The Linnean Medal of the
Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature coll ...
was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and is for the preceding years often referred to as "the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society", not to be confused with the official
Linnean Gold Medal which is seldom awarded.
The engraver of the medal was Charles Anderson Ferrier of Dundee, a Fellow of the Linnean Society from 1882. On the obverse of the medal is the head of Linnaeus in profile and the words
"Carolus Linnaeus", on the reverse are the arms of the society and the legend ''"Societas Linnaeana optime merenti"''; an oval space is reserved for the recipient's name.
[Gage A.T. and Stearn W.T. (1988) ''A Bicentenary History of the Linnean Society of London'', Linnean Society of London, p. 80]
Linnean medallists
19th century
*1888:
Sir Joseph D. Hooker and
Sir Richard Owen
*1889:
Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyrame de Candolle
*1890:
Thomas Henry Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The stori ...
*1891:
Jean-Baptiste Édouard Bornet
*1892:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British natural history, naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution thro ...
*1893:
Daniel Oliver
*1894:
Ernst Haeckel
Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new s ...
*1895:
Ferdinand Julius Cohn
*1896:
George James Allman
*1897:
Jacob Georg Agardh
*1898:
George Charles Wallich
*1899:
John Gilbert Baker
*1900:
Alfred Newton
20th century
*1901:
Sir George King
*1902:
Albert von Kölliker
Albert von Kölliker (born Rudolf Albert Kölliker'';'' 6 July 18172 November 1905) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, and histologist.
Biography
Albert Kölliker was born in Zurich, Switzerland. His early education was carried on in Zurich, ...
*1903:
Mordecai Cubitt Cooke
*1904:
Albert C. L. G. Günther
*1905:
Eduard Strasburger
Eduard Adolf Strasburger (1 February 1844 – 18 May 1912) was a Polish-German professor and one of the most famous botanists of the 19th century. He discovered mitosis in plants.
Life
Eduard Strasburger was born in Warsaw, Congress Poland, ...
*1906:
Alfred Merle Norman
*1907:
Melchior Treub
*1908:
Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing
*1909:
Frederick Orpen Bower
*1910:
Georg Ossian Sars
Prof Georg Ossian Sars HFRSE (20 April 1837 – 9 April 1927) was a Norwegian marine and freshwater biologist.
Life
Georg Ossian Sars was born on 20 April 1837 in Kinn, Norway (now part of Flora), the son of Pastor Michael Sars and Maren ...
*1911:
Hermann Graf zu Solms-Laubach
*1912:
Robert Cyril Layton Perkins
*1913:
Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler
*1914:
Otto Butschli
*1915:
Joseph Henry Maiden
Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus '' Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citin ...
*1916:
Frank Evers Beddard
Frank Evers Beddard FRS FRSE (19 June 1858 – 14 July 1925) was an English zoologist. He became a leading authority on annelids, including earthworms. He won the Linnean Medal in 1916 for his book on oligochaetes.
Life
Beddard was born in ...
*1917:
Henry Brougham Guppy
*1918:
Frederick DuCane Godman
*1919:
Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour
*1920:
Sir Edwin Ray Lankester
*1921:
Dukinfield Henry Scott
*1922:
Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton
*1923:
Thomas Frederic Cheeseman
*1924:
William Carmichael McIntosh
William Carmichael M'Intosh LLD (also spelt McIntosh; 10 October 1838, St Andrews – 1 April 1931, St Andrews) was a Scottish physician and marine zoologist. He served as president of the Ray Society, as vice-president of the Royal So ...
*1925:
Francis Wall Oliver
Francis Wall Oliver FRS (10 May 1864 – 14 September 1951) was an English botanist.
He was educated at Bootham School, York.
He was Quain Professor of Botany at University College London 1890–1925 where he supervised the PhD of Margaret Jan ...
*1926:
Edgar Johnson Allen
*1927:
Otto Stapf
*1928:
Edmund Beecher Wilson
*1929:
Hugo de Vries
*1930:
James Peter Hill
*1931:
Karl Ritter von Goebel
*1932:
Edwin Stephen Goodrich
*1933:
Robert Hippolyte Chodat Robert Hippolyte Chodat (4 June 1865, Moutier – 28 April 1934) was a Swiss botanist and phycologist who was a professor and director of the botanical institute at the University of Geneva.
He studied medicine and botany at Geneva, where he was l ...
*1934:
Sir Sidney Frederic Harmer
*1935:
Sir David Prain
*1936:
John Stanley Gardiner
*1937:
Frederick Frost Blackman
*1938:
Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
*1939:
Elmer Drew Merrill
*1940:
Sir Arthur Smith Woodward
*1941:
Sir Arthur George Tansley
*1942: Award suspended
*1946:
William Thomas Calman and
Frederick Ernest Weiss
*1947:
Maurice Jules Gaston Corneille Caullery
*1948:
Agnes Arber
*1949:
D. M. S. Watson
Prof David Meredith Seares Watson FRS FGS HFRSE LLD (18 June 1886 – 23 July 1973) was the Jodrell Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at University College, London from 1921 to 1951.
Biography
Early life
Watson was born in the High ...
*1950:
Henry Nicholas Ridley
*1951:
Theodor Mortensen
*1952:
Isaac Henry Burkill
Isaac Henry Burkill (18 May 1870 – 8 March 1965) was an English botanist who worked in India and in the Straits Settlements (present day Singapore). He worked primarily in economic botany but published extensively on plant biology, ethno-botany ...
*1953:
Patrick Alfred Buxton
Patrick Alfred Buxton (24 March 1892 – 13 December 1955) was a British medical entomologist.
Origins
Patrick Buxton was born on 24 March 1892 in Hyde Park Street, Paddington, London, son of the banker and politician Alfred Fowell Buxton (18 ...
*1954:
Felix Eugene Fritsch
*1955:
Sir John Graham Kerr
*1956:
William Henry Lang
*1957:
Erik Stensiö
*1958:
Sir Gavin de Beer
Sir Gavin Rylands de Beer (1 November 1899 – 21 June 1972) was a British evolutionary embryologist, known for his work on heterochrony as recorded in his 1930 book ''Embryos and Ancestors''. He was director of the Natural History Museum, L ...
and
William Bertram Turrill
*1959:
H. M. Fox and
Carl Skottsberg
*1960:
Libbie H. Hyman and
Hugh Hamshaw Thomas
*1961: and
F. S. Russle ''
ic'
*1962:
Norman L. Bor and
Guillermo Kuschel
*1963:
Sidnie M. Manton and
William H. Pearsall
*1964:
Richard E. Holttum and
Carl Frederick Abel Pantin
*1965:
John Hutchinson and
John Ramsbottom
*1966:
George Stuart Carter and
Sir Harry Godwin
Sir Harry Godwin, FRS (9 May 1901 – 12 August 1985) was a prominent English botanist and ecologist of the 20th century. He is considered to be an influential peatland scientist, who coined the phrase "peat archives" in 1981. He had a long ass ...
*1967:
Charles Sutherland Elton
Charles Sutherland Elton (29 March 1900 – 1 May 1991) was an English zoologist and animal ecologist. He is associated with the development of population and community ecology, including studies of invasive organisms.
Personal life
Charles ...
and
Charles E. Hubbard
*1968: and
T. M. Harris
*1969:
Irene Manton
Irene Manton, FRS FLS (born Irène Manton; 17 April 1904, in Kensington – 13 May 1988) was a British botanist who was Professor of Botany at the University of Leeds. She was noted for study of ferns and algae.
Biography
Irene Manton was th ...
and
Ethelwynn Trewavas
*1970:
E. J. H. Corner and
Errol I. White
*1971:
Charles Russell Metcalfe and
James Edward Smith
*1972:
Arthur Roy Clapham
Arthur Roy Clapham (24 May 1904 – 18 December 1990), was a British botanist. Born in Norwich and educated at Downing College, Cambridge, Clapham worked at Rothamsted Experimental Station as a crop physiologist (1928–30), and then took a tea ...
and
Alfred Romer
*1973:
G. Ledyard Stebbins
George Ledyard Stebbins Jr. (January 6, 1906 – January 19, 2000) was an American botanist and geneticist who is widely regarded as one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. Stebbins received his Ph.D. in botany from Har ...
and
John.Z.Young
*1974:
E. H. W. Hennig and
Josias Braun-Blanquet
*1975:
A. S. Watt and
Philip M Sheppard
*1976:
William Thomas Stearn
*1977:
Ernst Mayr and
Thomas G. Tutin
*1978: and
Thomas Stanley Westoll
*1979:
Robert McNeill Alexander
Robert McNeill (Neill) Alexander, CBE FRS (7 July 1934 – 21 March 2016) was a British zoologist and a leading authority in the field of biomechanics. For thirty years he was Professor of Zoology at the University of Leeds.
Early life and ...
and
P. W. Richards
*1980:
Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth
Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth (9 October 1905 in Birmingham – 25 October 1998 in Derby) was a British mycologist and scientific historian. He was the older brother of Ruth Ainsworth.
Education and work
Ainsworth received his doctorate fr ...
and
Roy Crowson
*1981:
Brian Laurence Burtt and
Sir Cyril Astley Clarke
*1982:
Peter Hadland Davis and
Peter H. Greenwood
*1983:
Cecil T. Ingold and
Michael J. D. White
*1984:
John G. Hawkes and
J. S. Kennedy
*1985:
Arthur Cain and
Jeffrey B. Harborne
*1986:
Arthur Cronquist and
Percy C. C. Garnham
*1987:
Geoffrey Fryer and
V. H. Heywood
*1988:
John L. Harley and
Sir Richard Southwood
*1989:
William Donald Hamilton and
Sir David Smith
*1990:
Sir Ghillean Tolmie Prance and
F. Gwendolen Rees
Florence Gwendolen Rees, (Gwendolen'' or Gwen) FRS (3 July 1906 – 4 October 1994) was a Welsh zoologist and parasitologist. She was the first Welsh woman to become a fellow of the Royal Society. By the time she was 80 years old, she had pu ...
*1991:
William Gilbert Chaloner and
R. M. May
*1992:
Richard Evans Schultes and
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Goul ...
*1993:
Barbara Pickersgill and
Lincoln Brower
Lincoln Pierson Brower (September 10, 1931 – July 17, 2018) was an American entomologist and ecologist, known for his work on monarch butterflies through six decades, including on their automimicry, chemical ecology and conservation. G. Pasteu ...
*1994: and
Sir Alec John Jeffreys
*1995:
S. M. Walters and
John Maynard Smith
*1996:
Jack Heslop-Harrison and
Keith Vickerman
Keith Vickerman FRS FRSE FMedSci (21 March 1933 – 28 June 2016) was a British zoologist born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. He was Regius Professor of Zoology in the University of Glasgow, 1984–98.‘VICKERMAN, Prof. Keith’, Who's Who 2013 ...
*1997:
Enrico S. Coen and
Rosemary Helen Lowe-McConnell
*1998:
Mark W. Chase
Mark Wayne Chase (born 1951) is a US-born British botanist. He is noted for work in plant classification and evolution, and one of the instigators of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group-classification for flowering plants which is partly based on DNA ...
and
C. Patterson
*1999:
Philip Barry Tomlinson and
Quentin Bone
*2000:
Bernard Verdcourt
Bernard Verdcourt (20 January 1925 – 25 October 2011) was a biologist and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, most widely known as a Botany, botanist and latterly an honorary research fellow at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London. Prior to ...
and
Michael F. Claridge
21st century
*2001:
Chris Humphries
Chris Humphries FLS ( Derby, 29 April 1947 – 31 July 2009) was a British botanist known for his work on systematic botany and biogeography.
In 1980, he was awarded the Bicentenary Medal of the Linnean Society. In 2001 the Linnean Society of ...
and
*2002:
Sherwin Carlquist
Sherwin John Carlquist FMLS (July 7, 1930 - December 1, 2021) was an American botanist and photographer.
Education
He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1952 and a Ph.D. in botany in 1956, also at ...
and
*2003:
Pieter Baas
Pieter Baas (born 28 April 1944) is a Dutch botanist. He is an emeritus professor of plant systematics at Leiden University. He served as director of the of Leiden University between 1991 and 1999. When the institute was faced with budget cuts in ...
and
Bryan Campbell Clarke
*2004:
Geoffrey Allen Boxshall and
John Dransfield
*2005:
Paula Rudall and
*2006:
David Mabberley and
Richard A. Fortey
*2007: and
Thomas Cavalier-Smith
*2008: and
Stephen Donovan
*2009:
Peter Shaw Ashton and
Michael Akam
*2010:
Dianne Edwards
Professor Dianne Edwards CBE, FRS, FRSE, FLS, FLSW (born 1942) is a palaeobotanist, who studies the colonisation of land by plants, and early land plant interactions.
Early life
Edwards was born in Swansea, South Wales, and spent much of h ...
and
Derek Yalden
*2011:
Brian J. Coppins and
H. Charles Godfray
*2012:
Stephen Blackmore
Stephen Blackmore CBE FRSE FRSB FLS (born 30 July 1952) is a British botanist, who was educated at St. George's School, Hong Kong and the University of Reading where he completed his PhD in 1976 on the "Palynology and Systematics of the Cic ...
and
Peter Holland
*2013:
Kingsley Wayne Dixon
*2014: and
*2015: , , and
Rosmarie Honegger
Rosmarie Honegger (born 1947) is a Swiss lichenologist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Zurich.
Academic career
Honegger was born in 1947 and grew up in Emmental, Switzerland. She graduated with a PhD in biology from the Univ ...
*2016:
Sandra Knapp
Sandra Diane Knapp (born 1956) is an American-born botanist. She is a merit researcher of the Plants Division of the Natural History Museum, London and from 2018 was the president of the Linnean Society of London. While working at the Natural H ...
and
Georgina Mace
*2017: and
*2018:
Kamaljit S Bawa, , and
Sophien Kamoun
*2019:
Vicki Funk and
*2020:
Ben Sheldon
*2022:
Rohan Pethiyagoda
See also
*
List of biology awards
References
{{Carl Linnaeus
Biology awards
Linnean Society of London
British science and technology awards
Commemoration of Carl Linnaeus
Awards established in 1888
1888 establishments in the United Kingdom