The Medal was established in 1987 by the gift of the Northeastern Science Foundation Inc. of Troy, New York, for distinguished contributions to the recording of the history of geology.

Dr Lewis is author of The Dating Game: One Man’s Search for the Age of the Earth, the history of dating the age of the Earth and the role played by the English geologist Arthur Holmes in the intellectual and practical struggle to achieve this. She has also edited The Age of the Earth: 4004 BC to AD 2002 and The Making of the Geological Society of London with Professor Simon Knell of the University of Leicester; the latter volume commemorates the lives of the Society’s 13 founder members and sets geology in its national and European context at the turn of the 19th century.

Professor Christopher Hawkesworth, a Visiting Professor in the School of Earth Sciences and Lewis’s former PhD supervisor, has been awarded the Wollaston Medal, the highest award given by the Geological Society. This medal is given to geologists who have had a significant influence in the Earth sciences by means of a substantial body of excellent research in either, or both, 'pure' and 'applied' aspects of the science.

Professor Hawkesworth works in the field of isotope geochemistry, specifically the generation and evolution of the continental crust, and has served on a range of national and international committees. He is a fellow of the Royal Society and is currently Deputy Principal and Vice-Principal (Research) at the University of St Andrews.

Willy Aspinall, Cabot Professor in Natural Hazards and Risk Science, received the William Smith Medal, for excellence in contributions to applied geoscience. Royal Society Research Fellow Dr Daniela Schmidt received the Lyell Fund, awarded to outstanding early career scientists.

The awards will be presented at the Society’s President’s Day on 13 June.