Linnean Medal

The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and is for the preceding years often referred to as "the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society", not to be confused with the official Linnean Gold Medal which is seldom awarded. The engraver of the medal was Charles Anderson Ferrier of Dundee, a Fellow of the Linnean Society from 1882. On the obverse of the medal is the head of Linnaeus in profile and the words "Carolus Linnaeus", on the reverse are the arms of the society and the legend "Societas Linnaeana optime merenti"; an oval space is reserved for the recipient's name. Linnean medallists 19th century 1888: Sir Joseph D. Hooker and Sir Richard Owen 1889: Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyrame de Candolle 1890: Thomas Henry Huxley 1891: Jean-Baptiste Édouard Bornet 1892: Alfred Russel Wallace 1893: Daniel Oliver 1894: Ernst Haeckel 1895: Ferdinand Julius Cohn 1896: George James Allman 1897: Jacob Georg Agardh 1898: George Charles Wallich 1899: John Gilbert Baker 1900: Alfred Newton