National Medal of Science

Congress established the National Medal of Science in Public Law 86-209, approved August 25, 1959 (H.R. 6288; 73 Stat. 431). The act directed the President, on NSF recommendations, to prescribe the medal’s design, materials, and inscriptions, and to award it to individuals for outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences.

Presentation was to be by the President “with such ceremonies as he may deem proper.” The cap was not more than twenty individuals in any one calendar year. Citizenship rules, and rules for a permanent resident seeking naturalization, were in the statute from the start.14

The first medal was for award year 1962. President John F. Kennedy presented it on February 18, 1963, in the White House Flower Garden, to Theodore von Kármán of Caltech and JPL, the sole first recipient.

“…it is a great pleasure for me to select you as the first recipient of the National Medal of Science.”

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10910 on January 17, 1961, prescribing the medal’s design under the 1959 act. His presidency ended January 20, 1961 — three days later.2

Material

Bronze. EO 10910 mandates bronze.

Size

Struck 3¼ inches overall, per the attached design note.

Inscription

“National Medal of Science” around the upper perimeter. Each medal suitably inscribed.

With the medal

A citation, on parchment, descriptive of the award.

Cap restated

Not more than 20 awards in a calendar year.

Obverse

A man holding a crystal in his left hand as he writes an equation in the sand on which he kneels. Behind him is the sea. A star is above his shoulder. Man against earth, sea, and heavens.

NSF: the medal was sculpted by medallic artist Donald DeLue, also known for the Omaha Beach sculpture and the Boy Scout Memorial in Washington, D.C., from a design by Richard H. Bolt, then an NSF associate director for planning with a fine-arts background. Eisenhower approved that design in EO 10910.4

Medallic Art Company collector documentation describes the reverse as a field of stars over abstract ocean waves, with the legend “AWARDED BY / THE PRESIDENT / OF THE / UNITED STATES / OF AMERICA / TO.” Diameter about 80 mm. Striker: Medallic Art Company of New York. Catalog 1960-025.7

Current NSF process: peers nominate, with a form and supporting letters. Three letters from outside the home institution are required. Nominations go to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science — today, 14 presidential appointees plus 2 ex officio: the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (the OSTP director), and the President of the National Academy of Sciences. The President makes the final award. The White House announces.4

Expansion history is on the NSF medal page.4 Statute text: Public Law 96-516.6

How many

No more than 20 individuals in a calendar year.

Who

Individuals only. A U.S. citizen or national, or a qualifying permanent resident.

After death

Posthumous awards only within five years of death.

What it honors

NSF selection guidance treats it as a career, cumulative honor — not a single-discovery prize.

NSF, on a page last updated October 6, 2026, says the medal has been awarded to 529 scientists and engineers since it was established. Today’s four newly presented science medals are additional to that published tally unless NSF has already rolled them in.4

• 1962 (presented 1963)

  Theodore von Kármán

  First recipient; engineering / aeronautics.

  —

• 1967 (presented Feb 13, 1968 by LBJ)

  Edwin H. Land

  Polaroid Corporation. Industry founder and inventor; polarized light, rapid photography, color vision, defense.

  NSF

• 1979 (presented Jan 14, 1980 by Carter)

  Richard P. Feynman

  Caltech. Quantum theory of radiation; also Nobel Physics 1965.

  NSF

• 2006 (presented Jul 27, 2007 by G.W. Bush)

  Robert S. Langer

  MIT. Engineering; controlled-release systems, tissue engineering.

  NSF

• 2008 (presented Oct 7, 2009 by Obama)

  J. Craig Venter

  Genomics; institute founder.

  NSF