The Buchanan Medal is awarded by the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
"in recognition of distinguished contribution to the medical sciences generally". The award was created in 1897 from a fund to the memory of London physician
Sir George Buchanan (1831–1895). It was to be awarded once every five years, but since 1990 the medal has been awarded every two years.
Since its creation, it has been awarded 28 times, and unlike other Royal Society medals such as the
Royal Medal, it has never been awarded to the same individual multiple times. As a result of the criteria for the medal, most of the winners have been doctors or other medical professionals; an exception was
Frederick Warner, an engineer who won the medal in 1982 "for his important role in reducing pollution of the River Thames and of his significant contributions to risk assessment".
Two winners have also won a Nobel Prize. The first,
Barry Marshall
Barry James Marshall (born 30 September 1951) is an Australian physician, Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Professor of Clinical Microbiology and Co-Director of the Marshall Centre at the University of Western Australia. Mars ...
, who was awarded the Buchanan Medal in 1998 "in recognition of his work on discovering the role of Helicobacter pylori as a cause of diseases such as duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer, gastric cancer and gastritis-associated dyspepsia" and won the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
in 2005. The second,
Peter Ratcliffe, won the medal in 2017 "for his ground-breaking research on oxygen sensing and signalling pathways mediating cellular responses to hypoxia", and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2019.
The first winner of the Buchanan Medal was
John Simon, who won his medal in 1897 "for his distinguished services as an organizer of medical sanitary administration in this country, and as a promoter of scientific research relating to public health".
List of recipients
Source
Royal Society
See also
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List of medicine awards
This list of medicine awards is an index to articles about notable awards for contributions to medicine, the science and practice of establishing the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. The list is organized by region and ...
References
General
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Specific
External links
Royal Society: Buchanan Medal
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Awards established in 1897
Awards of the Royal Society
Medicine awards
1897 establishments in the United Kingdom
1897 in science