Awards & Winners

Rutherford Medal

Rutherford Medal

The Rutherford Medal is the premier award of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and has been awarded annually since 1991 in recognition of people who have made outstanding contributions to New Zealand society and culture in science, mathematics, social science, and technology. The medal is funded by the New Zealand government. It is named after Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand experimental physicist and Nobel laureate who pioneered the orbital theory of the atom. The Royal Society of New Zealand has also awarded the Hector Memorial Medal since 1915.
Date Established : 1991

Check all the winners of Rutherford Medal presented under Rutherford Medal since 1991 .


Margaret Brimble

(For her world-leading contributions to the synthesis of bioactive natural products and novel peptides with wide applications across the life sciences industry.)

Christine Coe Winterbourn

(For her outstanding achievements and discoveries in free radical biology which have established her as a leading world authority in this field.)

Warren Tate

(For his outstanding achievements in molecular biology and molecular neuroscience.)

Peter Hunter

(For his revolutionary approach to modelling the human body.)

David Parry

(For his world-leading research on fibrous proteins which has led to major advances in understanding the structure of hair and the working of muscles and connective tissue.)

Richard Faull

(For his ground-breaking work in understanding the human brain. He has a passion and enthusiasm to ensure that his research is world class and that it engages and benefits the whole community.)

Edward Baker

(For his internationally recognised and pioneering work in structural biology, and as a key player in the development of a vibrant biotechnology culture in New Zealand.)

Paul Callaghan

(For world-leading research in development of new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) methods that have significant impacts in physics, chemistry, biology and medicine.)

David Penny

(In recognition of his distinguished contributions in theoretical biology, molecular evolution, analysis of DNA information.)

George Petersen

(For his exceptional contribution in pioneering methods for sequencing DNA and nurturing the development of DNA research in New Zealand.)

Jeffrey Tallon

(For his wide-ranging internationally recognised achievements in the discovery, design, physical characterisation, understanding and application of high-temperature superconductors.)

Peter Gluckman

(He is the Professor of Paediatric and Perinatal Biology and was the Director of the National Research Centre for Growth and Development (now called 'Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development'), hosted by the University of Auckland, until mid 2009. He was formerly Head of the Department of Paediatrics and Dean of the university's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences as well as the founding Director of the Liggins Institute.)

Alan MacDiarmid

(His best-known research was the discovery and development of conductive polymers \u2014 plastic materials that conduct electricity. He collaborated with the Japanese chemist Hideki Shirakawa and the American physicist Alan Heeger in this research and published the first results in 1977. The three of them shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work.)

David Vere-Jones

(For his outstanding contributions to research and education in probability, statistics and the mathematical sciences, and for services to the statistical and mathematical communities both within New Zealand and internationally.)

William Robinson

(For his internationally recognised research in Materials Science leading to the development of seismic isolation dampers, and through them for his contribution to mitigating hazards to human life and construction.)

Thomas William Walker

(For his internationally recognised and pioneering research in soil science, and for his substantial contribution to public awareness, knowledge and understanding of the behaviour of soils.)

William Denny

(For sustained innovation in the development of new anticancer drugs, and the formation in Auckland of a leading international academic centre in anticancer drug development, to provide opportunities for research-based teaching and student training.)

Ian Axford

(For his excellent contribution to fundamental research which has led to a deeper understanding of the nature of planetary magnetospheres, comets, interplanetary space, the behaviour of interstellar gas and the origin of cosmic rays.)

Roy Kerr

(For his outstanding discoveries in the extra-terrestrial world of black holes.)

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (New Zealand)

(For conducting scientific research for the benefit of New Zealand.)

Vaughan Jones

(For his international reputation in topology.)