The Clarke Medal is awarded by the

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. It is the oldest learned society in the Southern Hemisphere. The Society traces its ...

, the oldest

learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...

in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, for distinguished work in the

Natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

s. The medal is named in honour of the Reverend William Branwhite Clarke, one of the founders of the Society and was to be ''"awarded for meritorious contributions to

Geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

Mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

and

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

, to be open to men of science, whether resident in Australasia or elsewhere"''. It is now awarded annually for distinguished work in the Natural Sciences (geology,

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

) done in the Australian Commonwealth and its territories. Each discipline is considered in rotation every three years.

Recipients

Source: Royal Society of New South Wales * 1878:

Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...

(Zoology) * 1879:

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

(Botany) * 1880:

Thomas Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

(Palaeontology) * 1881: Frederick McCoy (Palaeontology) * 1882:

James Dwight Dana James Dwight Dana Royal Society of London, FRS FRSE (February 12, 1813 – April 14, 1895) was an American geologist, mineralogist, volcanologist, and zoologist. He made pioneering studies of mountain-building, volcano, volcanic activity, and the ...

(Geology) * 1883:

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

(Botany) * 1884: Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn (Geology) * 1885:

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Ro ...

(Botany) * 1886: Laurent-Guillaume de Koninck (Palaeontology) * 1887: Sir James Hector (Geology) * 1888: Julian Tenison Woods (Geology) * 1889: Robert L. J. Ellery (Astronomy) * 1890: George Bennett (Zoology) * 1891: Frederick Hutton (Geology) * 1892: William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (Botany) * 1893:

Ralph Tate Ralph Tate (11 March 1840 – 20 September 1901) was a British-born botanist and geologist, who was later active in Australia. Early life Tate was born at Alnwick in Northumberland, the son of Thomas Turner Tate (1807–1888), a teacher of math ...

(Botany and Geology) * 1895: ''Joint Award:'' Robert Logan Jack (Geology) and Robert Etheridge, Jr. (Palaeontology) * 1896: Augustus Gregory (Exploration) * 1900: John Murray (Oceanography) * 1901:

Edward John Eyre Edward John Eyre (5 August 181530 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand's New Munster province, and Governor of Jamaica. Early life Eyre was born in ...

(Exploration) * 1902: Frederick Manson Bailey (Botany) * 1903: Alfred William Howitt (Anthropology) * 1907: Walter Howchin (Geology) * 1909: Walter Roth (Anthropology) * 1912: William Harper Twelvetrees (Geology) * 1914: Arthur Smith Woodward (Palaeontology) * 1915: William Aitcheson Haswell (Zoology) * 1917:

Edgeworth David Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David (28 January 1858 – 28 August 1934) was a Welsh Australian geologist, Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, Antarctic explorer, and military veteran. He was knighted for his role in World War 1. A hou ...

(Geology) * 1918: Leonard Rodway (Botany) * 1920: Joseph Edmund Carne (Geology) * 1921: Joseph James Fletcher (Biology) * 1922:

Richard Thomas Baker Richard Thomas Baker (1 December 1854 – 14 July 1941) was an Australian economic Botany, botanist, museum curator and educator. Early life Baker was born in Woolwich, England, son of Richard Thomas Baker, a blacksmith, and his wife Sarah, née ...

(Botany) * 1923:

Walter Baldwin Spencer Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer (23 June 1860 – 14 July 1929), commonly referred to as Sir Baldwin Spencer, was a British-Australian Evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, anthropology, anthropologist and Ethnology, ethnologist. He is k ...

(Anthropology) * 1924:

Joseph 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 citing ...

(Botany) * 1925: Charles Hedley (Biology) * 1927: Andrew Gibb Maitland (Geology) * 1928: Ernest Clayton Andrews (Geology) * 1929: Ernest Willington Skeats (Geology) * 1930: Leonard Keith Ward (Geology) * 1931:

Robert John Tillyard Robert "Robin" John Tillyard Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (31 January 1881 – 13 January 1937) was an English–Australian entomology, entomologist and geologist. Early life and education Tillyard was the son of J. J. Tillyard and his wi ...

(Entomology) * 1932: Frederick Chapman (Palaeontology) * 1933: Walter George Woolnough (Geology) * 1934: Edward Sydney Simpson (Mineralogy) * 1935: G. W. Card (Geology) * 1936:

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was a British-born Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader during ...

(Geology) * 1937: John Thomas Jutson (Geology) * 1938:

Henry Caselli Richards Henry Caselli (H. C.) Richards (16 December 1884 – 13 June 1947), was an Australian professor of geology, academic and teacher. Education Richards was born in Melton, Victoria and was educated at Kingswood College (Box Hill), Box Hill Gramm ...

(Geology) * 1939: Carl Süssmilch (Geology) * 1941: Frederic Wood Jones (Zoology) * 1942: William Rowan Browne (Geology) * 1943: Walter Lawry Waterhouse (Botany) * 1944: Wilfred Eade Agar (Zoology) * 1945: Noel Benson (Geology) * 1946: John McConnell Black (Botany) * 1947:

Hubert Lyman Clark Hubert Lyman Clark (January 9, 1870 – July 31, 1947) was an American zoologist. He received the Clarke Medal from the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1947. A son of UMass Amherst president William Smith Clark, he spent more than 40 years ...

(Zoology) * 1948: Arthur Bache Walkom (Palaeobotany) * 1949: Herman Rupp (Botany) * 1950: Ian Murray Mackerras (Zoology) * 1951: Frank Leslie Stillwell (Geology) * 1952: Joseph Garnett Wood (Botany) * 1953: Alexander John Nicholson (Entomology) * 1954: Edward de Courcy Clarke (Geology) * 1955: Rutherford Ness Robertson (Botany) * 1956:

Oscar Werner Tiegs Oscar Werner Tiegs Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, FAA (12 March 1897 – 5 November 1956) was an Australian zoologist whose career spanned the first half of the 20th century. His contribution to th ...

(Zoology) * 1957: Irene Crespin (Geology) * 1958: Theodore G. B. Osborn (Botany) * 1959:

Tom Iredale Tom Iredale (24 March 1880 – 12 April 1972) was an English-born ornithologist and malacologist who had a long association with Australia, where he lived for most of his life. He was an Autodidacticism, autodidact who never went to university ...

(Zoology) * 1960: Austin Burton Edwards (Geology) * 1961: Charles Austin Gardner (Botany) * 1962: Horace Waring (Zoology) * 1963: Germaine A. Joplin (Geology) * 1964:

Joyce Winifred Vickery Joyce Winifred Vickery (15 December 190829 May 1979) was an Australian botanist who specialised in taxonomy and became well known in Australia for forensic botany. Early life and education Joyce was born in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield. She ...

(Botany) * 1965: Mabel Josephine Mackerras (Zoology) * 1966: Dorothy Hill (Geology) * 1967: Spencer Smith-White (Botany) * 1968: Herbert G. Andrewartha (Zoology) * 1969: Samuel Warren Carey (Geology) * 1970:

Gilbert Percy Whitley Gilbert Percy Whitley (9 June 1903 – 18 July 1975) was a British-born Australian ichthyologist and malacologist who was curator of fishes at the Australian Museum in Sydney for about 40 years. Early life and education Gilbert Percy Whitley ...

(Zoology) * 1971: Nancy Tyson Burbidge (Botany) * 1972: Haddon King (Geology) * 1973: Marshall Hatch (Botany) * 1974: Cecil Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe (Zoology) * 1975: Joseph Newell Jennings (Geography) * 1976: Lilian Ross Fraser * 1977:

Alec Trendall Alec Trendall (8 December 1928 – 4 April 2013 ) was an English geologist, poet, and explorer. He is known for his work in mapping the island of South Georgia Island, South Georgia and for surveying the geology of Western Australia. Earl ...

(Geology) * 1978: D. T. Anderson * 1979:

Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic botany, botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional car ...

(Botany) * 1981:

William Stephenson Sir William Samuel Stephenson (born William Samuel Clouston Stanger, 23 January 1897 – 31 January 1989) was a Canadian soldier, fighter pilot, businessman and spymaster who served as the senior representative of the British Security Coord ...

(marine biologist) * 1982: Noel Charles William Beadle (Botany) * 1983: Keith Alan Waterhouse Crook (Geology) * 1984: Mike Archer (Palaeontology) * 1985: Hugh Bryan Spencer Womersley * 1986: David Groves (Geology) * 1987: Antony James Underwood * 1988: Barry Garth Rolfe * 1989:

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

(Geology) * 1990: Barrie Gillean Molyneux Jamieson (Zoology) * 1991: Shirley Winifred Jeffrey (Biology/Botany) * 1992: Alfred Edward Ringwood (Geology) * 1993: Gordon C. Grigg (Zoology) * 1994: ''Joint award:'' Craig Anthony Atkins and Barbara Gillian Briggs (Botany) * 1995: Christopher McAuley Powell (Geology) * 1996: Klaus Rohde (Zoology) * 1997: Charles Barry Osmond (Botany) * 1998: Richard Limon Stanton (Geology) * 1999: Richard Shine (Zoology) * 2000: Sarah Elizabeth Smith (Agriculture) * 2001: Gordon H. Packham (Geology) * 2002: Robert Hill (Botany) * 2003: Lesley Joy Rogers (Zoology) * 2004: Ian Plimer (Geology) * 2005: Mark Westoby (Botany) * 2006: Anthony Hulbert (Zoology) * 2007: Suzanne O'Reilly (Geology) * 2008: Bradley Potts (Botany) * 2009: Winston F. Ponder (Zoology) * 2010: Kenton Campbell (Geology) * 2011: Byron Lamont (Botany) * 2012: Marilyn Renfree (Zoology) * 2013: William Griffin (Geology) * 2014: Robert F. Park (Botany) * 2015: Christopher Dickman (Zoology) * 2016: Simon P. Turner (Geology) * 2017: David Keith (Botany) * 2018: Emma Johnston (Zoology) * 2019:

Dietmar Müller Dietmar Müller is a professor of geophysics at the school of geosciences, the University of Sydney. Early life and education Müller received his undergraduate degree from the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel in Germany, followed by ...

(Geology) * 2020: Michelle Leishman (Botany) * 2021: John Aitken (Zoology) * 2022: Andrew Baker (Geology) * 2023: Moninya Roughan (Oceanography)

References

{{Reflist Australian science and technology awards 1878 establishments in Australia Awards established in 1878 Australian academic awards Geology awards Biology awards

Recipients

See also

References