Cothenius Medal

Cothenius Medal is a medal awarded by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (known as the Leopoldina) for outstanding scientific achievement during the life of the awardee.^[1] The medal was created to honour Christian Andreas Cothenius, who was the personal physician to Frederick the Great.^[2] In 1743, Cothenius became a fellow of the Leopoldina, later president of the learned society that had been created by Emperor Leopold I.^[2] When Cothenius died, he left a sum of money in his will to the society with the condition that the interest on the money should be used to award a gold medal, every two years by answering a question in medicine whereby some new truth could be established.^[2] Up until 1864, the award came with a prize but was then converted into an award for the promotion of research over the whole period of a person's life.^[3] Each medal bears the Latin inscription "Praemium virtutis salutem mortalium provehentibus sancitum" (Created in recognition of the ability of those who promote the good of mortals).^[1]

Leopoldina Cothenius Medal
The Cothenius medal
Awarded for	Outstanding research in any branch of science
Sponsored by	German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
Country	Germany
First award	1792; 233 years ago (1792)
Website	Cothenius Medal

Cothenius Medal awardees, 1959–Present

Year	Image	Laureate	Discipline	City	Ref
2024		Kai Simons (born 1938)	Biochemistry/cell biology	Dresden	[4]
2024		Roger S. Goody (born 1944)	Biochemistry	Dortmund	[5]
2023		Jürgen Troe (born 1940)	Physical Chemistry	Göttingen	[6]
2021		Rudolf K. Thauer (born 1939)	Microbiology/Immunology	Marburg	[7]
2021		Werner Kühlbrandt (born 1951)	Biochemistry/Structural Biology	Frankfurt	[8]
2019		Klaus Müllen (born 1947)	Chemistry	Mainz	[9]
2019		Walter Neupert (1939–2019)	Biochemistry and cell biology	Martinsried	[10]
2017		Fritz Melchers (born 1936)	Cell biology	Berlin	[11]
2017		Joachim Trümper (born 1933)	X-ray astronomy	Garching	[12]
2015		Herbert Gleiter (born 1938)	Physics	Karlsruhe	[13]
2015		Otto Ludwig Lange (1927–2017)	Biology	Würzburg	[14]
2013		Gunter S. Fischer (born 1943)	Chemistry	Halle	[15]
2013		Wolf Singer (born 1943)	Neurosciences	Frankfurt	[16]
2011		Bert Hölldobler (born 1936)	Zoology	Würzburg	[17]
2011		Anna M. Wobus (born 1945)	Human genetics and molecular medicine	Gatersleben	[18]
2011		Ulrich Wobus (born 1942)	Genetics/Molecular Biology	Gatersleben
2009		Karl Decker (1925–2024)	Biochemistry		[19]
2009		Eduard Seidler (1929–2020)	History of medicine		[15]
2007		Klaus Wolff (1935–2019)	Dermatology	Vienna	[20]
2007		Sigrid Doris Peyerimhoff (born 1937)	Physical chemistry	Bonn	[21][22]
2005		Hans Günter Schlegel (1924–2013)	Microbiology	Göttingen	[15]
2005		Alfred Gierer (born 1929)	Molecular biologist		[15]
2003		Ernst J. M. Helmreich (1922–2017)	Biochemistry	Würzburg	[23]
2003		Benno Parthier (1932–2019)	Cell biology		[24]
2003		Andreas Oksche (1926–2017)	Anatomy	Giessen	[25]
2001		Leopold Horner (1911–2005)	Chemistry	Mainz	[26]
2001		Heinz Jagodzinski (1916–2012)	Physics	Munich	[27]
2000		Hans Mohr (1930–2016)	Plant physiologist	Freiburg	[28]
1999		Rudolf Rott (1926–2003)	Veterinary medicine	Giessen	[29]
1999		Dorothea Kuhn (1923–2015)	History of science and medicine	Marbach
1997		Otto Braun-Falco (1922–2018)	Dermatology	Munich	[30]
1997		Friedrich Hirzebruch (1927–2012)	Mathematics	Bonn	[31]
1995		Wilhelm Doerr (1914–1996)	Pathology	Heidelberg	[32]
1995		Gottfried Möllenstedt (1912–1997)	Physics	Tübingen
1995		Dietrich Schneider (1919–2008)	Zoology	Starnberg	[33]
1993		Wolfgang Gerok ( (1926–2021)	Internal Medicine	Freiburg	[34]
1993		Bernhard Hassenstein (1922–2016)	Zoologie	Freiburg	[35]
1991		Heinz Röhrer (1905–1992)	Veterinary Medicine	Rathenow	[36]
1991		Albert Eschenmoser (1925–2023)	Chemistry	Küsnacht	[37]
1989		Sir Bernhard Katz (1911–2003)	Physiology	London	[38]
1989		Jürgen Tonndorf (1914–1989)	Otorhinolaryngology	New York	[39]
1989		Heinz Bethge (1919–2001)	Physics		[40]
1987		Rostislaw Kaischew (1908–1990)	Physical Chemistry	Sofia	[41]
1987		Adolf Watznauer (1907–1995)	Geology	Karl-Marx-Stadt	[42]
1985		Konrad Zuse (1910–1995)	Computer technology	Hünfeld	[43]
1985		Hermann Flohn (1912–1997)	Climatology	Bonn	[15]
1983		Wolf von Engelhardt (1910–2008)	Mineralogy	Tübingen	[15]
1983		Erna Lesky (1911–1986)	History of Medicine	Innsbruck	[44]
1980		Wilhelm Jost (1903–1988)	Physical Chemistry	Göttingen	[45]
1980		Peter Friedrich Matzen (1909–1986)	Orthopaedics	Leipzig	[46]
1977		Wolfgang Gentner (1906–1980)	Physics	Heidelberg	[47]
1977		Arnold Graffi (1910–2006)	General Biology	Berlin	[48]
1975		Ilya Prigogine (1917–1988)	Physical Chemistry	Brussels/Austin	[49]
1975		Ernst Ruska (1906–1996)	Physics	Berlin	[50]
1974		Viktor Ambartsumian (1908–1996)	Astronomy	Yerevan	[51]
1973		Albrecht Unsöld (1905–1995)	Astronomy	Kiel	[52]
1972		Erwin Reichenbach (1897–1973)	Stomatology		[53]
1971		Otto Kratky (1902–1995)	Physical Chemistry	Graz	[54]
1971		Friedrich Hund (1896–1997)	Göttingen	Physics	[55]
1969		Pavel Alexandrov (1896–1982)	Mathematics	Moscow	[15]
1969		Helmut Hasse (1898–1979)	Mathematics	Hamburg	[56]
1969		Bartel Leendert van der Waerden (1903 - 1996)	Mathematics	Zürich	[15]
1967		Vladimir Engelgardt (1894–1984)	Physiological Chemistry	Moscow	[15]
1967		Karl Lohmann (1898–1978)	Physiological Chemistry	Berlin	[57]
1966		Archibald Vivian Hill (1886–1977)	Physiology	Cambridge (GB)	[58]
1965		Hans Hermann Bennhold (1893–1976)	Internal Medicine	Tübingen	[59]
1965		Ernst Derra (1901–1979)	Surgery	Düsseldorf	[15]
1964		Wolfgang von Buddenbrock-Hettersdorff (1884–1964)	Zoology	Mainz	[60]
1961		Max Bürger (1885–1966)	Internal Medicine	Leipzig	[61]
1960		Kurt Mothes (1900–1983)	Botany	Halle	[62]
1960		John Eccles (1903–1997)	Physiology	Canberra	[63]
1959		George de Hevesy (1885–1966)	Physical Chemistry	Stockholm	[64]
1959		Pyotr Kapitsa (1894–1984)	Physics	Moscow	[65]

Cothenius Medal awardees, 1864–1953

Main article: Cothenius Medal awardees, 1864–1953

Cothenius Medal awardees, 1792–1861

Main article: Cothenius Medal awardees, 1792–1861