Darwin–Wallace Medal facts for kids
The Darwin–Wallace Medal is a special award given by the Linnean Society of London. It celebrates big discoveries in evolutionary biology, which is the study of how living things change over time.
This medal was first given out in 1908. That year was important because it was 50 years after two famous scientists, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, shared their ideas about natural selection with the Linnean Society. Natural selection is a key idea in evolution, explaining how species develop.
Alfred Russel Wallace was one of the first people to receive this medal. His medal was extra special because it was made of gold, while the others were silver. For a long time, the medal was only given every 50 years. But since 2010, it has been awarded every year because new discoveries in evolution are happening all the time!
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Awardees
The Darwin–Wallace Medal has been given to many important scientists over the years. Here are the people who have received this special award.
1908 Award Winners
The very first medals were given in 1908. Alfred Russel Wallace received a gold medal, and six other respected scientists received silver medals.
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- August Weismann
- Ernst Haeckel
- Francis Galton
- E. Ray Lankester
- Eduard Strasburger
1958 Award Winners
Fifty years later, in 1958, twenty silver medals were given out to more scientists who had made big contributions to evolutionary biology.
- Edgar Anderson
- E. Pavlovsky
- Maurice Caullery
- Bernhard Rensch
- Ronald A. Fisher
- G. Gaylord Simpson
- C. R. Florin
- Carl Skottsberg
- Roger Heim
- H. Hamshaw Thomas
- J. B. S. Haldane
- Erik Stensiö
- John Hutchinson
- Göte Turesson
- Julian Huxley
- Victor van Straelen
- Ernst Mayr
- D. M. S. Watson
- H. J. Muller
- John Christopher Willis (awarded after his death)
2008 Award Winners
In 2008, thirteen silver medals were awarded. Two of these were given to scientists after they had passed away, recognizing their lasting impact.
- Nick Barton
- M.W. Chase
- Bryan Clarke
- Joseph Felsenstein
- Stephen Jay Gould (awarded after his death)
- Peter R. Grant
- Rosemary Grant
- James Mallet
- Lynn Margulis
- John Maynard Smith (awarded after his death)
- Mohamed Noor
- H. Allen Orr
- Linda Partridge
Award Winners from 2010 Onwards
Since 2010, the Darwin–Wallace Medal has been awarded every year. This shows how important new research in evolution continues to be.
- Brian Charlesworth (2010)
- James A. Lake (2011)
- Loren H. Rieseberg (2012)
- Godfrey Hewitt (2013)
- Dolph Schluter (2014)
- Roger Butlin (2015)
- Pamela S. Soltis and Douglas E. Soltis (2016)
- John N. Thompson (2017)
- Josephine Pemberton (2018)
- David Reich and Svante Pääbo (2019)
- Spencer Barrett (2020)
- Sarah Otto (2021)
- David Jablonski (2022)
- Ziheng Yang (2023)
- Peter Crane (2024)
See also
- List of biology awards
