The Hughes Medal is awarded by the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

of London "in recognition of an original discovery in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism or their applications". Named after David E. Hughes, the medal is awarded with a gift of £1000. The medal was first awarded in 1902 to

J. J. Thomson Sir Joseph John Thomson (18 December 1856 – 30 August 1940) was a British physicist and Nobel Laureate in Physics, credited with the discovery of the electron, the first subatomic particle to be discovered. In 1897, Thomson showed that ...

"for his numerous contributions to electric science, especially in reference to the phenomena of electric discharge in gases", and has since been awarded over one-hundred times. Unlike other Royal Society medals, the Hughes Medal has never been awarded to the same individual more than once. The medal has on occasion been awarded to multiple people at a time; in 1938 it was won by John Cockcroft and

Ernest Walton Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton (6 October 1903 – 25 June 1995) was an Irish physicist and Nobel laureate. He is best known for his work with John Cockcroft to construct one of the earliest types of particle accelerator, the Cockcroft–Walton ...

"for their discovery that nuclei could be disintegrated by artificially produced bombarding particles", in 1981 by Peter Higgs and Tom Kibble "for their international contributions about the spontaneous breaking of fundamental symmetries in elementary-particle theory", in 1982 by

Drummond Matthews Drummond Hoyle Matthews FRS (5 February 1931 – 20 July 1997), known as "Drum", was a British marine geologist and geophysicist and a key contributor to the theory of plate tectonics. His work, along with that of fellow Briton Fred Vine a ...

and Frederick Vine "for their elucidation of the magnetic properties of the ocean floors which subsequently led to the plate tectonic hypothesis" and in 1988 by Archibald Howie and M. J. Whelan "for their contributions to the theory of electron diffraction and microscopy, and its application to the study of lattice defects in crystals".

List of recipients

Source
Royal Society
Note. As of 2011, the Hughes Medal has been awarded biennially (on odd years).

References

;General * * ;Specific

External links

Royal Society: Hughes Medal
{{featured list Physics awards Awards established in 1902 1902 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards of the Royal Society 1902 in science

List of recipients

See also

References

External links