dovich 1983 Michael John Fred Whipple 1956 Thomas George
Seaton Cowling
1955 Dirk Brouwer 1982 Riccardo Harrie Massey
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.
Minnaert McCrea Ratcliffe 1946 Jan Hendrik 1975 Jesse Ernst Ӧpik
Oort Greenstein
1945 Bengt Edlén 1974 Ludwig Keith Edward
1944 Otto Struve Biermann Bullen 1943 Harold Spencer 1973 Edwin Salpeter Francis Birch
Jones 1972 Fritz Zwicky Henry Ivison 1940 Edwin P. Shipley Thirlaway
Hubble 1971 Richard van der Frank Press
1939 Bernard Lyot Riet Woolley 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
1933 Vesto Slipher 1965 Gerald Maurice Edward Bullard 1932 Robert Grant Clemence
Aitken 1964 Martin Ryle Maurice Ewing 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
Dyson 1958 André Danjon 1924 Arthur
Eddington 1957 Albrecht 1923 Albert A.
Unsöld Michelson 1893 Hermann Carl
1922 James Vogel
Hopwood Jeans 1892 George
1921 Henry Norris Howard Darwin
Russell 1889 Maurice Loewy 1919 Guillaume
1888 Arthur Auwers Bigourdan 1887 George William 1918 John Evershed
Hill 1917 Walter Sydney 1886 Edward Charles Adams Pickering, 1916 John L. E. Charles
Dreyer
Pritchard
1915 Alfred Fowler 1885 William
1914 Max Wolf Huggins 1913 Henri-Alexandre
Deslandres 1884 Andrew Ainslie 1912 Arthur Robert Arthur Robert Hinks
Common Hinks 1883 Benjamin A. 1911 Philip Herbert Gould
Cowell
1882 David Gill
1910 Friedrich Kűstner
1881 Axel Möller 1909 Oskar Backlund
1879 Asaph Hall 1908 David Gill 1878 Ercole 1907 Ernest William
Dembowski Brown 1876 Urbain Le 1906 William Wallace Verrier 1875 Heinrich Campbell
d'Arrest 1905 Lewis Boss 1874 Simon
Newcomb 1904 George Ellery Hale 1872 Giovanni
1903 Hermann Struve Schiaparelli 1902 Jacobus 1870 Charles
Kapteyn Delaunay 1901 Edward Charles 1869 Edward James
Pickering Stone
1900 Henri Poincaré 1868 Urbain Le
Verrier
1899 Frank McClean 1867 William 1898 William Huggins, Frederick William Allen
Miller Denning 1897 Edward 1866 John Couch Emerson Adams
Barnard 1865 George Phillips
1896 Seth Carlo Bond
Chandler 1863 Friedrich Wilhelm 1895 Isaac Roberts
Argelander 1894 Sherburne Wesley 1862 Warren de la
Rue Burnham 1861 Hermann 842 Peter Andreas
Goldschmidt Hansen 1860 Peter Andreas 1841 Friedrich
Hansen Wilhelm Bessel
1859 Richard 1840 Jean Plana Christopher 1839 John
Carrington Wrottesley
1858 Robert Main 1837 Otto A.
1857 Heinrich Rosenberger
Schwabe 1836 John Herschel
1856 Robert Grant 1835 Manuel J.
1855 William Rutter Johnson
Dawes 1833 George Biddell
1854 Charles Airy
Rümker 1831 Marie-Charles 1853 John Russell Damoiseau,
Hind Henry Kater 1852 Christian 1830 Johann Franz August Encke, William Friedrich Richardson
Peters 1829 Friedrich 1851 Annibale de Wilhelm Gasparis Bessel, William
1850 Otto Struve Pearson,
1849 William Lassell Heinrich 1848 # John Couch # George Everest Christian Adams, # Schumacher George Biddell 1828 Thomas Airy, # Makdougall Friedrich Brisbane, James Wilhelm Dunlop, August Caroline Argelander, # Herschel George Bishop, 1827 Francis Baily, * # Peter Mark Beaufoy, Andreas * William Hansen, # Karl Samuel Ludwig Hencke Stratford 1846 George Biddell 1826 John Herschel, Airy, # John James South, Herschel, # Wilhelm Struve John Russell 1824 Charles Hind, # John Babbage, William Johann Franz Lubbock, # Encke, * J.L. Urbain Le Pons, *Charles Verrier, Rumker # Maxmilian Weisse, 1845 William Henry * Silver Medal
Smyth # Testimonial 1843 Francis Baily