List of recipients of the Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts
This is a list of recipients of the Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts, a German and formerly Prussian honor given since 1842 for achievement in the humanities, sciences, or arts.
| Date of award | Name | Description | Residence |
| 1842 | Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel | Astronomer | Königsberg |
| 1842 | August Boeckh | Antiquity researcher | Berlin |
| 1842 | Franz Bopp | Linguist of Sanskrit | Berlin |
| 1842 | Leopold von Buch | Geologist and paleontologist | Berlin |
| 1842 | Peter von Cornelius | Painter | Berlin |
| 1842 | Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach | Surgeon | Berlin |
| 1842 | Karl Friedrich Eichhorn | Lawyer | Berlin |
| 1842 | Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg | Naturalist | Berlin |
| 1842 | Johann Franz Encke | Astronomer | Berlin |
| 1842 | Karl Friedrich Gauss | Mathematician & astronomer | Göttingen |
| 1842 | Jakob Grimm | Germanist | Berlin |
| 1842 | Alexander von Humboldt | Naturalist | Berlin |
| 1842 | Karl Gustav Jakob Jacobi | Mathematician | Königsberg |
| 1842 | Karl Friedrich Lessing | Painter | Düsseldorf |
| 1842 | Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy | Composer | Berlin |
| 1842 | Klemens Wenzel Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg | Statesmen | Vienna |
| 1842 | Giacomo Meyerbeer | Composer | Berlin |
| 1842 | Eilhard Mitscherlich | Chemist | Berlin |
| 1842 | Johannes Peter Müller | Physiologist | Berlin |
| 1842 | Carl Ritter | Geographer | Berlin |
| 1842 | Friedrich Rückert | Poet and orientalist | Berlin |
| 1842 | Friedrich Karl von Savigny | Lawyer | Berlin |
| 1842 | Johann Gottfried Schadow | Sculptor | Berlin |
| 1842 | Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling | Philosopher | Berlin |
| 1842 | August Wilhelm von Schlegel | Poet | Bonn |
| 1842 | Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld | Painter | Munich |
| 1842 | Johann Lukas Schönlein | Pathologist | Berlin |
| 1842 | Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler | Sculptor | Munich |
| 1842 | Ludwig Tieck | Poet | Berlin |
| 1842 | Dominique François Jean Arago | Physicist | Paris |
| 1842 | Archeologist | Naples | |
| 1842 | Jöns Jacob Berzelius | Chemist | Stockholm |
| 1842 | Bartolomeo Borghesi | Archeologist | San Marino |
| 1842 | Robert Brown | Botanist | London |
| 1842 | François-René de Chateaubriand | Writer | Paris |
| 1842 | Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre | Painter and inventor of the photos | Paris |
| 1842 | Michael Faraday | Chemist and physicist | London |
| 1842 | Pierre Francois Leonard Fontaine | Architect | Paris |
| 1842 | Vittorio Fossombroni | Economist | Florence |
| 1842 | Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac | Chemist and physicist | Paris |
| 1842 | John Herschel | Astronomer | London |
| 1842 | Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres | Painter | Paris |
| 1842 | Bartholomäus Kopitar | Slavist | Vienna |
| 1842 | Adam Johann von Krusenstern | Research traveler | St. Petersburg |
| 1842 | Jean-Antoine Letronne | Numismatist | Paris |
| 1842 | Franz Liszt | Musician | Paris |
| 1842 | Macedonio Melloni | Physicist | Naples |
| 1842 | Thomas Moore | Poet | Wiltshire |
| 1842 | Hans Christian Oersted | Physicist | Copenhagen |
| 1842 | Gioacchino Rossini | Composer | Bologna |
| 1842 | Vasily Zhukovsky | Poet | St. Petersburg |
| 1842 | Gasparo Spontini | Composer | Maiolati |
| 1842 | Albert Thorvaldsen | Sculptor | Copenhagen |
| 1842 | Paolo Toschi | Engraver | Parma |
| 1842 | Horace Vernet | Painter | Paris |
| 1844 | Stephan Endlicher | Botanist | Vienna |
| 1844 | Alessandro Manzoni | Poet | Milan |
| 1844 | Adam Oehlenschläger | Poet | Copenhagen |
| 1845 | Heinrich Friedrich Link | Botanist | Berlin |
| 1845 | Théodore Gudin | Painter | Paris |
| 1845 | Pavel Jozef Šafárik | Slavist | Prague |
| 1846 | Gottfried Hermann | Classical philologist | Leipzig |
| 1847 | Sir David Brewster | Physicist | Edinburgh |
| 1848 | Karl Sigismund Kunth | Botanist | Berlin |
| 1848 | Louis Spohr | Composer | Kassel |
| 1849 | Georg Friedrich Creuzer | Classical philologist | Heidelberg |
| 1849 | Wilhelm von Kaulbach | Painter | Munich |
| 1849 | Karl Ernst von Baer | Zoologist | St. Petersburg |
| 1849 | Augustin Louis Cauchy | Mathematician | Paris |
| 1849 | François Pierre Guillaume Guizot | Historian | Paris |
| 1849 | Carl Benedict Hase | Classical philologist | Paris |
| 1850 | Wilhelm von Schadow | Painter | Düsseldorf |
| 1850 | Jean-Baptiste Biot | Physicist | Paris |
| 1850 | Eugene Burnouf | Orientalist | Paris |
| 1850 | Paul Delaroche | Painter | Paris |
| 1850 | Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall | Orientalist | Vienna |
| 1851 | Justus Freiherr von Liebig | Chemist | Giessen |
| 1851 | Friedrich Tiedemann | Physiologist | Frankfurt am Main |
| 1851 | Daniel François Esprit Auber | Composer | Paris |
| 1851 | Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve | Astronomer | Pulkovo |
| 1852 | Louis Gallait | Painter | City of Brussels |
| 1852 | Sir Richard Owen | Zoologist and paleontologist | London |
| 1852 | Pietro Tenerani | Sculptor | Rome |
| 1853 | Christian Samuel Weiss | Mineralogist | Berlin |
| 1853 | Honoré Théodoric d'Albert de Luynes | Archaeologist | Paris |
| 1853 | Thomas Babington Macaulay | Historian | London |
| 1853 | Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, 1st Baronet | Orientalist | Baghdad |
| 1854 | Sir George Biddell Airy | Astronomer | Greenwich |
| 1854 | Jakob Ignaz Hittorff | Architect | Paris |
| 1854 | Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet | Mathematician | Göttingen |
| 1854 | Christian August Lobeck | Classical philologist | Königsberg |
| 1854 | Leopold Ranke | Historian | Berlin |
| 1855 | Auguste Gaspard Louis Desnoyers | Engraver | Paris |
| 1855 | Jean-Baptiste Dumas | Chemist | Paris |
| 1855 | Johann Friedrich Overbeck | Painter | Rome |
| 1857 | Christian Lassen | Orientalist | Bonn |
| 1857 | Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger | Geologist | Vienna |
| 1857 | Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury | Painter | Paris |
| 1857 | François Forster | Engraver | Paris |
| 1857 | Sir Edward Sabine | Physicist and astronomer | London |
| 1858 | Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel | Sculptor | Dresden |
| 1858 | Friedrich August Stüler | Architect | Berlin |
| 1859 | Ernst Heinrich Weber | Physicist | Leipzig |
| 1860 | Heinrich Wilhelm Dove | Meteorologist | Berlin |
| 1860 | Johann August Eduard Mandel | Engraver | Berlin |
| 1860 | Franz Ernst Neumann | Physicist | Königsberg |
| 1860 | Friedrich Christoph Schlosser | Historian | Heidelberg |
| 1860 | Louis Agassiz | Naturalist | New Cambridge near Boston |
| 1860 | John Charles Frémont | Research traveler | Washington, D.C. |
| 1861 | August Immanuel Bekker | Classical philologist | Berlin |
| 1861 | Friedrich von Hermann | Economist and statistician | Munich |
| 1861 | Leo von Klenze | Architect | Munich |
| 1861 | Heinrich Rose | Chemist | Berlin |
| 1861 | Edme-François Jomard | Geographer | Paris |
| 1863 | Friedrich Drake | Sculptor | Berlin |
| 1863 | Carl Joseph Anton Mittermaier | Jurist | Heidelberg |
| 1863 | Friedrich von Raumer | Historian | Berlin |
| 1863 | Jean Hippolyte Flandrin | Painter | Paris |
| 1863 | Edward Hincks | Orientalist | Killyleagh, Irland |
| 1863 | Sir Charles Lyell | Geologist | London |
| 1863 | Jean-Victor Poncelet | Mathematician | Paris |
| 1864 | Robert Bunsen | Chemist | Heidelberg |
| 1864 | Eduard Grell | Composer | Berlin |
| 1864 | Georg Friedrich Schömann | Classical philologist | Greifswald |
| 1864 | Wilhelm Eduard Weber | Physicist | Göttingen |
| 1864 | Friedrich Wöhler | Chemist | Göttingen |
| 1864 | Architect | Munich | |
| 1865 | Léon Cogniet | Painter | Paris |
| 1865 | Orientalist | Turin | |
| 1866 | Friedrich Christian Diez | Romanist | Bonn |
| 1866 | Peter Andreas Hansen | Astronomer | Gotha |
| 1866 | Johann Heinrich Strack | Architect | Berlin |
| 1866 | Christopher Hansteen | Astronomer | Christiania |
| 1867 | Eduard Bendemann | Painter | Düsseldorf |
| 1867 | Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg | Sculptor | St. Petersburg |
| 1867 | Louis Pierre Henriquel-Dupont | Engraver | Paris |
| 1867 | Henri Milne-Edwards | Zoologist and physiologist | Paris |
| 1868 | Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer | Orientalist | Leipzig |
| 1868 | August Meineke | Classical philologist | Berlin |
| 1868 | Theodor Mommsen | Historian | Berlin |
| 1868 | Charles Robert Darwin | Naturalist | London |
| 1868 | Félix Duban | Architect | Paris |
| 1868 | Henri Victor Regnault | Chemist and physicist | Paris |
| 1868 | Sir Charles Wheatstone | Physicist | London |
| 1869 | John of Saxony | Researcher | |
| 1869 | Johan Nicolai Madvig | Classical philologist | Copenhagen |
| 1869 | Franz von Miklosich | Slavist | Vienna |
| 1870 | Adolf Menzel | Painter | Berlin |
| 1870 | Johan Peter Molin | Sculptor | Stockholm |
| 1871 | Moritz Haupt | Classical philologist and Germanist | Berlin |
| 1871 | Gustav Rose | Mineralogist | Berlin |
| 1872 | Richard Lepsius | Egyptologist | Berlin |
| 1872 | Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg | Philosopher | Berlin |
| 1872 | Sir Edwin Henry Landseer | Painter | London |
| 1872 | Elias Lönnrot | Researcher | Helsingfors |
| 1872 | Thomas Romney Robinson | Astronomer | Armagh, Irland |
| 1873 | Hermann Helmholtz | Physicist and physiologist | Berlin |
| 1873 | Ludwig Knaus | Painter | Düsseldorf |
| 1873 | Nicaise de Keyser | Painter | Antwerp |
| 1874 | Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander | Astronomer | Bonn |
| 1874 | Ernst Julius Hähnel | Sculptor | Dresden |
| 1874 | Gustav Kirchhoff | Physicist | Heidelberg |
| 1874 | Helmuth von Moltke the Elder | War researcher | Berlin |
| 1874 | Heinrich von Sybel | Historian | Bonn |
| 1874 | Thomas Carlyle | Historian | London |
| 1874 | Humphrey Lloyd | Physicist | Dublin |
| 1874 | Max Müller | Orientalist | Oxford |
| 1874 | Gottfried Semper | Architect | Vienna |
| 1875 | Karl Weierstrass | Mathematician | Berlin |
| 1875 | George Bancroft | Historian | Washington, D.C. |
| 1875 | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | Poet | Cambridge, Massachusetts, US |
| 1875 | Theodor Schwann | Physiologist | Liège |
| 1875 | William Stokes | Physicist | Dublin |
| 1876 | Otto von Böhtlingk | Orientalist | Jena |
| 1877 | Emil du Bois-Reymond | Physiologist | Berlin |
| 1877 | Georg Curtius | Classical philologist | Leipzig |
| 1877 | Eduard Zeller | Philosopher | Berlin |
| 1877 | Japetus Steenstrup | Zoologist | Copenhagen |
| 1878 | Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke | Physiologist | Vienna |
| 1878 | Charles Hermite | Mathematician | Paris |
| 1879 | Ernst Curtius | Historian | Berlin |
| 1879 | Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold | Zoologist | Munich |
| 1879 | Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet | Mathematician | Cambridge, England |
| 1880 | Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld | Arctic explorer | Stockholm |
| 1880 | Friedrich von Schmidt | Architect | Vienna |
| 1881 | Andreas Achenbach | Painter | Düsseldorf |
| 1881 | Friedrich Hitzig | Architect | Berlin |
| 1881 | Lawrence Alma-Tadema | Painter | London |
| 1881 | Niels Gade | Composer | Copenhagen |
| 1881 | William Dwight Whitney | Orientalist | New Haven, Connecticut, US |
| 1882 | Gustav Richter | Painter | Berlin |
| 1882 | Johannes Schilling | Sculptor | Dresden |
| 1882 | Marcellin Berthelot | Chemist | Paris |
| 1882 | Jean-Baptiste Boussingault | Chemist and astronomer | Paris |
| 1882 | Giuseppe Fiorelli | Archaeologist | Rome |
| 1882 | Otto Wilhelm von Struve | Astronomer | Pulkovo |
| 1882 | Bernhard Studer | Geologist | Bern |
| 1883 | Reinhold Begas | Sculptor | Berlin |
| 1883 | August Wilhelm von Hofmann | Chemist | Berlin |
| 1884 | Fritz Schaper | Sculptor | Berlin |
| 1884 | Michele Amari | Historian and orientalist | Pisa |
| 1884 | William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin | Physicist | Glasgow |
| 1885 | Georg Waitz | Historian | Berlin |
| 1885 | Joseph Lister | Surgeon | London |
| 1886 | August Friedrich Pott | Linguist | Halle |
| 1886 | Giovanni Battista Carlo de Rossi | Archeologist | Rome |
| 1886 | Werner von Siemens | Physicist | Charlottenburg |
| 1887 | Johannes Brahms | Composer | Vienna |
| 1887 | Gustav Freytag | Novelist and playwright | Wiesbaden |
| 1887 | Giulio Monteverde | Sculptor | Rome |
| 1887 | Heinrich von Treitschke | Historian | Berlin |
| 1887 | Giuseppe Fortunio Francesco Verdi | Composer | Sant'Agata |
| 1887 | William Wright | Orientalist | Cambridge, England |
| 1888 | Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius | Physicist | Bonn |
| 1888 | Heinrich Rudolf Hermann Friedrich von Gneist | Jurist | Berlin |
| 1888 | Theodor Noldeke | Orientalist | Strasbourg |
| 1888 | Frederic Leighton | Painter | London |
| 1888 | Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac | Chemist | Geneva |
| 1888 | Giuseppe Giovanni Antonio Meneghini | Geologist | Pisa |
| 1888 | Emile Wauters | Painter | City of Brussels |
| 1889 | Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig | Physiologist | Leipzig |
| 1890 | Karl Franz Eduard von Gebhardt | Painter | Düsseldorf |
| 1891 | Hermann Ende | Architect | Berlin |
| 1891 | Adolf von Hildebrand | Sculptor | Munich |
| 1891 | Julius von Verdy du Vernois | Military writer | Berlin |
| 1891 | Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyramus de Candolle | Botanist | Geneva |
| 1891 | Vatroslav Jagić | Slavist | Vienna |
| 1891 | Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern | Linguist and Indologist | Leiden |
| 1891 | Austen Henry Layard | Archaeologist | London |
| 1891 | Anton Rubinstein | Musician | St. Petersburg |
| 1891 | Pasquale Villari | Historian | Rome |
| 1892 | Arthur Auwers | Astronomer | Berlin |
| 1892 | Benjamin Apthorp Gould | Astronomer | Cambridge, Massachusetts, US |
| 1892 | John Everett Millais | Painter | London |
| 1893 | August Kekulé | Chemist | Bonn |
| 1893 | August Kundt | Physicist | Berlin |
| 1893 | Eduard Friedrich Wilhelm Pflüger | Physiologist | Bonn |
| 1893 | Sven Ludvig Lovén | Zoologist | Stockholm |
| 1893 | Ludwig Passini | Painter | Venice |
| 1894 | Jacob Georg Agardh | Botanist | Lund |
| 1894 | Alfred von Arneth | Historian | Vienna |
| 1895 | Adolf von Baeyer | Chemist | Munich |
| 1895 | Hermann Carl Vogel | Astrophysicist | Potsdam |
| 1895 | Michael Jan de Goeje | Arabist | Leiden |
| 1895 | Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff | Chemist | Amsterdam |
| 1895 | Numismatist | Winterthur | |
| 1895 | Giovanni Schiaparelli | Astronomer | Milan |
| 1896 | Otto von Bismarck | Statesman | Berlin |
| 1896 | Heinrich Brunner | Jurist | Berlin |
| 1896 | Herman Grimm | Art historian | Berlin |
| 1896 | Albert von Kölliker | Anatomist | Würzburg |
| 1896 | Friedrich Wilhelm Kohlrausch | Physicist | Charlottenburg |
| 1896 | Alexander Kovalevsky | Zoologist | St. Petersburg |
| 1897 | Johann Wilhelm Hittorf | Physicist | Münster |
| 1897 | Rudolf Leuckart | Zoologist | Leipzig |
| 1897 | Carl Neumann | Mathematician | Leipzig |
| 1897 | Hermann Usener | Classical philologist | Bonn |
| 1897 | Albrecht Weber | Orientalist | Berlin |
| 1897 | Francisco Pradilla Ortiz | Painter | Madrid |
| 1897 | William Stubbs | Historian | Oxford |
| 1898 | Johann Kaspar Julius Ficker von Feldhaus | Religious historian | Innsbruck |
| 1898 | Sir William Henry Flower | Naturalist | London |
| 1898 | Gustav Oscar August Montelius | Archeologist | Stockholm |
| 1898 | Sir John Murray | Oceanographer | Edinburgh |
| 1898 | Simon Schwendener | Botanist | Berlin |
| 1899 | Joseph Joachim | Musician | Berlin |
| 1899 | Gustav von Schmoller | Economist and historian | Berlin |
| 1899 | Hubert Herkomer | Painter | Lululaund near London |
| 1900 | Max Joseph von Pettenkofer | Hygienicist and chemist | Munich |
| 1901 | Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns | Composer | Paris |
| 1901 | Rudolph Virchow | Pathologist | Berlin |
| 1901 | Julius Wellhausen | Historian and orientalist | Göttingen |
| 1902 | Alexander Emanuel Agassiz | Zoologist | Cambridge, Massachusetts, US |
| 1902 | John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury | Biologist and archaeologist | Downe, Kent |
| 1902 | Luigi Antonio Gaudenzio Cremona | Mathematician | Rome |
| 1902 | Carl Gegenbaur | Anatomist | Heidelberg |
| 1902 | Adolf von Harnack | Theologian and church historian | Berlin |
| 1902 | Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker | Botanist | Kiev |
| 1902 | Carl Justi | Church historian | Bonn |
| 1902 | Gaston Paris | Scholar of Romance literature | Paris |
| 1902 | Peter Petrowitsch von Semjonow-Tienschanski | Geographer | St. Petersburg |
| 1903 | Adolf Mussafia | Romanist | Vienna |
| 1903 | John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh | Physicist | Terling Place, Witham, Essex |
| 1903 | Theodor Ritter von Sickel | Historian | Merano |
| 1904 | Hermann Emil Fischer | Chemist | Berlin |
| 1904 | François-Auguste Baron Gevaert | Music historian and composer | City of Brussels |
| 1904 | Adolf Kirchhoff | Classical philologist | Berlin |
| 1904 | Peter Ludwig Mejdell Sylow | Mathematician | Christiania |
| 1905 | Graziadio Isaia Ascoli | Linguist | Milan |
| 1905 | Franz Jacob von Defregger | Artist | Munich |
| 1905 | Simon Newcomb | Astronomer | Washington, D.C. |
| 1906 | Franz Bücheler | Classical philologist | Bonn |
| 1906 | Léopold Victor Delisle | Historian | Paris |
| 1906 | Robert Koch | Bacteriologist | Berlin |
| 1908 | Max Bruch | Composer | Berlin |
| 1908 | James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce | Historian and jurist | London |
| 1908 | Wilhelm Dilthey | Philosopher | Berlin |
| 1908 | Hendrik Antoon Lorentz | Physicist | Leiden |
| 1908 | Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp Pfeffer | Plant physiologist and botanist | Leipzig |
| 1908 | Friedrich Wilhelm Radloff | Linguist | St. Petersburg |
| 1908 | John Singer Sargent | Artist | London |
| 1908 | Gabriel Ritter von Seidl | Architect | Munich |
| 1908 | Johannes Vahlen | Classical philologist | Berlin |
| 1908 | Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff | Classical philologist | Berlin |
| 1910 | Sir David Gill | Astronomer | London |
| 1910 | Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin | Aeronaut | Friedrichshafen |
| 1911 | Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz | Military theorist | Berlin |
| 1911 | Karl Ewald Konstantin Hering | Physiologist | Leipzig |
| 1911 | Andreas Heusler | Jurist | Basel |
| 1911 | Otto Lessing | Sculptor | Berlin |
| 1911 | Sir William Ramsay | Chemist | London |
| 1911 | Gustaf Magnus Retzius | Histologist | Stockholm |
| 1911 | Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen | Physicist | Munich |
| 1911 | Gustav Schönleber | Artist | Karlsruhe |
| 1911 | Vilhelm Ludwig Peter Thomsen | Orientalist | Copenhagen |
| 1912 | Julius Ferdinand von Hann | Meteorologist | Vienna |
| 1912 | Historian | Berlin | |
| 1912 | August Louis Tuaillon | Sculptor | Berlin |
| 1912 | Sir William Turner | Anatomist | Edinburgh |
| 1912 | Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt | Psychologist and philosopher | Leipzig |
| 1913 | Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat | Artist | Paris |
| 1913 | Hermann Diels | Classical philologist | Berlin |
| 1913 | Ernst Emil Ludwig Hoffmann | Architect | Berlin |
| 1914 | Camillo Golgi | Physician and histologist | Pavia |
| 1914 | Hans Grässel | Architect | Munich |
| 1915 | Heinrich von Angeli | Artist | Vienna |
| 1915 | Otto Friedrich von Gierke | Jurist | Berlin |
| 1915 | Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn | Astronomer | Groningen |
| 1915 | Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck | Physicist | Berlin |
| 1915 | Santiago Ramón y Cajal | Physician and histologist | Madrid |
| 1915 | Hugo Ritter von Seeliger | Astronomer | Munich |
| 1916 | Hugo Freiherr von Freytag-Loringhoven | Military theorist | Weimar |
| 1916 | Rudolph Sohm | Jurist | Leipzig |
| 1917 | Max Klinger | Printmaker and sculptor | Leipzig |
| 1917 | Walther Hermann Nernst | Physicist | Berlin |
| 1917 | Hans Thoma | Artist and designer | Munich |
| 1918 | Adolf Erman | Egyptologist | Berlin |
| 1918 | Georg Friedrich Knapp | Economist and political theorist | Strasbourg |
| 1918 | Johannes Adolf von Kries | Physiologist | Freiburg |
| 1918 | Carl Ritter von Linde | Engineer | Munich |
| 1918 | Eduard Meyer | Historian and orientalist | Berlin |
| Ceased with the end of the Prussian monarchy. | |||
| 1919-1922 | No award made. | ||
| 1923 | Revived with the President of Germany as head of the order. | ||
| 1923 | Albert Einstein | Physicist | Berlin |
| 1923 | Gerhart Hauptmann | Poet | Agnetendorf |
| 1923 | Felix Klein | Mathematician | Göttingen |
| 1923 | Hugo Lederer | Sculptor | Berlin |
| 1923 | Max Liebermann | Artist | Berlin |
| 1924 | Georg Gottfried Julius Dehio | Art historian | Tübingen |
| 1924 | Richard von Hertwig | Zoologist | Munich |
| 1924 | Hermann von Kuhl | Military writer | Berlin |
| 1924 | Heinrich Lüders | Indologist | Berlin |
| 1924 | Hans Erich Pfitzner | Composer and conductor | Munich |
| 1924 | Eduard Schwartz | Classical philologist | Munich |
| 1924 | Max Slevogt | Artist and printmaker | Berlin |
| 1924 | Richard Georg Strauss | Composer and conductor | Garmisch |
| 1924 | Richard Willstätter | Chemist | Munich |
| 1925 | Hugo von Habermann | Artist | Munich |
| 1925 | Ludolf von Krehl | Physician | Heidelberg |
| 1926 | David Hilbert | Mathematician | Göttingen |
| 1926 | Leopold Karl Walter Graf von Kalckreuth | Artist and printmaker | Munich |
| 1926 | Albrecht Penck | Geographer | Berlin |
| 1926 | Karl Vossler | Romanist | Munich |
| 1929 | Wilhelm von Bode | Art historian and museum director | Berlin |
| 1929 | Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler | Conductor and composer | Berlin |
| 1929 | Käthe Kollwitz | Artist and printmaker | Berlin |
| 1929 | Carl Stumpf | Physiologist and philosopher | Berlin |
| 1931 | Enno Littmann | Orientalist | Tübingen |
| 1931 | Indogermanist | Berlin | |
| 1931 | Theodor Wiegand | Archaeologist | Berlin |
| 1932 | Paul Fridolin Kehr | Historian | Berlin |
| 1933 | Ernst Heinrich Barlach | Sculptor, printmaker and poet | Güstrow |
| 1933 | Heinrich Wölfflin | Art historian | Zürich |
| 1933 | Absorbed into the state honours system of Nazi Germany. | ||
| 1933-1945 | |||
| 1946-1952 | No award made. | ||
| 1952 | Revived with West German president Theodor Heuss as head of the order. | ||
| 1952 | Paul Bonatz | Architect | Stuttgart |
| 1952 | Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe | Physicist | Heidelberg |
| 1952 | Ernst Robert Curtius | Romanist | Bonn |
| 1952 | Ludwig Curtius | Archaeologist | Rome |
| 1952 | Gerhard Domagk | Physician | Wuppertal-Elberfeld |
| 1952 | Karl Ritter von Frisch | Zoologist | Munich |
| 1952 | Erich Haenisch | Sinologist | Herrenchiemsee |
| 1952 | Otto Hahn | Chemist | Göttingen |
| 1952 | Max Hartmann | Biologist | Tübingen |
| 1952 | Paul Hindemith | Composer, violist and conductor | Zürich |
| 1952 | Karl Hofer | Artist and printmaker | Berlin |
| 1952 | Jurist | Bonn | |
| 1952 | Max Theodor Felix von Laue | Physicist | Berlin |
| 1952 | Philosopher | Bonn | |
| 1952 | Gerhard Marcks | Sculptor | Cologne |
| 1952 | Friedrich Meinecke | Historian | Berlin |
| 1952 | Emil Nolde | Artist and printmaker | Seebüll |
| 1952 | Karl Reinhardt | Classical philologist | Frankfurt am Main |
| 1952 | Otto Renner | Botanist | Munich |
| 1952 | Paul Schmitthenner | Architect | Kilchberg |
| 1952 | Reinhold Schneider | Writer and poet | Freiburg |
| 1952 | Rudolf Alexander Schröder | Poet | Sonnleithen |
| 1952 | Renée Sintenis | Artist and printmaker | Berlin |
| 1952 | Eduard Spranger | Philosopher | Tübingen |
| 1952 | Otto Warburg | Biochemist | Berlin |
| 1952 | Heinrich Wieland | Chemist | Starnberg |
| 1952 | Adolf Windaus | Chemist | Göttingen |
| 1954 | Niels Henrik David Bohr | Physicist | Copenhagen |
| 1954 | Carl Jacob Burckhardt | Historian | Vinzel, Switzerland |
| 1954 | Arthur H. Compton | Physicist | St. Louis, US |
| 1954 | George Peabody Gooch | Historian | Chalfont St. Peter, England |
| 1954 | Hermann Hesse | Writer | Montagnola, Switzerland |
| 1954 | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Philosopher of religion | New Delhi |
| 1954 | Albert Schweitzer | Philosopher, theologian and music historian | Lambarene |
| 1954 | Alfred Weber | Sociologist | Heidelberg |
| 1955 | Sir Henry Hallett Dale | Physiologist | London |
| 1955 | Étienne Gilson | Philosopher | Paris |
| 1955 | Werner Jaeger | Classical philologist | Cambridge, Massachusetts, US |
| 1955 | Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren | Sinologist | Stockholm |
| 1955 | Oskar Kokoschka | Artist, printmaker and writer | Villeneuve, Switzerland |
| 1955 | Thomas Mann | Writer | Kilchberg, Switzerland |
| 1955 | Gilbert Murray | Greek scholar | Oxford |
| 1955 | Hans Purrmann | Artist and printmaker | Montagnola, Switzerland |
| 1956 | Luigi Einaudi | Economist | Dogliani, Italy |
| 1956 | Max Huber | Jurist | Zürich |
| 1956 | Lise Meitner | Physicist | Stockholm |
| 1956 | Carl Orff | Composer | Dießen am Ammersee |
| 1956 | Karl Schmidt-Rottluff | Artist | Berlin |
| 1956 | Erwin Schrödinger | Physicist | Vienna |
| 1956 | Thornton Wilder | Writer | New Haven, Connecticut, US |
| 1957 | Werner Heisenberg | Physicist | Munich |
| 1957 | George de Hevesy | Chemist and physicist | Stockholm |
| 1957 | Charles B. Huggins | Physician | Chicago |
| 1957 | Ludwig Mies van der Rohe | Architect | Chicago |
| 1957 | Gerhard Ritter | Historian | Freiburg |
| 1958 | Werner Bergengruen | Writer | Baden-Baden |
| 1958 | Romano Guardini | Philosopher | Munich |
| 1958 | Richard Kuhn | Chemist and biochemist | Heidelberg |
| 1958 | Percy Ernst Schramm | Historian | Göttingen |
| 1959 | Literary scholar | Frankfurt am Main | |
| 1959 | Ernst Buschor | Archaeologist | Munich |
| 1959 | Thomas Stearns Eliot | Poet | London |
| 1959 | François Louis Ganshof | Historian | City of Brussels |
| 1959 | Pieter Catharinus Arie Geyl | Historian | Utrecht |
| 1960 | Hans Kienle | Astronomer | Heidelberg |
| 1961 | Hans Rothfels | Historian | Tübingen |
| 1961 | Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Weizsäcker | Physicist and philosopher | Hamburg |
| 1962 | Adolf Butenandt | Biochemist | Munich |
| 1962 | Albert Defant | Geophysicist | Innsbruck |
| 1962 | Franz Dölger | Byzantinist | Munich |
| 1962 | Wolfgang Schadewaldt | Classical philologist | Tübingen |
| 1963 | André-Jean Festugière | Historian | Paris |
| 1963 | André Grabar | Art historian | Paris |
| 1963 | Gerhard von Rad | Theologian | Heidelberg |
| 1963 | Carl Ludwig Siegel | Mathematician | Göttingen |
| 1963 | Walther von Wartburg | Romanist | Basel |
| 1964 | Architect and town planner | Hanover | |
| 1964 | Karl Jaspers | Philosopher | Basel |
| 1964 | Alfred Kühn | Zoologist | Tübingen |
| 1966 | Sir James Chadwick | Physicist | Denbigh |
| 1966 | Annette Kolb | Writer | Munich |
| 1966 | Georg Ostrogorsky | Byzantinist | Belgrad |
| 1966 | Literary historian | Zürich | |
| 1966 | Alexander Lord Todd | Chemist | Cambridge, England |
| 1966 | Wieland Wagner | Opera director and stage designer | Bayreuth |
| 1966 | Hans Wimmer | Sculptor | Munich |
| 1967 | Kurt Bittel | Archaeologist | Berlin |
| 1967 | Erich Heckel | Artist and printmaker | Hemmenhofen |
| 1967 | Marie Luise von Kaschnitz | Writer | Frankfurt am Main |
| 1967 | Otto Klemperer | Conductor and composer | Zürich |
| 1967 | Gyula Moravcsik | Byzantinist | Budapest |
| 1967 | Erwin Panofsky | Art historian | Princeton, New Jersey, US |
| 1967 | Hideki Yukawa | Physicist | Tokyo |
| 1967 | Carl Zuckmayer | Writer | Saas-Fee |
| 1968 | Political scientist and journalist | Tübingen | |
| 1968 | Marino Marini | Sculptor and printmaker | Milan |
| 1968 | Plant physiologist | Halle | |
| 1969 | Alvar Aalto | Architect | Helsinki |
| 1969 | Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra | Classical philologist | Oxford |
| 1969 | Rudolf Bultmann | Theologian | Marburg |
| 1969 | Romanist | Freiburg | |
| 1969 | Stephan Kuttner | Canonist and legal historian | New Haven, Connecticut, US |
| 1969 | Konrad Lorenz | Zoologist | Altenberg, Austria |
| 1969 | Legal historian | Göttingen | |
| 1969 | Karl Waldemar Ziegler | Chemist | Mülheim |
| 1970 | Egon Eiermann | Architect | Baden-Baden |
| 1970 | Walther Gerlach | Physicist | Munich |
| 1970 | Fritz Kortner | Actor and director | Munich |
| 1970 | Karl Rahner | Theologian | Münster |
| 1971 | Hans-Georg Gadamer | Philosopher | Heidelberg-Ziegelhausen |
| 1971 | Architect | Stuttgart | |
| 1971 | Classical philologist | Vienna | |
| 1971 | Feodor Lynen | Biochemist | Munich |
| 1971 | Theodor Schieder | Historian | Cologne |
| 1971 | Artturi Ilmari Virtanen | Biochemist | Hesinki |
| 1972 | Andreas Alföldi | Historian | Princeton, New Jersey, US |
| 1972 | Sir Hans Adolf Krebs | Biochemist | Iffley, Oxford |
| 1972 | Henry Moore | Sculptor | Much Hadham |
| 1972 | Garden designer and landscape architect | Berlin | |
| 1972 | Fritz Winter | Artist | Dießen am Ammersee |
| 1973 | Raymond Aron | Sociologist | Paris |
| 1973 | Jurist | Frankfurt am Main | |
| 1973 | Manfred Eigen | Physical chemist | Göttingen |
| 1973 | Golo Mann | Historian, journalist and writer | Kilchberg, Switzerland |
| 1973 | Hans Erich Nossack | Writer | Hamburg |
| 1973 | Bartel Leendert van der Waerden | Mathematician | Zürich |
| 1973 | Actor | Munich | |
| 1974 | Wolfgang Gentner | Physicist | Heidelberg |
| 1974 | Thrasybulos Georgiades | Musicologist | Munich |
| 1974 | Fritz Albert Lipmann | Biochemist | New York City |
| 1974 | Sir Ronald Syme | Historian | Oxford |
| 1975 | Pierre Boulez | Composer and conductor | Paris |
| 1975 | Richard Ettinghausen | Art historian | Princeton, New Jersey, US |
| 1975 | Surgeon | Munich | |
| 1975 | György Ligeti | Composer | Hamburg |
| 1975 | Kenzo Tange | Architect | Tokyo |
| 1976 | Peter Huchel | Writer | Staufen im Breisgau |
| 1976 | George F. Kennan | Historian and diplomat | Princeton, New Jersey, US |
| 1976 | Heinz Maier-Leibnitz | Physicist | Munich |
| 1977 | Zoologist | Munich | |
| 1977 | Sir Ernst Gombrich | Art historian | London |
| 1977 | Hans Hartung | Artist | Paris |
| 1977 | Friedrich August von Hayek | Economist | Freiburg |
| 1977 | Bruno Snell | Classical philologist | Hamburg |
| 1978 | Gerhard Rudolf Edmund Meyer-Schwickerath | Ophthalmologist | Essen-Bredeney |
| 1978 | Victor Friedrich Weisskopf | Physicist | Cambridge, Massachusetts, US |
| 1979 | Felix Bloch | Physicist | Palo Alto, US |
| 1979 | Elias Canetti | Writer | Zürich |
| 1979 | Fritz Schalk | Romanist | Cologne |
| 1980 | Wolfgang Paul | Physicist | Bonn |
| 1980 | Sir Karl Popper | Philosopher of science | Penn, Buckinghamshire |
| 1980 | Werner Reichardt | Physiologist | Tübingen |
| 1980 | Leopold Reidemeister | Art historian | Berlin |
| 1981 | Wolfgang Clemen | Anglicist | Endorf, Bavaria |
| 1981 | Felix Gilbert | Historian | Princeton, New Jersey, US |
| 1981 | Gershom Scholem | Philosopher | Jerusalem |
| 1981 | Emil Schumacher | Artist | Hagen |
| 1981 | Rudolf Serkin | Pianist | Brattleboro, Vermont, US |
| 1981 | Molecular biologist | Munich | |
| 1982 | Hendrik B. G. Casimir | Physicist | Heeze, Netherlands |
| 1982 | Sir Bernard Katz | Physiologist | London |
| 1982 | Ernst Kitzinger | Art historian | Oxford |
| 1983 | Carl Dahlhaus | Musicologist | Berlin |
| 1983 | Jurist | Paris | |
| 1983 | Eugène Ionesco | Writer and designer | Paris |
| 1983 | Elisabeth Legge-Schwarzkopf | Opera singer | Zumikon, Switzerland |
| 1984 | Hans Albrecht Bethe | Physicist | Ithaca, New York, US |
| 1984 | Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau | Opera singer and conductor | Berlin |
| 1984 | Hermann Paul Joseph Haken | Physicist | Sindelfingen |
| 1984 | Kaii Higashiyama | Landscape artist | Chiba Prefecture, Japan |
| 1984 | Otto Kratky | Physical chemist | Graz |
| 1984 | Boris Borissowitsch Piotrowski | Archaeologist | Leningrad |
| 1985 | Bernhard Bischoff | Palaeographer, philologist and historian | Planegg |
| 1986 | Historian | Steinebach am Wörthsee | |
| 1987 | Eduardo Chillida Juantegui | Sculptor | San Sebastian |
| 1987 | Max F. Perutz | Biophysicist | Cambridge, England |
| 1988 | Stig Fredrik Strömholm | Jurist | Uppsala, Sweden |
| 1990 | Gordon Alexander Craig | Historian | Menlo Park, California, US |
| 1990 | Carlos Kleiber | Conductor | Grünwald, Bavaria |
| 1990 | Jean-Marie Lehn | Chemist | Strasbourg |
| 1990 | Albrecht Schöne | Germanist | Göttingen |
| 1991 | Bernard Andreae | Archaeologist | Rome |
| 1991 | Alfred Brendel | Pianist and Writer | London |
| 1991 | Herbert Giersch | Economist | Kiel |
| 1991 | Friedrich Hirzebruch | Mathematician | Sankt Augustin |
| 1992 | Karl Dietrich Bracher | Historian and political scientist | Bonn |
| 1992 | Albert Eschenmoser | Chemist | Küsnacht, Switzerland |
| 1992 | Wolfgang Gerok | Physician | Freiburg |
| 1992 | Eberhard Jüngel | Theologian | Tübingen |
| 1992 | Giorgio Strehler | Stage director | Barcola, Triest, Italy |
| 1992 | Martin Walser | Writer | Überlingen-Nußdorf |
| 1993 | Gerhard Casper | Jurist | Stanford, California, US |
| 1993 | Sir Henry Chadwick | Church historian | Cambridge, England |
| 1993 | Walter Gehring | Biologist | Basel |
| 1993 | Robert Huber | Chemist | Germering |
| 1993 | Witold Lutoslawski | Composer and conductor | Warsaw |
| 1993 | Aribert Reimann | Composer | Berlin |
| 1994 | Albrecht Dihle | Classical philologist | Heidelberg |
| 1994 | Ludwig Finscher | Musicologist | Wolfenbüttel |
| 1994 | Ernst-Joachim Mestmäcker | Jurist | Hamburg |
| 1994 | Fritz Stern | Historian | New York City |
| 1995 | Architect | Cologne | |
| 1995 | Erwin Neher | Biophysicist | Göttingen |
| 1995 | Hubertus von Pilgrim | Sculptor and printmaker | Pullach |
| 1995 | Bert Sakmann | Neurobiologist | Martinsried |
| 1995 | Robert Merton Solow | Economist | Cambridge, Massachusetts, US |
| 1995 | Andrzej Szczypiorski | Writer | Warsaw |
| 1995 | Jacques Tits | Mathematician | Paris |
| 1995 | Niklaus Wirth | Computer scientist | Zürich |
| 1996 | Pina Bausch | Dancer and choreographer | Wuppertal |
| 1996 | Peter von Matt | Germanist | Dübendorf, Switzerland |
| 1996 | Rudolf Ludwig Mößbauer | Physicist | Grünwald, Bavaria |
| 1997 | Eric R. Kandel | Neurobiologist | New York City |
| 1997 | Dani Karavan | Sculptor | Tel Aviv |
| 1997 | Jutta Lampe | Actor | Berlin |
| 1997 | Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard | Biologist | Tübingen |
| 1998 | Hans Belting | Art historian | Karlsruhe |
| 1998 | Umberto Eco | Writer and semiotician | Milan |
| 1998 | Charles Weissmann | Molecular biologist | Zürich |
| 1999 | Magdalena Abakanowicz | Sculptor | Warsaw |
| 1999 | Walter Burkert | Classicist | Zürich |
| 1999 | Hans Magnus Enzensberger | Writer and poet | Munich |
| 1999 | Sofia Gubaidulina | Composer | Appen near Hamburg |
| 1999 | György Kurtág | Composer | Paris |
| 1999 | Robert Weinberg | Oncologist | Berlin |
| 1999 | Rolf M. Zinkernagel | Immunologist | Zürich |
| 2000 | Business economist | Bonn | |
| 2000 | Paul B. Baltes | Psychologist and gerontologist | Berlin |
| 2000 | Imre Kertész | Writer | Budapest |
| 2000 | Günther Uecker | Painter and sculptor | Düsseldorf |
| 2000 | Anton Zeilinger | Physicist | Vienna |
| 2001 | Günter Blobel | Cellular biologist | New York City |
| 2001 | Nikolaus Harnoncourt | Conductor and cellist | St Georgen im Attergau |
| 2002 | Norman Foster | Architect | London |
| 2002 | Bronislaw Geremek | Historian and statesman | Warsaw |
| 2002 | Richard Serra | Artist | New York City |
| 2003 | Ralf Dahrendorf | Sociologist | London |
| 2005 | Wim Wenders | Film director, author, and photographer | Berlin |
| 2006 | Reinhard Selten | Economist | Bonn |
| 2006 | James J. Sheehan | Historian | Stanford, California, US |
| 2006 | Christian Tomuschat | Jurist | Berlin |
| 2007 | Yuri Manin | Mathematician | Bonn |
| 2008 | Durs Grünbein | Poet and writer | Berlin |
| 2008 | Theodor W. Hänsch | Physicist | Munich |
| 2008 | Svante Pääbo | Geneticist and palaeontologist | Leipzig |
| 2009 | Lorraine Daston | Historian of science | Berlin |
| 2009 | Scholar of Islam | Tübingen | |
| 2009 | Rudolf Jaenisch | Molecular biologist | Cambridge, Massachusetts, US |
| 2010 | Brigitte Fassbaender | Opera singer and director | Obing |
| 2010 | Anthony Thomas Grafton | Historian | Princeton, New Jersey, US |
| 2010 | Barbara Klemm | Photographer | Frankfurt am Main |
| 2010 | Willem J. M. Levelt | Psycholinguist | Amsterdam |
| 2011 | Hermann Parzinger | Prehistorian | Berlin |
| 2011 | András Schiff | Pianist | Budapest |
| 2011 | Peter Stein | Theater, opera and film director | Amelia, Umbria, Italy |
| 2011 | Eric F. Wieschaus | Evolutionary biologist | Princeton, New Jersey, US |
| 2012 | Caroline Walker Bynum | Medievalist | Atlanta, Georgia, US |
| 2012 | Wolfgang Rihm | Composer | Karlsruhe |
| 2013 | Reinhard Genzel | Astrophysicist | Garching |
| 2014 | Horst Bredekamp | Art historian | Berlin |
| 2014 | Claudio Magris | Literary scholar and writer | Trieste, Italy |
| 2014 | Onora O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve | Philosopher | London |
| 2014 | Jurist and legal historian | Kronberg im Taunus | |
| 2015 | Daniel Barenboim | Conductor and concert pianist | Berlin |
| 2015 | Christoph Wolff | Music historian | Belmont, Massachusetts, US |
| 2016 | Hans Clevers | Geneticist | Amsterdam |
| 2016 | Rebecca Horn | Artist and director | Bad König |
| 2016 | Gidon Kremer | Violinist and conductor | Riga, Latvia |
| 2017 | Emmanuelle Charpentier | Microbiologist | Berlin |
| 2017 | Jürgen Osterhammel | Historian | Freiburg |
| 2017 | Karl Schlögel | Historian | Berlin |
| 2018 | Andrea Breth | Stage director | |
| 2018 | Michael Haneke | Film director | |
| 2018 | Heinz Holliger | Composer, conductor and oboist | |
| 2019 | Klaus von Klitzing | Physicist | |
| 2019 | Christopher Clark | Historian | |
| 2019 | Adam Zagajewski | Writer and poet |