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The Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London. The medal is named after
William Hyde Wollaston William Hyde Wollaston (; 6 August 1766 – 22 December 1828) was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering the chemical elements palladium and rhodium. He also developed a way to process platinum ore into malleable ingot ...
, and was first awarded in 1831. It was originally made of gold (1831–1845), then
palladium Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself ...
, a metal discovered by Wollaston (1846–1860). Next in gold again (1861–1929) and then in palladium again (1930–present).


Laureates

Sourc
Geological Society


1831–1850

*1831 William 'Strata' Smith *1835 Gideon Mantell *1836
Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...
*1837 Proby Thomas Cautley *1837 Hugh Falconer *1838
Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils. Ow ...
*1839
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (19 April 1795 – 27 June 1876) was a German naturalist, zoologist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopist. Ehrenberg was an evangelist and was considered to be of the most famous and productive scient ...
*1840 André Hubert Dumont *1841 Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart *1842 Leopold von Buch *1843 Jean-Baptiste Élie de Beaumont *1843 Pierre Armand Dufrenoy *1844 William Conybeare *1845 John Phillips *1846
William Lonsdale William Lonsdale (9 September 1794 in Bath11 November 1871 in Bristol), English geologist and palaeontologist, won the Wollaston medal in 1846 for his research on the various kinds of fossil corals. Biography He was educated for the army and i ...
*1847
Ami Boué Ami Boué (16 March 179421 November 1881) was a geologist of French Huguenot origin. Born at Hamburg he trained in Edinburgh and across Europe. He travelled across Europe, studying geology, as well as ethnology, and is considered to be among th ...
*1848 William Buckland *1849 Joseph Prestwich *1850
William Hopkins William Hopkins FRS (2 February 179313 October 1866) was an English mathematician and geologist. He is famous as a private tutor of aspiring undergraduate Cambridge mathematicians, earning him the ''sobriquet'' the " senior-wrangler maker." ...


1851–1900

*1851
Adam Sedgwick Adam Sedgwick (; 22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did on ...
*1852 William Henry Fitton *1853 Adolphe d'Archiac *1853 Édouard de Verneuil *1854 Richard John Griffith *1855 Henry De la Beche *1856 William Edmond Logan *1857 Joachim Barrande *1858 Hermann von Meyer *1859
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 ...
*1860 Searles Valentine Wood *1861
Heinrich Georg Bronn Heinrich Georg Bronn (3 March 1800 – 5 July 1862) was a German geologist and paleontologist. He was the first to translate Charles Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species'' into German in 1860, although not without introducing his own interpretation ...
*1862 Robert Alfred Cloyne Godwin-Austen *1863 Gustav Bischof *1864
Roderick Murchison Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, 1st Baronet, (19 February 1792 – 22 October 1871) was a Scottish geologist who served as director-general of the British Geological Survey from 1855 until his death in 1871. He is noted for investigating and ...
*1865 Thomas Davidson *1866
Charles Lyell Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known as the author of ''Principles of Geolo ...
*1867
George Poulett Scrope George Julius Poulett Scrope FRS (10 March 1797 – 19 January 1876) was an English geologist and political economist as well as a Member of Parliament and magistrate for Stroud in Gloucestershire. While an undergraduate at Cambridge, thr ...
*1868 Carl Friedrich Naumann *1869 Henry Clifton Sorby *1870 Gérard Paul Deshayes *1871 Andrew Ramsay *1872 James Dwight Dana *1873 Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton *1874
Oswald Heer Oswald Heer (or Oswald von Heer) (31 August 1809 – 27 September 1883), Swiss geologist and naturalist, was born at Niederuzwil in Canton of St. Gallen and died in Lausanne. Biography Oswald Heer was educated as a clergyman at Halle and ...
*1875
Laurent-Guillaume de Koninck Laurent-Guillaume de Koninck (3 May 1809 – 16 July 1887) was a Belgian palaeontologist and chemist, born at Leuven. He studied medicine in the university of his native town, and in 1831 he became assistant in the chemical schools. He pu ...
*1876
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 stori ...
*1877 Robert Mallet *1878 Thomas Wright *1879 Bernhard Studer *1880 Auguste Daubrée *1881 Peter Martin Duncan *1882 Franz Ritter von Hauer *1883 William Thomas Blanford *1884 Albert Jean Gaudry *1885
George Busk George Busk FRS FRAI (12 August 1807 – 10 August 1886) was a British naval surgeon, zoologist and palaeontologist. Early life, family and education Busk was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the son of the merchant Robert Busk and his ...
*1886
Alfred Des Cloizeaux Alfred Louis Olivier Legrand Des Cloizeaux (17 October 18176 May 1897) was a French mineralogist. Des Cloizeaux was born at Beauvais, in the department of Oise. He studied with Jean-Baptiste Biot at the Collège de France. He became professor of ...
*1887 John Whitaker Hulke *1888
Henry Benedict Medlicott Henry Benedict Medlicott, FRS (3 August 1829 – 6 April 1905) was an Irish geologist who worked in India. He was a coauthor of a text on the geology of India and is credited with the coining of the term "Gondwana" which was later used to create ...
*1889 Thomas George Bonney *1890
William Crawford Williamson William Crawford Williamson (24 November 1816 – 23 June 1895) was an English Naturalist and Palaeobotanist. Early life Williamson was born at Scarborough, North Yorkshire, the son of John Williamson, and Elizabeth Crawford. His father, ...
*1891
John Wesley Judd John Wesley Judd (18 February 1840 – 3 March 1916) was a British geologist. He was born in Portsmouth the son of George and Jannette Judd and educated at the Royal School of Mines, where he later became Professor of Geology. He was electe ...
*1892
Ferdinand von Richthofen Baron Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen (5 May 18336 October 1905), better known in English as was a German traveller, geographer, and scientist. He is noted for coining the terms "Seidenstraße" and "Seidenstraßen" = "Silk Road(s)" or "Silk ...
*1893
Nevil Story Maskelyne Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story Maskelyne (3 September 1823 – 20 May 1911) was an English geologist and politician. Scientific career Educated at Wadham College, Oxford, Maskelyne taught mineralogy and chemistry at Oxford from 1851, before becomin ...
*1894
Karl Alfred von Zittel Karl Alfred Ritter von Zittel (25 September 1839 – 5 January 1904) was a German palaeontologist best known for his ''Handbuch der Palaeontologie'' (1876–1880). Biography Karl Alfred von Zittel was born in Bahlingen in the Grand Duchy o ...
*1895 Archibald Geikie *1896 Eduard Suess *1897 Wilfred Hudleston Hudleston *1898
Ferdinand Zirkel Prof Ferdinand Zirkel FRS(For) HFRSE (20 May 183811 June 1912) was a German geologist and petrographer. Biography Zirkel was born in Bonn. Educated in his native town, he graduated PhD from the University of Bonn in 1861. His training and in ...
*1899 Charles Lapworth *1900
Grove Karl Gilbert Grove Karl Gilbert (May 6, 1843 – May 1, 1918), known by the abbreviated name G. K. Gilbert in academic literature, was an American geologist. Biography Gilbert was born in Rochester, New York and graduated from the University of Rochester. D ...


1901–1950

*1901
Charles Barrois Charles Eugene Barrois (21 August 18515 November 1939) was a French geologist and palaeontologist. Life Barrois was born at Lille and educated at the Jesuit College of St Joseph in that town, where he studied geology under Professor Jules Goss ...
*1902 Friedrich Schmidt *1903 Heinrich Rosenbusch *1904
Albert Heim Albert Heim (12 April 184931 August 1937) was a Swiss geologist, noted for his three-volume ''Geologie der Schweiz''. Born in Zürich, he was educated at Zürich and Berlin universities. Very early in life he became interested in the physical f ...
*1905 Jethro Teall *1906 Henry Woodward *1907 William Johnson Sollas *1908 Paul Heinrich von Groth *1909 Horace Bolingbroke Woodward *1910 William Berryman Scott *1911 Waldemar Christofer Brøgger *1912 Lazarus Fletcher *1913
Osmond Fisher Reverend Osmond Fisher (17 November 1817 – 12 July 1914) was an English clergyman, geologist and geophysicist. He was one of the early geologists who proposed the idea that the earth consisted of a solid crust floating above a fluid core. ...
*1914 John Edward Marr *1915
Edgeworth David Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David (28 January 1858 – 28 August 1934) was a Welsh Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer. A household name in his lifetime, David's most significant achievements were discovering the major Hunter V ...
*1916
Alexander Karpinsky Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky (russian: Александр Петрович Карпинский, trl. Aljeksandr Pjetrovič Karpinskij; 7 January 1847 ( NS) – 15 July 1936) was a prominent Russian and Soviet geologist and mineralogist, and ...
*1917 Alfred Lacroix *1918 Charles Doolittle Walcott *1919
Aubrey Strahan Sir Aubrey Strahan KBE FRS (20 April 1852 – 4 March 1928) was a British geologist. He was elected FRS in 1903. He was Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain from 1914–1920. He won the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of ...
*1920 Gerard De Geer *1921 Ben Peach *1921 John Horne *1922 Alfred Harker *1923 William Whitaker *1924 Arthur Smith Woodward *1925 George William Lamplugh *1926 Henry Fairfield Osborn *1927
William Whitehead Watts Prof William Whitehead Watts FRS HFRSE FGS FMS LLD (7 June 1860 – 30 July 1947) was a British geologist. Life He was born near Broseley in Shropshire, the eldest of two sons of Isaac Watts, but then a music master, and his wife, Maria Whitehea ...
*1928 Dukinfield Henry Scott *1929
Friedrich Johann Karl Becke Friedrich Johann Karl Becke (31 December 1855, in Prague – 18 June 1931, in Vienna) was an Austrian mineralogist and petrographer. Biography After studying at the University of Vienna, where he specialized in the natural sciences, he became ...
*1930
Albert Seward Sir Albert Charles Seward FRS (9 October 1863 – 11 April 1941) was a British botanist and geologist. Life Seward was born in Lancaster. His first education was at Lancaster Grammar School and he then went on to St John's College, Cambridge ...
*1931 Arthur William Rogers *1932 Johan Herman Lie Vogt *1933 Marcellin Boule *1934 Henry Alexander Miers *1935 John Flett *1936 Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Molengraaff *1937 Waldemar Lindgren *1938 Maurice Lugeon *1939 Frank Dawson Adams *1940 Henry Woods *1941
Arthur Louis Day Arthur Louis Day (October 30, 1869 – March 2, 1960) was an American geophysicist and volcanologist. He studied high temperature thermometry, seismology and geothermal energy. Early life Day was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts and re ...
*1942
Reginald Aldworth Daly Reginald Aldworth Daly (March 18, 1871 – September 19, 1957) was a Canadian geologist. Biography Reginald Daly was educated at the University of Toronto, where geologist A.P. Coleman persuaded him away from teaching mathematics and into Earth ...
*1943 Alexander Fersman *1944
Victor Goldschmidt Victor Moritz Goldschmidt (27 January 1888 in Zürich – 20 March 1947 in Oslo) was a Norwegian mineralogist considered (together with Vladimir Vernadsky) to be the founder of modern geochemistry and crystal chemistry, developer of the Golds ...
*1945
Owen Thomas Jones Owen Thomas Jones, FRS FGS (16 April 1878 – 5 May 1967) was a Welsh geologist. Education He was born in Beulah, near Newcastle Emlyn, Cardiganshire, the only son of David Jones and Margaret Thomas. He attended the local village school in Trewe ...
*1946 Emmanuel de Margerie *1947 Joseph Tyrrell *1948 Edward Battersby Bailey *1949
Robert Broom Robert Broom FRS FRSE (30 November 1866 6 April 1951) was a British- South African doctor and palaeontologist. He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his DSc in 1905 from the University of Glasgow. From 1903 to 1910, he ...
*1950 Norman L. Bowen


1951–2000

*1951
Olaf Holtedahl Prof Olaf Holtedahl ForMemRS FRSE (24 June 1885 – 26 August 1975) was a Norwegian geologist (Dr.philos., 1913). He became a senior lecturer at the University of Oslo in 1914, and was Professor of Geology there from 1920 to 1956. Career ...
*1952 Herbert Harold Read *1953 Erik Stensiö *1954 Leonard Johnston Wills *1955 Arthur Elijah Trueman *1956
Arthur Holmes Arthur Holmes (14 January 1890 – 20 September 1965) was an English geologist who made two major contributions to the understanding of geology. He pioneered the use of radiometric dating of minerals, and was the first earth scientist to grasp ...
*1957 Paul Fourmarier *1958 Pentti Eskola *1959 Pierre Pruvost *1960 Cecil Edgar Tilley *1961 Roman Kozłowski *1962
Leonard Hawkes Leonard Hawkes FRS (6 August 1891 – 29 October 1981) was a British geologist. Awarded the Murchison Medal in 1946 and the Wollaston Medal in 1962. He was head of the geology department at Bedford College, London Bedford College was in Yo ...
*1963 Felix Andries Vening Meinesz *1964 Harold Jeffreys *1965
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 High ...
*1966
Francis Parker Shepard Francis Parker Shepard (10 May 1897 – 25 April 1985) was an American sedimentologist most associated with his studies of submarine canyons and seafloor currents around continental shelves and slopes. Early life and education Shepard was b ...
*1967 Edward Crisp Bullard *1968
Raymond Cecil Moore Raymond Cecil Moore (February 20, 1892, Roslyn, Washington – April 16, 1974, Lawrence, Kansas) was an American geologist and paleontologist.Daniel F. Merriam (2007), "Raymond Cecil Moore: Legendary Scholar and Scientist, World-Class Geologist ...
*1969 William Maurice Ewing *1970 Philip Henry Kuenen *1971
Ralph Alger Bagnold Brigadier Ralph Alger Bagnold, OBE, FRS, (3 April 1896 – 28 May 1990) was an English 20th-century desert explorer, geologist and soldier. In 1932, he staged the first recorded East-to-West crossing of the Libyan Desert. His work in the ...
*1972 Hans Ramberg *1973 Alfred Sherwood Romer *1974
Francis J. Pettijohn Francis John Pettijohn (June 20, 1904 – April 23, 1999) was an American geologist who served for many years on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University.Paul E. Potter, tp://rock.geosociety.org/pub/Memorials/v31/pettijohn.pdf Memorial to Francis J. ...
*1975 Hollis Dow Hedberg *1976 Kingsley Charles Dunham *1977
Reinout Willem van Bemmelen Reinout Willem van Bemmelen, also known as Rein van Bemmelen, (14 April 1904 Batavia, Dutch East Indies – 19 November 1983 Unterpirkach, Austria) was a Dutch geologist whose interests were structural geology, economic geology and volcanology ...
*1978
John Tuzo Wilson John Tuzo Wilson (October 24, 1908 – April 15, 1993) was a Canadian geophysicist and geologist who achieved worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of plate tectonics. ''Plate tectonics'' is the scientific theory that the rigi ...
*1979 Hatton Schuyler Yoder *1980 Augusto Gansser *1981 Robert Minard Garrels *1982 Peter John Wyllie *1983 Dan Peter McKenzie *1984 Kenneth J. Hsu *1985 Gerald Joseph Wasserburg *1986 John G. Ramsay *1987 Claude Jean Allègre *1988 Alfred Ringwood *1989 Drummond Hoyle Matthews *1990 Wallace S. Broecker *1991
Xavier Le Pichon Xavier Le Pichon (born 18 June 1937 in Qui Nhơn, French protectorate of Annam (after South Vietnam and today Vietnam) is a French geophysicist. Among many other contributions, he is known for his comprehensive model of plate tectonics (1968), h ...
*1992 Martin Harold Phillips Bott *1993 Samuel Epstein *1994 William Jason Morgan *1995
George P. L. Walker George Patrick Leonard Walker (2 March 1926 – 17 January 2005) was a British geologist who began his career studying mineralogy and later made significant contributions to volcanology. He was widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern q ...
*1996 Nicholas John Shackleton *1997 Douglas James Shearman *1998 Karl Karekin Turekian *1999 John Frederick Dewey *2000 William Sefton Fyfe


2001–

*2001 Harry Blackmore Whittington *2002
Rudolf Trümpy Rudolf Trümpy (16 August 1921 – 30 January 2009) was a Swiss geologist, who was born in the small Swiss town of Glarus. He graduated from the ETH Zürich in the late 1940s with a thesis titled: “Der Lias der Glarner Alpen”. From 1947 to 1953 ...
*2003 Ikuo Kushiro *2004 Geoffrey Eglinton *2005
Ted Irving Edward A. "Ted" Irving, (27 May 1927 – 25 February 2014) was a geologist and scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada. His studies of paleomagnetism provided the first physical evidence of the theory of continental drift. His efforts ...
*2006
James Lovelock James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating sy ...
*2007
Andrew Knoll Andrew Herbert Knoll (born 1951) is the Fisher Research Professor of Natural History and a Research Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1951, Andrew Knoll graduated from Lehigh U ...
*2008 Norman Sleep *2009 Paul F. Hoffman *2010 Richard H. Sibson *2011 Robert Stephen John Sparks *2012 Christopher Hawkesworth *2013 Kurt Lambeck *2014
Maureen Raymo Maureen E. "Mo" Raymo (born 1959) is an American paleoclimatologist and marine geologist. She is the Co-Founding Dean of the Columbia Climate School, Director of the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, the G. Unger Vetl ...
- first woman to receive the Wollaston Medal *2015 James A. Jackson *2016 Susan L. Brantley *2017
Richard Alley Richard Blane Alley (born 18 August 1957) is an American geologist and Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University. He has authored more than 240 refereed scientific publications about the relationships between Earth's cryo ...
*2018 Terry Plank *2019 Edward Stolper *2020 Barbara Romanowicz *2021 David D. Pollard *2022 Tanya Atwater


See also

*
List of geology awards This list of geology awards is an index to articles on notable awards for geology, an earth science concerned with the solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Geology can also include th ...
*
List of awards named after people This is a list of awards that are named after people. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U - V W Y Z See also * Lists of awards * List of eponyms * List of awards named after governors- ...
*
Geology of Great Britain The geology of Great Britain is renowned for its diversity. As a result of its eventful geological history, Great Britain shows a rich variety of landscapes across the constituent countries of England, Wales and Scotland. Rocks of almost all geol ...


References


External links


List of Wollaston Medal Winners
{{Geological Society of London Geology awards Palladium Awards established in 1831 Geological Society of London British science and technology awards