The Society's Gold Medal is its highest honor. It is awarded to a member whose "original, innovative, or pioneering contributions are of major significance in understanding the world's cultures and environment." The first gold medal was presented to
Amelia Earhart in 1933. The medal was designed by sculptor
Lucille Sinclair Douglass, and shows
Winged Victory on the arc of the world. • 2017,
Constanza Ceruti,
Argentina, High-altitude archaeologist who recovered
three preserved Incan mummies from the
Andes Mountains. • 2014,
Rebecca Lee Lok-Sze,
Hong Kong, Explorer of three Polar Regions-the
Arctic,
Antarctica, and
Mount Everest and the study of
climate change and
sea level rise. • 2011,
Susan Shaw, American marine toxicologist, who documents harmful impacts of chemicals on the marine environment. • 2008,
Laurie Marker, American conservation biologist, whose non-profit
Cheetah Conservation Fund and its International Research and Education Centre in
Namibia address threats to the
cheetah species, including lack of genetic variation and habitat loss. • 2005,
Tanya Marie Atwater, American geophysicist and marine geologist who studies
plate tectonics. • 1999,
Anna Curtenius Roosevelt, American archaeologist, who discovered an unknown prehistoric culture at Painted Rock Cave (
Caverna da Pedra Pintada) in the Amazon Basin, challenging theories of human settlement. • 1996,
Pam Flowers, the first person to trek 2,500 miles across the North American Arctic, the longest solo dog sled trek by a woman. • 1996,
Natalie Goodall, American-born biologist, for her studies of marine mammals and other species of
Tierra del Fuego, South America. • 1993,
Anne LaBastille, American ornithologist and wildlife ecologist, for conservation work in the
Adirondacks and
Central America. • 1993,
Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space, during the 1984
Space Shuttle Challenger mission. • 1990,
Sylvia Alice Earle, American marine biologist, for exploration in deep water dives with miniature submarines and submersibles. • 1990,
Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist, for pioneering field studies of chimpanzees in
Tanzania. • 1987,
Freya Stark, Anglo-Italian explorer of the
Middle East. • 1975,
Eugenie Clark, American
ichthyologist who used
scuba diving in her study of
shark reproduction and behavior. • 1975,
Mary Douglas Leakey, British
paleoanthropologist who studied ancient
hominines and
hominins at
Olduvai Gorge in
Tanzania. • 1975,
Marion Stirling Pugh, American archaeologist who discovered and studied
Olmec colossal heads in
Central America. • 1950,
Irene Wright, American historian of 16th century maritime history, who studied connections between
England,
Spain, the
Caribbean and the Americas. • 1944,
Blair Niles, American novelist and travel writer who wrote about Southeast Asia, Central & South America. One of the founders of the Society. • 1933,
Amelia Earhart, American aviator, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, May 20, 1932. ==See also==