The Copley Medal: The establishment of a reward system in the Royal Society, 1731-1839

Abstract

The Copley Medal represents one of the oldest surviving honorary reward systems not only in the Royal Society but also in European science. After the first few years of its award it came increasingly to represent the recognition by the Society of the highest scientific distinction. Its history is, therefore, closely associated with the development of modern science, particularly in Britain. It is surprising that no one has attempted a history of the Copley Medal. Historians of the Royal Society deal with the subject only summarily, or sometimes there is an incidental mention of the medal in connection with a particular recipient. It seems, therefore, that it would be a worthwhile task to look at the foundation of the award and its subsequent history over a considerable period, and we have chosen to examine a time span of approximately a century. This study covers the period from the establishment of Sir Godfrey Copley’s legacy to the late 1830s, by which time various reform movements within the Society had begun to take effect. In fact the period chosen for review corresponds to the award of precisely 100 medals. Our research shows that, after a rather uncertain start over the first 25 years, the Copley Medal thereafter became established as a major award. In the early 19th century the Medal gained ever wider publicity by its award to several distinguished foreign scientists, so that by the end of our period it had become recognized as a real mark of international distinction.