What is the Hughes Medal?
Q: What is the Hughes Medal?
A: The Hughes Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for original discoveries in electricity and magnetism or their applications.
Q: When was the medal first awarded?
A: The medal was first given to J.J. Thomson in 1902 for his contributions to electric science.
Q: How often is it awarded?
A: It was originally awarded annually, but now it is every two years.
Q: Has anyone ever won the medal more than once?
A: No, only one person has ever won it more than once - Michele Dougherty in 2008.
Q: Who has been the only woman to win the medal?
A: Michele Dougherty in 2008 was the only woman to win it; she was awarded "for innovative use of magnetic field data that led to discovery of an atmosphere around one of Saturn's moons and the way it revolutionised our view of the role of planetary moons in the Solar System".
Q: Has there ever been a time when multiple people have won at once?
A: Yes, there have been several occasions when multiple people have won at once; for example, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton were both awarded in 1938 "for their discovery that nuclei could be disintegrated by artificially produced bombarding particles", Peter Higgs, Thomas Walter and Tom W. B. Kibble were all winners in 1981 "for their international contributions about the spontaneous breaking of fundamental symmetries in elementary-particle theory", Drummond Matthews and Frederick Vine were both winners in 1982 for explaining magnetic properties of ocean floors which then led to plate tectonic hypothesis, and Archibald Howie and M.J. Whelan were both winners in 1988 for their work on electron diffraction and microscopy, as well as its use studying lattice defects crystals
