Benjamin Franklin Medal (Royal Society of Arts)

Medalists

• 1957 Professor Frederic Calland Williams OBE DSc MIEE FRS, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Manchester
• 1958 Peter Ustinov, actor, producer, director, playwright
• 1959 George Horatio Nelson MA MICE MIMechE MIEE, managing director of The English Electric Company Limited
• 1960 Robert Nicholson, FSIA exhibition and interior designer
• 1961 Alick Dick, chairman and managing director of Standard-Triumph International Limited
• 1962 The Lord Rootes GBE, joint founder of the Rootes Group
• 1963 John Hay Whitney, American diplomatist and publisher
• 1964 Sir Evelyn Wrench KCMG, founder of the English-Speaking Union and of the Overseas League
• 1965 Paul Mellon, American business and foundation executive
• 1966 Sir Denis Brogan D-es Lettres LLD, writer on United States affairs
• 1967 Dr. Detlev Bronk, president of the Rockefeller University
• 1968 Peter Wilson, chairman of Sotheby's
• 1969 Dr. Louis Booker Wright PhD Dlitt LHD, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC
• 1970 Sir Denning Pearson, chief executive and chairman of Rolls-Royce Limited
• 1971 David Bruce, diplomat
• 1972 Sir William Walton OM, composer
• 1973 Alistair Cooke, writer and journalist
• 1974 Dame Margot Fonteyn DBE, prima ballerina
• 1975 Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis, English scholar
• 1976 Rt Hon Harold Macmillan, statesman and publisher
• 1977 J. William Fulbright, former United States Senator for Arkansas
• 1978 Dr. Ivor Armstrong Richards, professor emeritus of Harvard University
• 1979 Professor Henry-Russell Hitchcock, writer and lecturer on architectural history
• 1980 Sir Bernard Lovell OBE FRS, professor of radio astronomy, University of Manchester and then-director of Jodrell Bank Observatory
• 1981 Lincoln Kirstein, director, School of American Ballet, New York City Ballet Company
• 1982 The Lord Sherfield GCB GCMG Diplomat
• 1983 Dr. Lewis Mumford, writer and teacher on town and country planning
• 1984 The Lord Gordon Richardson of Duntisbourne, retired Governor of the Bank of England
• 1985 Harry L. Hansen, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration
• 1986 Sir David Wills CBE TD DL, former chairman of the Ditchley Foundation
• 1987 Kingman Brewster, diplomat
• 1988 Professor Esmond Wright, English scholar
• 1989 Sam Wanamaker, actor, director and founder of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
• 1990 Sir David Attenborough, naturalist and broadcaster
• 1991 Edward Streator, diplomat
• 1993 Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, architects
• 1994 Sir John Templeton, financial analyst and philanthropist
• 1995 The Honorable Raymond G. H. Seitz, diplomat
• 1996 Sir David Puttnam, film producer
• 1997 William R. Hewlett, co-founder and director emeritus of Hewlett-Packard Company
• 1998 Sir Alex Trotman, chairman and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Company
• 1999 Senator George J. Mitchell, special counsel and chairman of the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland
• 2000 Dame Judi Dench, actress
• 2001 Ambassador Philip Lader, former US Ambassador to the Court of St James’s
• 2002 Dame Marjorie Scardino, chief executive officer of Pearson PLC
• 2003 General Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State
• 2004 Jonathan Ive, vice-president of design, Apple Computer
• 2005 Dr. Amory Lovins, chief executive officer of Rocky Mountain Institute
• 2008 Sir Ken Robinson, author, educator
• 2009 Professor Elizabeth Gould, psychologist, UCLA
• 2010 Professor Jonathan Israel, School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey.
• 2011 Professor Lawrence W. Sherman, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge.
• 2013 Walter Isaacson, thought leader and author, CEO of the Aspen Institute
• 2015 Chris Anderson, entrepreneur and the curator of TED
• 2016 Wendy Kopp, CEO and co-founder of Teach For All
• 2018 Herbie Hancock, Musician/Composer