Royal Society Bakerian Medal facts for kids

The Bakerian Medal is a really important award from the Royal Society. It celebrates amazing and outstanding science. Winners get a special medal and give a public talk called a lecture. The person who wins must give a lecture about something cool in the physical sciences. This includes things like physics, chemistry, and even computer science. It's given out every year.

History of the Bakerian Medal

This special award started way back in 1774. A person named Henry Baker left £100 (which was a lot of money back then!) to create a lecture series. The idea was for a member of the Royal Society to give a talk about natural history or experimental philosophy (which means science based on experiments).

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 talked about. You can find the full list on the Royal Society website.

21st Century Winners

• 2024 Michele Dougherty: She was honored for leading the Cassini mission's magnetic field tool at Saturn. Her work helped find signs of possible life on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. She's also leading future missions to explore Jupiter's icy moons.
• 2023 Andrew Zisserman: He won for his work on how computers understand images. He's a leader in using machine learning for vision, especially for recognizing images.
• 2022 Michelle Simmons: She made huge steps in understanding tiny things at the atomic level. She created quantum electronic devices where single atoms control how the device works.
• 2021 Victoria Kaspi: Her research focuses on neutron stars and how they can help us understand basic physics.
• 2020 Sir James Hough: He was recognized for his world-leading work on systems that help detect gravitational waves. This was key to successfully finding these waves.
• 2019 Edward Hinds: He achieved amazing things in controlling individual atoms, molecules, and tiny light particles called photons.
• 2018 Susan Solomon: Her work in atmospheric science, especially on the hole in the ozone layer over the poles, was recognized.
• 2017 Andrew Hopper: He won for his work in computer networking and "sentient computing systems," which are systems that can sense and respond to their environment.
• 2016 Andrea Ghez: Her lecture was titled "The monster at the heart of our galaxy," talking about the supermassive black hole.
• 2015 John Ellis: His talk was "The Long Road to the Higgs Boson - and Beyond," about a fundamental particle in physics.
• 2014 Lynn Gladden: Her lecture was "It’s magnetic resonance – but not as you know it," about a different way to use magnetic resonance.
• 2013 David Leigh: He talked about "Making the tiniest machines," which are molecular machines.
• 2012 Peter Edwards: His lecture was about "Metals and the conducting and superconducting states of matter."
• 2011 Herbert Huppert: He discussed "Carbon storage: caught between a rock and climate change."
• 2010 Donal Bradley: His talk was on "Plastic electronics: their science and applications."
• 2009 James Murray: He gave a lecture called "Mathematics in the real world: From brain tumours to saving marriages."
• 2008 Robin Clark: His topic was "Raman microscopy, pigments and the arts/science interface."
• 2007 Joseph Silk: He talked about "The dark side of the Universe," referring to dark matter and dark energy.
• 2006 Athene Donald: Her lecture was "The mesoscopic world - from plastic bags to brain disease - structural similarities in physics."
• 2005 John Pendry: He discussed "Negative refraction, the perfect lens and metamaterials."
• 2004 Michael Pepper: His talk was about "Semiconductor nanostructures and new quantum effects."
• 2003 Christopher Dobson: He lectured on "Protein folding and misfolding: from theory to therapy."
• 2002 Arnold Wolfendale: His topic was "Cosmic rays: what are they and where do they come from?"
• 2001 David Sherrington: He talked about "Magnets, microchips, memories and markets: statistical physics of complex systems."

20th Century Winners (Selected)

Many important scientists received the Bakerian Medal in the 20th century. Here are a few examples:

• 2000 Steve Sparks: He explained "How volcanoes work."
• 1993 Hans Bethe: He lectured on the "Mechanism of supernovae," which are huge star explosions.
• 1985 Carlo Rubbia: He talked about the "Unification of the electromagnetic and weak forces," two of the fundamental forces in nature.
• 1980 Abdus Salam: His lecture was on "Gauge unification of fundamental forces."
• 1972 Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin: She gave a lecture about "Insulin," a very important molecule in the body.
• 1968 Fred Hoyle: He gave a "Review of recent developments in cosmology," the study of the universe.
• 1965 Melvin Calvin: His lecture was on "Chemical evolution."
• 1961 Michael James Lighthill: He talked about "Sound generated aerodynamically."
• 1957 Cecil Frank Powell: He discussed "The elementary particles."
• 1952 Harold Jeffreys: His lecture was about "The origin of the solar system."
• 1941 Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac: He explained "The physical interpretation of quantum mechanics."
• 1933 James Chadwick: He talked about "The Neutron," a particle he discovered.
• 1920 Ernest Rutherford: His lecture was on the "Nuclear Constitution of Atoms."
• 1915 William Henry Bragg: He discussed "X-rays and Crystals."
• 1913 Joseph John Thomson: He talked about "Rays of Positive Electricity."
• 1904 Ernest Rutherford: He lectured on "The Succession of Changes in Radio-active Bodies."

Earlier Winners (Selected)

The Bakerian Medal has been awarded for over 200 years! Many famous scientists from earlier times also received it, including:

• 1857 and 1851 Michael Faraday: A very famous scientist who did a lot of work with electricity.
• 1832 and 1829 Michael Faraday: He lectured on "Experimental Researches in Electricity" and "On the manufacture of Glass for Optical Purposes."
• 1826 and 1810 Humphry Davy: Another well-known chemist who talked about "The Relations of Electrical and Chemical Changes" and "On some of the Combinations of Oxymuriatic Gas and Oxygen."
• 1803 and 1801 Thomas Young: He gave lectures on "Experiments and Calculations relative to Physical Optics" and "On the Theory of Light and Colours."