Royal Society Bakerian Medal facts for kids

The Bakerian Medal is a very important award given by the Royal Society, a famous group of scientists in the United Kingdom. It celebrates amazing scientific discoveries. Winners receive a special medal and get to give a lecture about their work. This award is given every year to scientists in the physical sciences, which includes computer science.

History of the Bakerian Medal

The Bakerian Medal started in 1774. A person named Henry Baker left £100 to the Royal Society. He wanted this money to be used for a special lecture. This lecture was to be given by a member of the Royal Society. The topics for the lecture were usually about natural history or experimental philosophy.

Who Has Won the Bakerian Medal?

Many brilliant scientists have received the Bakerian Medal over the years. Here are some of the recent winners and what they were recognized for.

21st Century Winners

• 2025 Ingrid Daubechies: For her amazing work on wavelets and image compression. Her work helps with many things in science and technology.
• 2024 Michele Dougherty: For leading the Cassini mission's magnetic field tool at Saturn. She also made important discoveries about possible life on Enceladus.
• 2023 Andrew Zisserman: For his research on how computers understand images. He is a leader in using machine learning for image recognition.
• 2022 Michelle Simmons: For her important work on understanding nature at the tiny atomic level. She created new quantum electronic devices.
• 2021 Victoria Kaspi: For her research on neutron stars. She showed how these stars can help us understand basic physics.
• 2020 Sir James Hough: For his world-leading work on systems used in laser interferometry. This work was key to finding gravitational waves.
• 2019 Edward Hinds: For his achievements in controlling individual atoms, molecules, and photons.
• 2018 Susan Solomon: For her work in atmospheric science. She especially helped us understand the thinning of the ozone layer at the poles.
• 2017 Andrew Hopper: For his work in computer networking and "sentient computing systems." These systems can sense and react to their environment.
• 2016 Andrea Ghez: For her lecture titled "The monster at the heart of our galaxy." This was about the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
• 2015 John Ellis: For his lecture "The Long Road to the Higgs Boson—and Beyond." This covered the search for the Higgs boson particle.
• 2014 Lynn Gladden: For her lecture "It’s magnetic resonance—but not as you know it." Her work explored new uses for magnetic resonance.
• 2013 David Leigh: For his lecture "Making the tiniest machines." This was about creating very small machines at the molecular level.
• 2012 Peter Edwards: For his lecture "Metals and the conducting and superconducting states of matter." He studied how metals behave.
• 2011 Herbert Huppert: For his lecture "Carbon storage: caught between a rock and climate change." This discussed ways to store carbon dioxide.
• 2010 Donal Bradley: For his lecture "Plastic electronics: their science and applications." This explored electronics made from plastic materials.
• 2009 James Murray: For his lecture "Mathematics in the real world: From brain tumours to saving marriages." This showed how math applies to many areas.
• 2008 Robin Clark: For his lecture "Raman microscopy, pigments and the arts/science interface." This connected science with art.
• 2007 Joseph Silk: For his lecture "The dark side of the Universe." This explored dark matter and dark energy.
• 2006 Athene Donald: For her lecture "The mesoscopic world - from plastic bags to brain disease - structural similarities in physics." She looked at structures in different materials.
• 2005 John Pendry: For his lecture "Negative refraction, the perfect lens and metamaterials." This was about new ways to control light.
• 2004 Michael Pepper: For his work on semiconductor nanostructures. He discovered new quantum effects in tiny devices.
• 2003 Christopher Dobson: For his lecture "Protein folding and misfolding: from theory to therapy." This explored how proteins work and can cause disease.
• 2002 Arnold Wolfendale: For his lecture "Cosmic rays: what are they and where do they come from?" This explained high-energy particles from space.
• 2001 David Sherrington: For his lecture "Magnets, microchips, memories and markets: statistical physics of complex systems." He studied how complex systems behave.

Notable 20th Century Winners

• 2000 Steve Sparks: For his lecture "How volcanoes work."
• 1993 Hans Bethe: For his work on the "Mechanism of supernovae."
• 1985 Carlo Rubbia: For his lecture "Unification of the electromagnetic and weak forces."
• 1980 Abdus Salam: For his lecture "Gauge unification of fundamental forces."
• 1972 Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin: For her lecture on "Insulin."
• 1968 Fred Hoyle: For his "Review of recent developments in cosmology."
• 1967 Edward Crisp Bullard: For his work on "Reversals of the Earth's magnetic field."
• 1966 Ronald George Wreyford Norrish: For his work on "The progress of photochemistry."
• 1965 Melvin Calvin: For his lecture on "Chemical evolution."
• 1961 Michael James Lighthill: For his work on "Sound generated aerodynamically."
• 1957 Cecil Frank Powell: For his lecture on "The elementary particles."
• 1953 Nevill Francis Mott: For his work on "Dislocations, plastic flow and creep in metals."
• 1952 Harold Jeffreys: For his lecture on "The origin of the solar system."
• 1948 George Paget Thomson: For his lecture on "Nuclear explosions."
• 1941 Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac: For his lecture on "The physical interpretation of quantum mechanics."
• 1933 James Chadwick: For his lecture on "The Neutron."
• 1920 Ernest Rutherford: For his lecture on "Nuclear Constitution of Atoms."
• 1915 William Henry Bragg: For his lecture on "X-rays and Crystals."
• 1913 Joseph John Thomson: For his lecture on "Rays of Positive Electricity."
• 1904 Ernest Rutherford: For his work on "The Succession of Changes in Radio-active Bodies."
• 1901 James Dewar: For his lecture on "The Nadir of Temperature and Allied Problems."