Make Change Happen
In a world that is complex and fast moving, change is inevitable, yet hard won.
Established in 1864 to commemorate Prince Albert, President of the RSA between 1843-61, the Medal was originally awarded on the basis of 'distinguished merit in promoting Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.'
Previous recipients range from world-renowned scientists to artists to social campaigners: they include Alexander Graham Bell in 1902 for the invention of the telephone; Marie Curie in 1910 for the discovery of radium; Stephen Hawking in 1999 for improving public awareness of physics; and Tim Berners-Lee in 2002 for the creation of the World Wide Web.
The Medal has evolved over the years and is now recognised as a way of rewarding innovation in the fields of creativity, commerce and social improvement.
Previous winners have included Michael Faraday, Marie Curie, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Professor Stephen Hawking, Baroness Mary Warnock and Sir Tim Berners-Lee. See the full list of winners here.
2022's Albert Medal was awarded to healthcare innovators Lord Andrew Mawson and Professor Sir Sam Everington, in recognition of their role as pioneers of social prescribing to combat isolation, improve public health and support full participation in society.
Additional winners from the past ten years have been:
Sarah Gilbert DBE is the scientist who designed the Oxford Vaccine – one of the most significant breakthrough developments in the global fight against coronavirus. Sarah received the Albert Medal in 2021 for ‘collaborative innovation for the global common good’.
Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE is the founder of parkrun, a global participation movement with the aim of making the world a ‘healthier and happier place’ through its multimillion-strong network of volunteers and runners.
Neil Jameson founded Citizens UK, which has trained and supported over 5,000 civic leaders in what it calls ‘the art of politics in action.’ This has led to one of the most significant developments in politics and public life since the creation of the Welfare State – thousands of citizens organising together, permanently, for the Common Good.
Robin Murray won the award posthumously for pioneering work in social innovation. As an industrial and environmental economist, Robin was active and influential across several fields, from cooperatives to energy system innovation.
Peter Tatchell has campaigned tirelessly on human rights and social equality. He began his LGBT advocacy and activism half a century ago, combining both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary action to secure changes in public attitudes, the law and the way institutions treat LGBT people.
James Timpson OBE took his family business to new heights with a recruitment and staff development approach achieving both commercial and social goals. He operates an 'upside down' management structure, with a high level of autonomy given to front line teams. Working closely with prisons across the UK, he also offers opportunities to ex-offenders wanting to change their lives for the better.
Jos de Blok founded Buurtzorg in Holland in 2006 - a movement of nurses who decided to take full responsibility for their patients in small self-organized teams. As of 2014, there were 8500 nurses working this way throughout Holland - without hierarchy, solving problems for patients, working together, exchanging ideas, creating new solutions, and learning how to deal with new problems.
Selwyn Image CBE has tackled homelessness and social exclusion through social enterprise. He set up Emmaus UK, the UK branch of a charity that gives homeless people a place to live and work.
Albina Ruiz has spent her life working in environmental management. Her organisation, Ciudad Saludable, has grown out of its humble origins in Lima, Peru to become what is now an international force for improving waste management and sanitation.
2021 - Dame Sarah Gilbert DBE
2019 - Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE
2018 - Neil Jameson
2017 - Robin Murray (posthumous)
2016 - Peter Tatchell
2015 - James Timpson OBE
2014 - Jos de Blok
2013 - Selwyn Image CBE
2011 - Albina Ruiz
2010 - Jeremy Deller
2009 - Zarine Kharas
2008 - Dr Simon Duffy
2005 - Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland
2004 - Karan Bilimoria CBE
2003 - Tim Smit CBE
2002 - Tim Berners-Lee OBE
2001 - Mary Robinson
2000 - The Princess Royal
1999 - Professor Stephen Hawking
1998 - The Baroness Warnock DBE
1997 - Sir Simon Rattle CBE
1996 - Sir Claus Moser KCB CBE FBA
1995 - Sir Adrian Cadbury
1994 - Sir Ernest Hall OBE
1993 - Paul Hamlyn CBE
1992 - The Lord Young of Dartington
1991 - The Baroness Seear PC
1990 - Dr Jonathan Miller
1989 - The Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover
1988 - Sir Shridath Ramphal CMG QC
1987 - Dr Francis Crick FRS
1986 - Sir Alastair Pilkington
1985 - The Prince of Wales
1984 - Sir Hugh Casson KCVO RIBA RDI
1983 - Sir Arnold Alexander Hall
1982 - Akio Morita
1981 - Yehudi Menuhin KBE
1980 - The Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth
1979 - Sir Robert Mayer CH
1978 - Sir John Charnley
1977 - The Lord Robens of Woldingham PC
1976 - The Lord Olivier (the actor Laurence Olivier)
1975 - Sir Nikolaus Pevsner CBE
1974 - Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother
1973 - Sir John Betjeman CBE
1972 - Sir George Edwards OM CBE FRS
1971 - Sir William Glock CBE
1970 - Peter Scott CBE
1969 - Sir Allen Lane
1968 - Sir Barnes Wallis
1967 - Sir Edward Lewis
1966 - Christopher Cockerell CBE
1965 - Sir Leon Bagrit
1964 - Dame Ninette de Valois DBE
1963 - The Duke of Edinburgh
1962 - Sir Sydney Gordon Russell CBE MC RDI FSIA
1961 - Professor Walter Gropius
1960 - Sir Frederick Handley Page CBE
1959 - Vincent Massey CH
1958 - The Queen (Elizabeth II)
1957 - Sir Christopher Hinton Kt KBE FRS
1956 - Sir Henry Hallett Dale OM GBE MD FRS
1955 - Dr Ralph Vaughan Williams OM
1954 - Sir Ambrose Heal
1953 - Dr Edgar Adrian OM MD PRS
1952 - Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle KBE CB FRS
1951 - The King (George VI)
1950 - Sir Edward Victor Appleton GBE KCB MA DSc ScD LLD FRS
1949 - Sir Giles Gilbert Scott OM
1948 - Sir William Reid Dick KCVO RA
1947 - Sir Robert Robinson MA DSc LLD FRS
1946 - Sir Alexander Fleming FRS and Sir Howard Florey FRS
1945 - Rt Hon Winston Churchill CH FRS MP
1944 - Sir Henry Tizard KCB DCL FRS
1943 - Sir John Russell OBE DSc FRS
1942 - Field Marshal Rt Hon Jan Smuts OM CH FRS
1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt
1940 - John Alexander Milne CBE
1939 - Sir Thomas Henry Holland KCSI KCIE DSc LLD FRS
1938 - Queen Mary
1937 - William Nuffield OBE
1936 - The Earl of Derby Bt KG GCB GCVO PC
1935 - Sir Robert Hadfield Bt Kt DSc FRS
1934 - Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins LLD DSc PRS
1933 - Sir William Llewellyn GCVO PRA
1932 - Frank Brangwyn RA
1931 - The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
1930 - Professor Henry Edward Armstrong LLD DSc FRS
1929 - Sir James Alfred Ewing KCB LLD FRS
1928 - Sir Ernest Rutherford OM LLD DSc FRS
1927 - Sir Aston Webb Kt GCVO CB PRA PRIBA FSA LLD
1926 - Professor Paul Sabatier
1925 - Lieut-Colonel Sir David Prain CMG CIE ME LLD FRS
1924 - The Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII)
1923 - Major-General Sir David Bruce Kt KCB DSc LLD FRCP FRS and Colonel Sir Ronald Ross KCB KCMG DSc LLD MD FRS FRCS
1922 - Sir Dugald Clerk KBE DSc LLD FRS
1921 - Professor John Ambrose Fleming FRS
1920 - Professor Albert Abraham Michelson
1919 - Sir Oliver Lodge DSc LLD FRS
1918 - Sir Richard Glazebrook CB ScD FRS
1917 - Orville Wright
1916 - Professor Élie Metchnikoff
1915 - Professor Sir J. J. Thomson OM DSc LLD FRS
1914 - Chevalier Guglielmo Marconi LLD DSc
1913 - The King (George V)<
1912 - The Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal GCMG GCVO LLD DCL FRS
1911 - The Hon Sir Charles Algernon Parsons KCB LLD DSc FRS
1910 - Marie Curie
1909 - Sir Andrew Noble Bt KCB DSc DCL FRS
1908 - Sir James Dewar MA DSc LLD FRS
1907 - The Earl of Cromer GCB OM GCMG KCSI CIE PC FRS
1906 - Sir Joseph Swan MA DSc FRS
1905 - The Lord Rayleigh OM DCL ScD FRS
1904 - Walter Crane
1903 - Sir Charles Augustus Hartley Kt KCMG
1902 - Professor Alexander Graham Bell
1901 - The King (Edward VII)
1900 - Henry Wilde FRS
1899 - Sir William Crookes FRS
1898 - Professor Robert Bunsen MD
1897 - George James Symons FRS
1896 - Professor David Edward Hughes FRS
1895 - Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell Bt FRS
1894 - Sir Joseph Lister Bt FRS
1893 - Sir John Bennet Lawes Bt FRS and Sir Henry Gilbert PhD FRS
1892 - Thomas Alva Edison '
1891 - Sir Frederick Abel Kt KCB DCL DSc FRS
1890 - William Henry Perkin FRS
1889 - John Percy LLD FRS
1888 - Professor Hermann von Helmholtz
1887 - The Queen (Queen Victoria)
1886 - Samuel Lister (later The Lord Masham)
1885 - Henry Doulton
1884 - Captain James Buchanan Eads
1883 - Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker KCSI CB MD DCL LLD FRS
1882 - Louis Pasteur Member of the Institute of France For Memb RS
1881 - August Wilhelm von Hofmann MD LLD FRS
1880 - James Prescott Joule LLD DCL FRS
1879 - William Thomson (later The Lord Kelvin) OM LLD DCL FRS
1878 - William Armstrong (later The Lord Armstrong) CB DCL FRS
1877 - Jean-Baptiste Dumas
1876 - Sir George Biddell Airy KCB FRS
1875 - Michel Chevalier
1874 - Carl Wilhelm Siemens DCL FRS
1873 - Michel Eugène Chevreul
1872 - Henry Bessemer FRS
1871 - Henry Cole
1870 - Ferdinand, Viscount de Lesseps
1869 - Baron Justus von Liebig
1868 - Joseph Whitworth LLD FRS
1867 - William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone FRS
1866 - Michael Faraday DCL FRS
1865 - Napoleon III
1864 - Sir Rowland Hill KCB FRS
In a world that is complex and fast moving, change is inevitable, yet hard won.
The RSA Albert Medal is awarded annually to recognise the creativity and innovation of individuals and organisations enabling people, places and the planet to flourish.