The Rutherford Medal (instituted in 1991 and known as the New Zealand Science and Technology Gold Medal until 2000) is the most prestigious award offered by the Royal Society of New Zealand, consisting of a medal and prize of $100,000. It is awarded at the request of the New Zealand Government to recognize exceptional contributions to the advancement and promotion of public awareness, knowledge and understanding in addition to eminent research or technological practice by a person or group in any field of science, mathematics, social science, or technology. It is funded by the New Zealand government and awarded annually.
The medal is named after Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand experimental physicist and Nobel Laureate, who pioneered the orbital theory of the atom.
^"Medals awarded to top New Zealand researchers". royalsociety.org.nz. 2011. Archived from the original on 28 November 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2011. The country's highest science and technology honour, the Rutherford Medal, was awarded to biochemist Professor Christine Winterbourn FRSNZ from the University of Otago, Christchurch, for her outstanding achievements and discoveries in free radical biology which have established her as a leading world authority in this field. Together with the medal awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand, she also received $100,000 from the Government.
