Lichtenberg Medal
The Lichtenberg Medal is the highest honour awarded by the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony.
The recipient is selected by the Academy upon the recommendation of either the Mathematical and Natural Sciences Class or the Humanities and Social Sciences Class, with the right of nomination alternating between the two. Each class has complete freedom in its selection and is not bound by considerations such as age, gender, or place of origin.
Established in 2004 and dedicated to the memory of the Göttingen scholar Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799), the medal was awarded annually until 2015 and has since been presented biennially to exceptionally distinguished scholars whose work is also held in high public esteem. Recipients receive a gold medal and an official certificate.
Recipients
2023
Prof Dr Carlo Masala, Professor of Political Science
2022
Prof Dr Douglas R. Hofstadter, Professor of Cognitive and Computer Science
2019
Andrea Wulf, cultural and science historian
2017
Prof Dr James G. Anderson, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry
2015
Prof Dr Dieter Grimm, Professor of Constitutional Law and Constitutional History, Former Justice of the German Federal Constitutional Court
2014
Prof Dr Lorraine Daston, Professor of the History of Science
2013
Prof Dr Joshua Rifkin, Professor of Musicology, pianist, harpsichordist, and conductor
2012
Prof Dr Helmut Schwarz, Professor of Chemistry
2011
Dr Antonio Pau, lawyer and writer
2010
Prof Dr Bert Hölldobler, Professor of Zoology
2009
Prof Dr Christian Meier, Professor of History
2008
Prof Roald Hoffmann, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University/USA
2007
Prof Dr Arnold Esch, historian and writer
2006
Prof Dr Peter Bieri, Professor of Philosophy and novelist
2005
Prof Dr Carl Djerassi, chemist, novelist, and playwright
2004
Prof Dr Paul Kirchhof, Former Justice of the German Federal Constitutional Court