Back وسام كوبلي Arabic Medaya Copley AST "Kopli" medalı Azerbaijani Медаль Коплі Byelorussian কপলি পদক Bengali/Bangla Medalenn Copley Breton Copleyjeva medalja BS Medalla Copley Catalan مێدالیای کۆپلی CKB Copleyho medaile Czech
| Copley Medal | |
|---|---|
 The Copley Medal awarded to George Stokes in 1893 (obverse) | |
| Awarded for | Outstanding research in any branch of science |
| Sponsored by | Royal Society |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| First award | 1731 |
| Website | Copley Medal |
.jpg) Reverse | |
| Precedence | |
| Next (lower) | Bakerian Medal (physical sciences)[1] Croonian Medal (biological sciences)[1] |
The Copley Medal is the most prestigious award of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, conferred "for sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science".[2] The award alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences.[3] It is arguably the highest British and Commonwealth award for scientific achievement,[1][4] and has often been included among the most distinguished international scientific awards.[5]
Given annually, the medal is the oldest Royal Society medal awarded and the oldest surviving scientific award in the world,[2] having first been given in 1731 to Stephen Gray, for "his new Electrical Experiments: – as an encouragement to him for the readiness he has always shown in obliging the Society with his discoveries and improvements in this part of Natural Knowledge".[6] The medal is made of silver-gilt and awarded with a £25,000 prize.[3][7]
It is awarded to "senior scientists" irrespective of nationality, and nominations are considered over three nomination cycles. Since 2022, scientific teams or research groups are collectively eligible to receive the medal;[2] that year, the research team which developed the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine became the first collective recipient. John Theophilus Desaguliers has won the medal the most often, winning three times, in 1734, 1736 and 1741. In 1976, Dorothy Hodgkin became the first female recipient; Jocelyn Bell Burnell, in 2021, became the second.
- ^ a b c "The Royal Society Medals and Awards: Nomination guidance" (PDF). The Royal Society. 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
- ^ a b c "Copley Medal". royalsociety.org. The Royal Society. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ a b "The Copley Medal (1731)". royalsociety.org. The Royal Society. Archived from the original on 15 December 2005. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
- ^ Cahan, David (2012). "The awarding of the Copley Medal and the 'discovery' of the law of conservation of energy: Joule, Mayer and Helmholtz revisited". Notes and Records of the Royal Society. 66 (2): 125–139. doi:10.1098/rsnr.2011.0045. S2CID 145488912.
- ^ Ma, Yifang; Uzzi, Brian (December 10, 2018). "Scientific prize network predicts who pushes the boundaries of science". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (50): 12608–12615. arXiv:1808.09412. Bibcode:2018PNAS..11512608M. doi:10.1073/pnas.1800485115. PMC 6294901. PMID 30530666.
- ^ "Copley archive winners 1799–1731". royalsociety.org. The Royal Society. Archived from the original on 11 January 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
- ^ "Copley winners that changed the world". blogs.royalsociety.org. The Royal Society. 18 May 2016. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2020.