We welcome nominees who have made outstanding and sustained contributions to:
- theoretical physics (including mathematical and computational physics
- experimental physics
- leadership in a physics context
- the application of physics in an industrial or commercial context
- physics education
- public engagement in physics
- Nominees should be based in the UK or Ireland and if based internationally, should have made a substantial contribution to the development or reputation of physics in the UK or Ireland.
- Nominees, nominators and external validators do not need to be members of the IOP.
- Nominees, nominators and external validators cannot be current members of Council, IOP employees, people under contract to the IOP, the Awards Committee, or members of any other IOP Awards judging panel.
Nominations for the 2024 Medals and Prizes are now closed. Please email [email protected] if you have any questions about the awards or your submission. The 2025 IOP Medals and Prizes will call for nominations towards the end of 2024.
The following information is provided for reference:
- You can nominate yourself or someone else for this Award. All nominations will be judged in the same way regardless of the method of nomination.
- If you are nominating someone else, you should inform the nominee as you will need to provide their contact details and they will be contacted following submission to complete an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) monitoring form.
Nominators must submit:
- Details of the nominee
- Short citation (up to 30 words)
- Long citation (up to 400 words)
- A CV (up to 1,000 words)
- Contact details for one external validator to validate the nomination. For Gold and Silver Medals and Prizes they must, at the minimum, be of the same seniority level as the nominee. For Bronze Medals and Prizes, the validator must be at a higher seniority level than the nominee.
You can find more information on the nominations process in our FAQs and application guidance.
Please email [email protected] if you have any questions about the awards or your submission.
We no longer require references to be submitted for Medals and Prizes. Nominators will now be required to seek the support of an independent expert to validate the information in the nomination.
You can find out more information on external validators in our FAQs and application guidance.
Paul Dirac Medal and Prize
For theoretical (including mathematical and computational) physics, awarded in odd-numbered years.
About Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac was an English-Swiss theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the development of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics.
His eponymous equation describes the behaviour of fermions and predicted the existence of antimatter. Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Erwin Schrödinger for their work on quantum theory.
This medal comes with a prize of £1,000 and a certificate.
Find out about Paul Dirac Medal and Prize recipients
Michael Faraday Medal and Prize
For experimental physics, awarded in even-numbered years.
About Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday was an English experimental scientist who made important discoveries in electromagnetism including:
- establishing the concept of the magnetic field
- discovering the law of electromagnetic induction
- founding the basis of the electric motor
- pioneering the use of electricity in technology
The unit of capacitance, the farad, is named after him.
This medal comes with a prize of £1,000 and a certificate.
Find out about Michael Faraday Medal and Prize recipients
Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize
For leadership in a physics context, awarded in odd-numbered years.
About Richard Glazebrook
Richard Glazebrook was an English physicist who studied under James Clerk Maxell and Lord Rayleigh at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. His work focused on electrical standards.
Glazebrook determined the correct length of a mercury column to express the absolute value of the ohm.
He was the first Director of the National Physical Laboratory and also responsible for the foundation of the Aeronautical Research Council. He was the first President of the Institute of Physics and is also remembered as the editor of the Dictionary of Applied Physics.
This gold medal comes with a prize of £1,000 and a certificate.
Find out about Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize recipients
Katharine Burr Blodgett Medal and Prize
For application of physics and research excellence in an industrial or commercial context in large and SME businesses, awarded in even-numbered years.
About Katharine Burr Blodgett
Katharine Burr Blodgett was an American researcher and the first woman to be awarded a PhD in physics from the University of Cambridge, in 1926.
After receiving her master’s degree, she was hired by General Electric, where she invented low-reflectance invisible glass. The non-reflective coating on this glass is called a Langmuir-Blodgett film.
Blodgett had eight US patents during her career and was the sole inventor on all but two of the patented designs.
This medal comes with a prize of £1,000 and a certificate.
Find out about Katharine Burr Blodgett Medal and Prize recipients
Lawrence Bragg Medal and Prize
For physics education, awarded in even-numbered years.
Previous medal winners have had significant impact on one or more of the following:
- the development of teachers
- teaching materials, curriculum projects
- the assessment process
- research in physics education
- diversity in physics education
About Lawrence Bragg
Sir William Lawrence Bragg was an Australian-born British physicist. In 1915 he became the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded the honour jointly with his father, William Henry Bragg, for their work on x-ray crystallography.
The law of x-ray diffraction, the basis of determining crystal structure, was discovered by Bragg and is now named after him.
Bragg was director of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory when James Watson and Francis Crick used the technique that he had pioneered in the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA.
This medal comes with a prize of £1,000 and a certificate.
Find out about Lawrence Bragg Medal and Prize recipients
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize
For public engagement in physics, awarded in odd-numbered years.
About Sir William Thomson, Lord Kelvin
Sir William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, was a Scottish-Irish mathematician and physicist best known for his work on thermodynamics. This included work on the absolute temperature scale. The unit of absolute temperature, the kelvin, is named after him.
Thomson was a scientific adviser when the first Atlantic telegraph cables were laid from 1857 to 1858 and from 1865 to 1866, for which he received a knighthood from Queen Victoria. He was made Baron Kelvin of Largs in 1892.
This medal comes with a prize of £1,000 and a certificate.
Learn about the William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize recipients
