Public Welfare Medal
The Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Sciences in the USA is awarded for outstanding contributions by science to the public good. It was first awarded in 1914 and has been awarded annually since 1976.
Award winners
with official awards.
- 1914 George Washington Goethals and William C. Gorgas for their contributions to the construction of the Panama Canal
- 1916 Gifford Pinchot for organizing the movement for nature conservation in the USA, Cleveland Abbe for organizing the weather service in the USA
- 1917 Samuel Wesley Stratton for the introduction of technical standards
- 1920 Herbert Hoover for the application of science to the preservation, selection and distribution of food
- 1921 Charles Wardell Stiles for the detection and control of hookworm disease
- 1928 Charles V. Chapin for contributions to public health care and administrative disease control
- 1930 to Stephen Mather for longstanding and outstanding contributions to the development, conservation and management of the United States' national park system
- 1931 Wickliffe Rose for the organization and direction of the International Health Board of the Rockefeller Foundation
- 1932 William Hallock Park for serving as director of the New York City Department of Health's research laboratories and for leadership in the application of science to disease control
- 1933 David Fairchild for contributions to botany and the introduction of new plant species, shrubs and trees to the United States
- 1934 August Vollmer for scientific contributions to forensics
- 1935 Frederick F. Russell (typhus vaccination in the army), Hugh S. Cumming for his research on yellow fever and its geographic distribution
- 1937 Willis R. Whitney
- 1939 J. Edgar Hoover for the use of scientific methods in the fight against crime
- 1943 John D. Rockefeller, Jr. for his role as Patron of Science
- 1945 Vannevar Bush for contributions to the organization of military research in World War II
- 1947 Karl Taylor Compton for contributions to physics, as a university administrator and to the organization of military research in World War II
- 1948 George Harrison Shull for Corn Breeding Improvement
- 1951 David E. Lilienthal for his wise and intelligent leadership role in a critical project at a critical time
- 1956 James R. Killian
- 1957 Warren Weaver
- 1958 Henry A. Moe
- 1959 James Harold Doolittle
- 1960 Alan T. Waterman
- 1962 James A. Shannon
- 1963 J. George Harrar (1906–1982)
- 1964 Detlev Wulf Bronk
- 1966 John W. Gardner , for his writings gave impetus to the improvement of teaching in the USA
- 1969 J. Lister Hill
- 1972 Leonard Carmichael
- 1976 Emilio Q. Daddario , for his work in science as a congressman
- 1977 Leona Baumgartner in particular for her creative role in shaping population development programs
- 1978 Donald A. Henderson for the international campaign to eradicate smallpox
- 1979 Cecil H. Green , Ida M. Green as patrons
- 1980 Walter Sullivan for popular science writings
- 1981 Russell E. Train
- 1982 Paul Grant Rogers for Biomedicine
- 1983 Mina Rees for contributions to mathematics, astronomy and computer science
- 1984 Theodore Hesburgh
- 1985 Isidor Isaac Rabi for his work on the civilian use of nuclear energy and his constant efforts to bring science to the benefit of the general public
- 1986 William D. Carey
- 1987 Dale R. Corson
- 1988 John E. Sawyer
- 1989 David Packard
- 1990 C. Everett Koop , for public education on alcohol, drugs, smoking and his humane and scientific approach to the AIDS problem
- 1991 Victor Weisskopf for his contributions to the humanization of the goals of science, the propagation of the benefits of nuclear technology and his activity to protect against nuclear war
- 1992 Philip Hauge Abelson , for the publication of Science magazine
- 1993 Jerome Wiesner for engagement in science policy, education and nuclear disarmament
- 1994 Carl Sagan for his contributions to popular science
- 1995 Harold Amos for the promotion of minorities in medicine and biomedicine
- 1996 William T. Golden for his leadership in national science policy
- 1997 George W. Thorn for founding and directing the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- 1998 David A. Hamburg , head of Carnegie Corporation
- 1999 Arnold Orville Beckman
- 2000 Gilbert F. White
- 2001 David A. Kessler , as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
- 2002 Norman Borlaug for the breeding of wheat and other cereals
- 2003 Shirley M. Malcom for her efforts to bring science closer to children
- 2004 Maurice Strong for leading the UN environmental conferences in 1972 and 1992
- 2006 Norman R. Augustine
- 2007 Maxine Singer
- 2008 Norman P. Neureiter as the US State Department's first science advisor
- 2009 Neal Francis Lane
- 2010 Eugenie C. Scott for her work at the National Center for Science Education and her support for teaching Darwinian evolution in schools
- 2011 Ismail Serageldin
- 2012 Harold Tafler Shapiro
- 2013 Bill Gates and Melinda Gates as patrons
- 2014 John Porter for advancing biomedical research as Congressman and after
- 2015 Neil deGrasse Tyson , for popular science work
- 2016 Alan Alda , for his work as an actor in conveying science and in passing on his skills to scientists
- 2017 Jane Lubchenco , for her successful efforts to bring the scientific community, sponsors and policy makers together to address global environmental change
- 2018 Paul Farmer , Co-Founder of Partners in Health , for his pioneering efforts to provide good health care in underdeveloped regions in the US and worldwide
- 2019 Agnes Kalibata , President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa , for her work in modernizing agriculture in Rwanda and all of Africa
- 2020 Kathleen Hall Jamieson , Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, for her contributions to maintaining the integrity of scientific facts