The Darwin Medal is one of the medals 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 ...

for "distinction in evolution, biological diversity and developmental, population and organismal biology". In 1885, International Darwin Memorial Fund was transferred to the Royal Society. The fund was devoted for promotion of biological research, and was used to establish the Darwin Medal. The medal was first awarded to

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 ...

in 1890 for "his independent origination of the theory of the origin of species by natural selection." The medal commemorates the work of English biologist

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

(1809–1882). Darwin, most famous for his 1859 book ''

On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...

,'' was a fellow of the Royal Society, and had received the

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...

in 1853 and the

Copley Medal The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is t ...

in 1864. The diameter of the Darwin Medal is inch (5.7 cm). It is made of silver. The

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

has Darwin's portrait, while the reverse has a wreath of plants with Darwin's name in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, "Carolus Darwin". It is surrounded by the years of his birth and death in Roman numerals (MDCCCIX and MDCCCLXXXII). The general design of the medal was by John Evans, the president of the

Royal Numismatic Society The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II. Membership Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...

. Since its creation the Darwin Medal has been awarded over 60 times. Among the recipients are

Francis Darwin Sir Francis "Frank" Darwin (16 August 1848 – 19 September 1925) was a British botanist. He was the third son of the naturalist and scientist Charles Darwin. Biography Francis Darwin was born in Down House, Downe, Kent in 1848. He was t ...

, Charles Darwin's son, and two married couples: Jack and Yolande Heslop-Harrison in 1982 and

Peter and Rosemary Grant Peter Raymond Grant (born October 26, 1936) and Barbara Rosemary Grant (born October 8, 1936) are a British married couple who are evolutionary biologists at Princeton University. Each currently holds the position of emeritus professor. They ...

in 2002. Initially accompanied by a grant of £100, the medal is currently awarded with a grant of £2,000. All citizens who have been residents of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the C ...

, or the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

for more than three years are eligible for the medal. The medal was awarded biennially from 1890 until 2018; since then it is awarded annually. The most recent winner of the Darwin Medal is Canadian biologist

Dolph Schluter Dolph Schluter (born May 22, 1955) is a Canadian professor of Evolutionary Biology and a Canada Research Chair in the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia. Schluter is a major researcher in adaptive radiation and currently ...

, who received it in 2021.

List of recipients

References

External links

* {{featured list Awards established in 1890 Awards of the Royal Society Biennial events Biology awards Charles Darwin 1890 establishments in the United Kingdom 1890 in biology

List of recipients

See also

References

External links