The Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Sciences, established in 1997, is awarded annually to a researcher who has contributed decisively to the development of science. It is the most prestigious of the Academy's awards, and is awarded in a different field each year. Its creation results from the combination of the original French Academy of Sciences Lalande Prize of 1802 with the Benjamin Valz Foundation Prize in 1970 and then with another 122 foundation prizes in 1997.
Winners
2023 - Terence Tao, mathematics
2021 - Katalin Karikó, biochemistry
2018 - Jocelyn Bell Burnell, astrophysics
2016 - Alexander Varshavsky, biochemistry
2015 - no award
2014 - Joel Lebowitz, physics and mathematics
2013 - Joan A. Steitz, biochemistry
2012 - Adi Shamir, cryptography
2011 - Avelino Corma Canos, chemistry
2010 - Michael Atiyah, mathematics
2009 - Robert Weinberg, cancer research
2008 - Susan Solomon, atmospheric chemistry
2007 - Tomas Hökfelt, who studied neurotransmitters, and discovered their role in depression 2006 - Peter Goldreich, theoretical astrophysicist and planetary scientist 2005 - Ronald M. Evans, studied hormone receptors and the control of gene expression 2004 - David Gross, one of the founders of quantum chromodynamics and the standard model 2003 - David D. Sabatini, early inventor of electron microscopy techniques for cellular biology, discoverer of signalling peptides 2002 - Richard Garwin, discovered parity violation in pion decay 2001 - Albert Eschenmoser, organic chemistry 2000 - Robert Langlands, mathematics 1999 - Rene Thomas, molecular biology 1998 - Leo Kadanoff, physics 1997 - Jozef Schell, molecular biology of plants