The Cunningham Medal is the premier award of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier learned society and one its leading cultural i ...

. It is awarded every three years in recognition of "outstanding contributions to scholarship and the objectives of the Academy".

History

It was which was established in 1796 at the bequest of barrister

Timothy Cunningham Timothy Cunningham (died 1789) was a London barrister, legal writer and antiquarian, thought to have been Irish. Life A member of the Middle Temple, Cunningham lived in chambers at Gray's Inn for over thirty years. In 1759 he asked for employmen ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wa ...

. After a period of uncertainty and experimentation regarding the terms and conditions of the award, it was agreed in 1848 that the medals would be open to the authors of works or essays in the areas of Science, Polite Literature and Antiquities, published in Ireland or about Irish subjects. After 1885, the academy stopped giving the award, but it was revived in 1989 for the bicentennial of Cunningham's gift.

Recipients

The following persons have been awarded the Cunningham Medal: *1796: Thomas Wallace *1800:

Theophilus Swift Theophilus Swift (1746–1815) was an Irish writer and poet. Early life He was born the son of Deane Swift of Dublin, (who was a cousin of Dr. Jonathan Swift) and educated at St Mary Hall, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1767. Career He studied law at ...

(writing, poetry) *1805: William Preston (poetry) *1818: John Brinkley (astronomy) *1827: John D'Alton (history) *1830: George Petrie (history) *1833: George Petrie (history) *1834:

William Rowan Hamilton Sir William Rowan Hamilton LL.D, DCL, MRIA, FRAS (3/4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865) was an Irish mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He was the Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin, and Royal Astronomer of Ire ...

(mathematics) *1838: James MacCullagh (physics) *1839: James Apjohn (physics); George Petrie (history) *1843: Robert Kane (chemistry) *1848:

Samuel Haughton Samuel Haughton (21 December 1821 – 31 October 1897) was an Irish clergyman, medical doctor, and scientific writer. Biography The scientist Samuel Haughton was born in Carlow, the son of another Samuel Haughton (1786-1874) and grandson (by h ...

(mathematics); Sir

(mathematics);

Edward Hincks Edward Hincks (19 August 1792 – 3 December 1866) was an Irish clergyman, best remembered as an Assyriologist and one of the decipherers of Mesopotamian cuneiform. He was one of the three men known as the "holy trinity of cuneiform", with S ...

(orientalist);

John O'Donovan John O'Donovan may refer to: *John O'Donovan (scholar) (1806–1861), Irish language scholar and place-name expert *John O'Donovan (politician) (1908–1982), Irish TD and Senator *John O'Donovan (police commissioner) (1858–1927), New Zealand pol ...

(history) *1851: John Hewitt Jellett (mathematics) *1858: Edward Joshua Cooper (astronomy);

George Salmon George Salmon FBA FRS FRSE (25 September 1819 – 22 January 1904) was a distinguished and influential Irish mathematician and Anglican theologian. After working in algebraic geometry for two decades, Salmon devoted the last forty years of h ...

(mathematics); Charles William Wall (literary criticism); William Reeves (history) *1862: Robert Mallet (seismology); Humphrey Lloyd (astronomy); John Thomas Gilbert (history);

Whitley Stokes Whitley Stokes, CSI, CIE, FBA (28 February 1830 – 13 April 1909) was an Irish lawyer and Celtic scholar. Background He was a son of William Stokes (1804–1878), and a grandson of Whitley Stokes the physician and anti-Malthusian (1763� ...

(linguistics) *1873: Sir William Wilde (polymath, father of Oscar Wilde) *1878: George James Allman (natural history);

Edward Dowden Edward Dowden (3 May 18434 April 1913) was an Irish critic, professor, and poet. Biography He was the son of John Wheeler Dowden, a merchant and landowner, and was born at Cork, three years after his brother John, who became Bishop of Edinbu ...

(literary criticism); Aquilla Smith (numismatics); John Casey (mathematics) *1879:

Robert Stawell Ball Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1 July 1840 – 25 November 1913) was an Irish astronomer who founded the screw theory. He was Royal Astronomer of Ireland at Dunsink Observatory. Life He was the son of naturalist Robert Ball, and Amelia Gresley ...

(mathematics);

William Archer William or Bill Archer may refer to: * William Archer (British politician) (1677–1739), British politician * William S. Archer (1789–1855), U.S. Senator and Representative from Virginia * William Beatty Archer (1793–1870), Illinois politicia ...

(natural history) *1881: Howard Grubb (astronomy) *1883: Edward Perceval Wright (editing Proceedings of RIA) *1884:

John Birmingham John Birmingham (born 7 August 1964) is a British-born Australian author, known for the 1994 memoir '' He Died with a Felafel in His Hand'', and his '' Axis of Time'' trilogy. Early life and education Birmingham was born in Liverpool, Unit ...

(astronomy) *1885: John Christian Malet (mathematics) ''Award suspended'' *1989: Frank Mitchell (natural history) *2001:

Daniel Joseph Bradley Daniel Joseph Bradley (18 January 1928 – 7 February 2010) was an Irish physicist, and Emeritus Professor of Optical Electronics, at Trinity College, Dublin. Early life and education Born on 18 January 1928, he was one of four surviving chi ...

(physics); Maurice Craig (architectural history);

Sir Bernard Crossland Sir Bernard Crossland (20 October 1923 – 17 January 2011) was a British professor of engineering with a career spanning some seven decades. He was made a Freeman of the City of London in 1987 and was knighted in 1990 for services to Northern ...

(engineering); David Beers Quinn (history) *2005: Denis L. Weaire (physics) *2008:

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

(poetry) *2011: John V McCanny (microelectronics) *2014: Patrick Honohan (economics) *2017:

Dervilla M. X. Donnelly Dervilla M. X. Donnelly is an Irish chemist and was Professor of Phytochemistry at University College Dublin. She was the first woman to receive the Cunningham Medal from the Royal Irish Academy and was recognised by WITS ( Women in Technology ...

(chemistry) *2020: Nicholas Canny (history)

References

{{reflist Royal Irish Academy Academic awards Irish awards