Copley Medal

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Copley Medal

The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences". Awarded every year, the medal is the oldest Royal Society medal still in use, having first been awarded in 1731 to Stephen Gray

Stephen Gray (scientist)

Stephen Gray was an England dyeing and amateur astronomer, who was the first to systematically experiment with electrical conduction, rather than simple generation of static electricity charges and investigations of the static phenomena....
, who received it for "his new Electrical Experiments: - as an encouragement to him for the readiness he has always shown in obliging the Society with his discoveries and improvements in this part of Natural Knowledge".

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Copley Medal'

Start a new discussion about 'Copley Medal'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Stephen Gray (scientist)

Pound sterling

----The pound sterling , subdivided into 100 pence , is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependency and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory....
100 to be used for carrying out experiments by Sir Godgery Copley, something which the interest

Interest

Interest is a fee paid on borrowed assets. It is the price paid for the use of borrowed money , or, money earned by deposited funds .Assets that are sometimes lent with interest include money, shares, consumer goods through hire purchase, major assets such as aircraft finance, and even entire factories in finance lease arrangements....
on the amount was used for several years. The conditions for the medal have been changed several of times; in 1736 it was suggested that "a medal or other honorary prize should be bestowed on the person whose experiment should be best approved", and this remained the rule until 1831 when the conditions were changed so that the medal would be awarded to the researcher that the Royal Society Council decided most deserved it. A second donation of £1666 13s. 4d. was made by Sir Joseph William Copley in 1881, and the interest from that amount is used to pay for the medal. The medal in its current format is made of silver gilt and awarded with a £5000 prize.

Since its inception, the medal has been awarded to a number of notable scientists, including 52 winners of Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
s; 17 winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics

Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Prize in literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine....
, 21 winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institutet. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Physiology or Medic...
and 14 winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Pri...
. These include Frederick Sanger

Frederick Sanger

Frederick Sanger, Order of Merit , Order of the Companions of Honour, Order of the British Empire, Royal Society is an England biochemistry and twice a Nobel laureate in chemistry....
, who was awarded the Copley Medal in 1977 "[i]n recognition of his distinguished work on the chemical structure of proteins and his studies on the sequences of nucleic acids" and is one of four people to have won multiple Nobel Prizes, having won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958 and 1980. The person awarded the Copley Medal more than any other is John Theophilus Desaguliers

John Theophilus Desaguliers

John Theophilus Desaguliers was a natural philosopher born in France. He was a member of the Royal Society of London beginning 29 July 1714. He was presented with the Royal Society's highest honour, the Copley Medal, in 1734, 1736 and 1741, the 1741 award being for his "discovery of the properties of Electricity"....
, who won the medal in 1734, 1736 and 1741 respectively. The medal was most recently awarded to Roger Penrose

Roger Penrose

Sir Roger Penrose, Order of Merit , Royal Society is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College....
in 2008 "for his beautiful and original insights into many areas of mathematics and mathematical physics. Sir Roger has made outstanding contributions to general relativity theory and cosmology, most notably for his work on black holes and the Big Bang."