Stephen Hawking's Honours & Awards

Stephen Hawking was among the most decorated scientists of his era. While the Nobel Prize famously eluded him, he collected nearly every other major honour in science and public life. Here are the most significant, with what each meant.

Fellow of the Royal Society (1974)

Election to the Royal Society, Britain's national academy of sciences, is one of the highest honours a scientist can receive. Hawking was elected a Fellow in 1974 at the age of just thirty-two, exceptionally young, in recognition of his early work with Roger Penrose on singularities and his then-new theory of Hawking radiation.

CBE (1982) and Companion of Honour (1989)

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1982. Later he was made a Companion of Honour, a rare distinction limited to just sixty-five living people at any time, recognising outstanding national achievement. Notably, Hawking is widely reported to have declined a knighthood in the late 1990s, said to be out of dissatisfaction with the government's handling of science funding.

The Wolf Prize (1988)

Hawking shared the prestigious Wolf Prize in Physics with Roger Penrose in 1988, for their work on singularities and the structure of the universe. It is often regarded as second only to the Nobel among physics honours.

The Copley Medal (2006)

The Royal Society's Copley Medal is its oldest and most prestigious award, first given in 1731 and predating the Nobel Prize by well over a century. Hawking received it in 2006; in a fitting touch for a cosmologist, his medal was flown into space before being presented to him.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009)

In 2009 Hawking received the United States' highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President Barack Obama. It recognised not only his scientific achievement but his role as a global ambassador for science.

The Fundamental Physics Prize (2012)

In 2012 Hawking was awarded a Special Fundamental Physics Prize, one of the most lucrative awards in science, for his discovery of Hawking radiation and his deep contributions to physics. It was a recognition, from his peers, of work that the Nobel committee could not honour for lack of experimental proof.

And the rest

Beyond these, Hawking held a long list of further honours: the Albert Einstein Award, the Pius XI Medal, the Eddington and Hughes Medals, membership of the United States National Academy of Sciences, and honorary degrees from universities around the world. For how these fit into his wider influence, see legacy and honours; for the one prize he never won, see why he never won a Nobel.