Wollaston Medal
The Wollaston Medal is the highest award of the Geological Society. This medal is given to geoscientists who have had a significant influence by means of a substantial body of excellent research in either or both 'pure' and 'applied' aspects of the science.
It was established by William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828), an eminent figure in British science credited with discoveries across the natural sciences, to promote ‘researches concerning the mineral structure of the Earth’ … ‘or of the science of Geology in general’ and to enable the Council of the Geological Society to reward ‘the researches of any individual or individuals, of any country, saving only that no member of the Council … shall be entitled to receive or partake of such aid or reward’.
The first recipient of the Wollaston Medal was William Smith in 1831. The Wollaston medal will be awarded annually or at such other intervals as Council may determine.
Past winners
2021 David Dierker Pollard
2020 Barbara Romanowicz
2019 Edward Stolper
2018 Terry Plank
2017 Richard Alley
2016 Susan Brantley
2015 James Jackson
2014 Maureen Raymo
2013 Kurt Lambeck
2012 Christopher John Hawkesworth
2011 Robert Stephen John Sparks
2010 Richard Hugh Sibson
2009 Paul Hoffman
2008 Norman Sleep
2007 Andrew Knoll
2006 James Lovelock
2005 Ted Irving
2004 Geoffrey Eglinton
2003 Ikuo Kushiro
2002 Rudolf Trumpy
2001 Harry Blackmore Whittington
2000 William Sefton Fyfe
1999 John Frederick Dewey
1998 Karl Karekin Turekian
1997 Douglas James Shearman
1996 Nicholas John Shackleton
1995 George Patrick Leonard Walker
1994 William Jason Morgan
1993 Samuel Epstein
1992 Martin Harold Phillips Bott
1991 Xavier Le Pichon
1990 Wallace S Broecker
1989 Drummond Hoyle Matthews
1988 Alfred Ringwood
1987 Jean-Claude Allègre
1986 John Graham Ramsay
1985 Gerald Joseph Wasserburg
1984 Kenneth Jinghwa Hsu
1983 Dan Peter McKenzie
1982 Peter John Wyllie
1981 Robert Minard Garrels
1980 Augusto Gansser
1979 Hatton Schuyler Yoder
1978 John Tuzo Wilson
1977 Reinout William van Bemmelen
1976 Kingsley Charles Dunham
1975 Hollis Dow Hedberg
1974 Francis John Pettijohn
1973 Alfred Sherwood Romer
1972 Hans Ramberg
1971 Ralph Alger Bagnold
1970 Philip Henry Kuenen
1969 William Maurice Ewing
1968 Raymond Cecil Moore
1967 Edward Crisp Bullard
1966 Francis Edward Shepard
1965 David Meredith Seares Watson
1964 Harold Jeffreys
1963 Felix Alexander Vening Meinesz
1962 Leonard Hawkes
1961 Roman Kozlowski
1960 Cecil Edgar Tilley
1959 Pierre Pruvost
1958 Penti Eskola
1957 Paul Fourmarier
1956 Arthur Holmes
1955 Arthur Elijah Trueman
1954 Leonard Johnston Wills
1953 Erik Andersson Stensio
1952 Herbert Harold Read
1951 Olaf Holtedahl
1950 Norman Levi Bowen
1949 Robert Broom
1948 Edward Battersby Bailey
1947 Joseph Burr Tyrrell
1946 Emanuel de Margerie
1945 Owen Thomas Jones
1944 Victor Moritz Goldschmidt
1943 Aleksandr Evgenevich Fersmann
1942 Reginald Aldworth Daly
1941 Arthur Louis Day
1940 Henry Woods
1939 Frank Dawson Adams
1938 Maurice Lugeon
1937 Waldemar Lindgren
1936 Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Molengraaff
1935 John Smith Flett
1934 Henry Alexander Miers
1933 Marcelin Boule
1932 Johan Herman Lie Vogt
1931 Arthur William Rogers
1930 Albert Charles Seward
1929 Friedrich Johann Karl Becke
1928 Dukinfield Henry Scott
1927 William Whitehead Watts
1926 Henry Fairfield Osborn
1925 George William Lamplugh
1924 Arthur Smith Woodward
1923 William Whitaker
1922 Alfred Harker
1921 John Horne
1921 Benjamin Neeve Peach
1920 Gerard Jacob De Geer
1919 Aubrey Strahan
1918 Charles Doolittle Walcott
1917 (Francois Antoine) Alfred Lacroix
1916 Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky
1915 (Tannatt William) Edgeworth David
1914 John Edward Marr
1913 Osmond Fisher
1912 Lazarus Fletcher
1911 Waldemar Christopher Brogger
1910 William Berryman Scott
1909 Horace Bolingbroke Woodward
1908 Paul von Groth
1907 William Johnson Sollas
1906 Henry Woodward
1905 Jethro Justinian Harris Teall
1904 Albert Heim
1903 Heinrich Rosenbusch
1902 Friedrich Schmidt
1901 Charles Barrois
1900 Grove Karl Gilbert
1899 Charles Lapworth
1898 Ferdinand Zirkel
1897 Wilfred Hudleston Hudleston
1896 Eduard Suess
1895 Archibald Geikie
1894 Karl Alfred von Zittel
1893 Nevil Story Maskelyne
1892 (Paul Wilhelm) Ferdinand von Richtofen
1891 John Wesley Judd
1890 William Crawford Williamson
1889 Thomas George Bonney
1888 Henry Benedict Medlicott
1887 John Whitaker Hulke
1886 Alfred Louis Olivier Legrand Des Cloizeaux
1885 George Busk
1884 Albert Jean Gaudry
1883 William Thomas Blanford
1882 Franz Ritter von Hauer
1881 Peter Martin Duncan
1880 Auguste Daubree
1879 Bernhard Studer
1878 Thomas Wright
1877 Robert Mallet
1876 Thomas Henry Huxley
1875 Laurent-Guillaume de Koninck
1874 Oswald Heer
1873 Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton
1872 James Dwight Dana
1871 Andrew Ramsay
1870 Gerard Paul Deshayes
1869 Henry Clifton Sorby
1868 Carl Friedrich Naumann
1867 George Poulett Scrope
1866 Charles Lyell
1865 Thomas Davidson
1864 Roderick Impey Murchison
1863 Gustav Bischof
1862 Robert Alfred Cloynes Godwin-Austen
1861 Heinrich Georg Bronn
1860 Searles Valentine Wood
1859 Charles Darwin
1858 James Hall
1858 Hermann von Meyer
1857 Joachim Barrande
1856 William Logan
1855 Henry Thomas De la Beche
1854 Richard Griffith
1853 Philippe Edouard Poulletier de Verneuil
1853 Adolphe d'Archiac
1852 William Henry Fitton
1851 Adam Sedgwick
1850 William Hopkins
1849 Joseph Prestwich
1848 William Buckland
1847 Ami Boue
1846 William Lonsdale
1845 John Phillips
1844 William Daniel Conybeare
1843 Pierre Armand Dufrenoy
1843 Jean Baptiste Elie de Beaumont
1842 Leopold von Buch
1841 Adolphe Theodore Brongniart
1840 Andre Hubert Dumont
1839 Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg
1838 Richard Owen
1837 Proby Thomas Cautley
1837 Hugh Falconer
1836 Louis Agassiz
1835 Gideon Mantell
1831 William Smith