The Royal Society - excellence in science
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2007 winner
The 2007 Copley Medal has been awarded to Lord Robert May OM AC FRS for his seminal studies of interactions within and among biological populations that have reshaped our understanding of how species, communities and entire ecosystems respond to natural or human created disturbance.
2006 winner
The 2006 Copley Medal was awarded to Professor Stephen Hawking CBE FRS for his outstanding contribution to theoretical physics and theoretical cosmology.
To celebrate the 275th anniversary of the medal and in recognition of Stephen Hawking's work in cosmology, British born astronaut Piers Sellers carried the medal with him on the recent Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Press release available here.
2005 winner
The 2005 Copley Medal was awarded to Sir Paul Nurse FRS for his contributions to cell biology in general, and to the elucidation of the control of cell division.
2004 winner
The 2004 Copley Medal was awarded to Sir Harold Kroto FRS, in recognition of his seminal contributions to understanding the fundamental dynamics of carbon chain molecules, leading to the detection of these species (polyynes) in the interstellar medium by radioastronomy, and thence to the genesis of a new era in carbon science.
2003 Sir John Gurdon FRS, for his unique range of groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of cell and developmental biology. He pioneered the concept that specialised cells are genetically equivalent and that they differ only in the genes they express not the genes they contain, a concept fundamental to modern biology.
2002 John Pople. For his development of computational methods in quantum chemistry. His work transformed density functional theory into a powerful theoretical tool for chemistry, chemical physics and biology.
2001 Jacques Francis Albert Pierre Miller. For his work on the immunological function of the thymus and of T cells, which has revolutionised the science of immunology. Professor Millers work is paving the way for designing new methods to improve resistance to infections, producing new vaccines, enhancing graft survival, dealing with autoimmunity and even persuading the immune system to reject cancer cells.
2000 Alan Rushton Battersby. In recognition of his pioneering work in elucidating the detailed biosynthetic pathways to all the major families of plant alkaloids. His approach, which stands as a paradigm for future biosynthetic studies on complex molecules, combines isolation work, structure determination, synthesis, isotopic labelling and spectroscopy, especially advanced NMR, as well as genetics and molecular biology. This spectacular research revealed the entire pathway to vitamin B12.
1999 John Maynard Smith. In recognition of his seminal contributions to evolutionary biology, including his experimental work on sexual selection, his important contributions to our understanding of ageing, his introduction of game theoretical methods for the analysis of complex evolutionary scenarios and his research into molecular evolution, both through his classic work on genetic hitchhiking, and with his more recent, ongoing work on bacterial population growth.
1998 James Michael Lighthill. In recognition of his profound contributions to many fields within fluid mechanics including important aspects of the interaction of sound and fluid flow and numerous other contributions which have had practical applications in aircraft engine design. He is noted also for his ground-breaking work on both external bio-fluid-dynamics - analysis of mechanisms of swimming and flying - and internal bio-fluid-dynamics, including flow in the cardiovascular system and the airways, and cochlear mechanics and other aspects of hearing.
1997 Hugh Esmor Huxley. In recognition of his pioneering work on the structure of muscle and on the molecular mechanisms of muscle contraction, providing solutions to one of the great problems in physiology.
1996 Alan Cottrell. In recognition of his contribution to the understanding of mechanical properties of materials and related topics through his pioneering studies on crystal plasticity, dislocation impurity interactions, fracture and irradiation effects.
1995 FJ Fenner. In recognition of his contribution to animal virology with special emphasis on the pox and myxomatosis viruses and their relationship with the host in causing disease.
1994 Charles Frank. In recognition of his fundamental contribution to the theory of crystal morphology, in particular to the source of dislocations and their consequences in interfaces and crystal growth; to fundamental understanding of liquid crystals and the concept of disclination; and to the extension of crystallinity concepts to aperiodic crystals. He has also contributed through a variety of remarkable insights into a great number of physical problems.
1993 JD Watson. In recognition of his tireless pursuit of DNA, from the elucidation of its structure to the social and medical implications of the sequencing of the human genome.
1992 Lord Porter of Luddenham. In recognition of his contributions to fundamental understanding of fast photochemical and photophysical processes and their role in chemistry and biology.
1991 Sydney Brenner. In recognition of his many contributions to molecular genetics and developmental biology, and his recent role in the Human Genome mapping project.
1990 Abdus Salam. In recognition of his work on the symmetries of the laws of nature, and especially the unification of the electromagnetic and weak forces.
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