STEPHEN HAWKING MEDAL
FOR SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
Under the name of the greatest scientist of the 20th and early 21st centuries, Stephen Hawking, and sponsored by Starmus, the most ambitious Science festival of all time, the Stephen Hawking Science Medal is a prestigious award which recognizes the merit of popular science on an international level.
The design of the medal used a portrait of Professor Hawking by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man to perform a spacewalk and member of the Advisory Council Starmus since its first edition. The other side combines the image of Alexei Leonov of the first spacewalk and the iconic guitar – the “Red Special” – to demonstrate music, another major component of the Starmus Festival.
At a special press conference at the Royal Society in London, the Starmus Festival announced its new partnership with the prestigious Swiss watchmaker OMEGA.
OMEGA’s own pioneering history is filled with scientific accomplishment including the conquests of space and the ocean, as well as revolutionary breakthroughs in magnetic watchmaking and precision.
The 18K yellow gold watch presented to the winners, the OMEGA Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional Chronograph 42 mm, is distinguished by its unique caseback which includes the words “WINNER OF THE STEPHEN HAWKING MEDAL FOR SCIENCE COMMUNICATION”, as well as a laser-engraved medallion that follows the exact design of the medal itself
Stephen Hawking Medal winners
for his astounding accomplishments in space travel and for humanity
for his contribution to the popularisation of science
a documentary by Todd Douglas Miller, for its breakthrough look at history’s most famous space mission
is noted for his exceptional and unique capacity to communicate science through his popular TV shows, books and lecturing around the world. His efforts have helped popularize science around the world – bringing new enthusiasm and interest to many disciplines within Science.
stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch. Created by Chuck Lorre & Bill Prady, the series is produced by Chuck Lorre Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television and is executive produced by Lorre, Prady and showrunner Steven Molaro.
has been one of the pioneering forces throughout the electronic music scene over the last four decades, having originally made his name in the 1970s for his critically acclaimed album OXYGENE.
Stephen Hawking Medal winners 2016
"Beyond The Horizon: A Tribute To Stephen Hawking" on Starmus III, Canary Islands, Spain.
"I am absolutely delighted and honoured to be the very first recipient of the Stephen Hawking medal for science communication, particularly as there are so many great communicators out there these days. This a vindication that practicing research scientists can also be accepted and acknowledged as successful communicators.Like Stephen, I feel strongly that it is both a duty and privilege to share my wonder about the workings of the Universe and our place in it with as wide an audience as possible.."
“I’m deeply honored to receive this new award for science communication. I always feel great satisfaction when I hear that someone responded to Particle Fever – the fact that it was Stephen Hawking makes it truly special”.
Mark Levinson
“It is fantastic to win this medal. Stephen Hawking is a great physicist and great communicator of science, and in both has left an indelible mark on the planet. It is truly an honor.”
David E. Kaplan
"I feel truly grateful and deeply honored to be awarded the STARMUS Stephen Hawking Medal in the category of Music and Arts. We artists constantly strive to search for and provoke through new questions in our work. That is one of the links between the arts and the sciences. The constant desire to be part of the adventure of the unknown."