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 colle ...

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 storie ...

*1891:

Jean-Baptiste Édouard Bornet Jean-Baptiste Édouard Bornet (September 2, 1828, Guérigny – December 18, 1911, Paris) was a French botanist. Life Bornet studied medicine in Paris, and in 1886 became a member of the French Académie des sciences. With Gustave Thuret, he ...

*1892:

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural se ...

*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 sp ...

*1895: Ferdinand Julius Cohn *1896:

George James Allman George James Allman FRS FRSE (181224 November 1898) was an Irish ecologist, botanist and zoologist who served as Emeritus Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University in Scotland. Life Allman was born in Cork, Ireland, the son of Jam ...

*1897: Jacob Georg Agardh *1898: George Charles Wallich *1899: John Gilbert Baker *1900: Alfred Newton

20th century

*1901:

Sir George King Sir George King (12 April 1840 – 12 February 1909) was a British botanist who was appointed superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta in 1871, and became the first Director of the Botanical Survey of India from 1890. He was recogni ...

*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 Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Alber ...

*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, the ...

*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 Sa ...

*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 citing ...

*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 Societ ...

*1925:

Francis Wall Oliver Francis Wall Oliver Fellow of the Royal Society, 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 supervi ...

*1926: Edgar Johnson Allen *1927: Otto Stapf *1928: Edmund Beecher Wilson *1929: Hugo de Vries *1930:

James Peter Hill James Peter Hill FRS (21 February 1873 – 24 May 1954) was a Scottish embryologist. Education Hill was born in Kennoway, Scotland on 21 February. He attended the Royal High School, Edinburgh, and graduated with a Doctor of Science from the ...

*1931:

Karl Ritter von Goebel Karl Immanuel Eberhard Ritter von Goebel FRS FRSE (8 March 1855, Billigheim, Baden – 9 October 1932, Munich) was a German botanist. His main fields of study were comparative functional anatomy, morphology, and the developmental physiology of p ...

*1932:

Edwin Stephen Goodrich Edwin Stephen Goodrich FRS (Weston-super-Mare, 21 June 1868 – Oxford, 6 January 1946), was an English zoologist, specialising in comparative anatomy, embryology, palaeontology, and evolution. He held the Linacre Chair of Zoology in the Univer ...

*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 Elmer Drew Merrill (October 15, 1876 – February 25, 1956) was an American botanist and taxonomist. He spent more than twenty years in the Philippines where he became a recognized authority on the flora of the Asia-Pacific region. Through t ...

*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 Highe ...

*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 *1954: Felix Eugene Fritsch *1955: Sir John Graham Kerr *1956:

William Henry Lang William Henry Lang FRS FRSE FLS (12 May 1874–29 August 1960) was a British botanist and served as Barker professor of cryptogamic botany at the University of Manchester. He was also a specialist in paleobotany. Life The son of Thomas Bilsl ...

*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, Lon ...

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 S ...

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 Edred John Henry Corner FRS (12 January 1906 – 14 September 1996) was an English mycologist and botanist who occupied the posts of assistant director at the Singapore Botanic Gardens (1929–1946) and Professor of Tropical Botany at the Univ ...

and Errol I. White *1971:

Charles Russell Metcalfe Charles Russell Metcalfe (1904–1991) was an English botanist and explorer, who undertook botanical collecting expeditions in west Cameroon. Selected publications * * * * Honours * 1971: Linnean Medal Eponymy ;Genera * (Poaceae ...

and

James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to: * James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society * James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer * James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto * ...

*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 William Thomas Stearn (16 April 1911 – 9 May 2001) was a British botanist. Born in Cambridge in 1911, he was largely self-educated, and developed an early interest in books and natural history. His initial work experience was at ...

*1977:

Ernst Mayr Ernst Walter Mayr (; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) was one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. He was also a renowned Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, Philosophy of biology, philosopher o ...

and Thomas G. Tutin *1978: and

Thomas Stanley Westoll Prof Thomas Stanley Westoll, FRS FRSE, FGS FLS LLD (3 July 1912 – 19 September 1995) was a British geologist, and the long-time head of the Department of Geology at Newcastle University. Education and career He was born in West Hartlepool th ...

*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 e ...

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 Roy Albert Crowson (22 November 1914 in Hadlow, Kent – 13 May 1999) was an English biologist who specialised in the taxonomy of beetles. He lectured at the Zoology Department of the University of Glasgow from 1949. He collected beetles and the ...

*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 Michael James Denham White FRS (London, 20 August 1910 – Canberra, 16 December 1983) was a zoologist and cytologist. White grew up in Tuscany, Italy, where he was home-schooled, before beginning undergraduate studies at University College Lo ...

*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 Geoffrey Fryer (born, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, 6 August 1927) is a British biologist.‘FRYER, Dr Geoffrey’, Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012 ; online edn ...

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) Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (3 July 1906 – 4 October 1994) was a Welsh Zoology, zoologist and parasitology, parasitologist. She was the first Welsh woman to become a fellow of the Royal So ...

*1991: William Gilbert Chaloner and R. M. May *1992:

Richard Evans Schultes Richard Evans Schultes (''SHULL-tees'';Jonathan Kandell ''The New York Times'', April 13, 2001, Accessed April 26, 2020. January 12, 1915 – April 10, 2001) was an American biologist. He may be considered the father of modern ethnobotany. He is ...

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. Gould sp ...

*1993:

Barbara Pickersgill Barbara Pickersgill (born 1940) is a British botanist with a special interest in the domestication of crops, the genetics, taxonomy, and evolutionary biology of cultivated plants, and the preservation of crop diversity. Her 1966 dissertation f ...

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. Paste ...

*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 201 ...

*1997: Enrico S. Coen and

Rosemary Helen Lowe-McConnell Rosemary Helen Lowe-McConnell (née Rosemary Helen Lowe; 24 June 1921 – 22 December 2014) was an English ichthyologist, ecologist, and limnologist known for research on tilapia and aquaculture. Working in the tropical waters of Africa and Sout ...

*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 Quentin Bone FRS (17 August 1931 – 6 July 2021) was a British marine biologist. In 1971, he pioneered the application of electron microscopy to marine life. Biography Quentin Bone was the son of Stephen Bone, a painter, writer, broadcaster ...

*2000:

Bernard Verdcourt Bernard Verdcourt (20 January 1925 – 25 October 2011) was a biologist and taxonomist, most widely known as a botanist and latterly an honorary research fellow at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London. Prior to coming to Kew in 1964, he ...

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 Professor David John Mabberley , (born May 1948) is a British-born botanist, educator and writer. Among his varied scientific interests is the taxonomy of tropical plants, especially trees of the families Labiatae, Meliaceae and Rutaceae. He i ...

and Richard A. Fortey *2007: and

Thomas Cavalier-Smith Thomas (Tom) Cavalier-Smith, FRS, FRSC, NERC Professorial Fellow (21 October 1942 – 19 March 2021), was a professor of evolutionary biology in the Department of Zoology, at the University of Oxford. His research has led to discov ...

*2008: and

Stephen Donovan Stephen Kenneth Donovan FLS (born 3 June 1954) is a British palaeontologist, who is at Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Macroinvertebrates, Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit - Naturalis (formerly Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum). He previously worked ...

*2009: Peter Shaw Ashton and

Michael Akam Michael Edwin Akam Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (born 19 June 1952, in Bromley, Kent) is a British zoologist. He is professorial fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge, and he is a director, University Museum of Zoology. He was Damon Runyan fell ...

*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 he ...

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 C ...

and Peter Holland *2013: Kingsley Wayne Dixon *2014: and *2015:

Engkik Soepadmo Engkik Soepadmo (3 March 1937 – 6 March 2021) was an Indonesian botanist and ecologist who worked in Malaysia. His research focused on the tropical rainforest in Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia. He authored numerous publica ...

, , 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 Univers ...

*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 ...

and Georgina Mace *2017: and *2018:

Kamaljit S Bawa Kamaljit Singh Bawa, FRS (born 7 April 1939 in Punjab, India) is an evolutionary ecologist, conservation biologist and a distinguished professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is also the founder oAshoka Trust for Res ...

, , and

Sophien Kamoun Sophien Kamoun (born 8 December 1965) is a Tunisian biologist. He is a senior scientist at the Sainsbury Laboratory and professor of biology at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Kamoun is known for contributions to our understanding of plant di ...

*2019: Vicki Funk and *2020: Ben Sheldon and *2021: Mary Jane West-Eberhard and *2022: Rohan Pethiyagoda and Sebsebe Demissew *2023: Sandra Diaz *2024:

Paul Upchurch Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

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

Linnean medallists

19th century

20th century

21st century

See also

References