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Our History

Golden Plate Awardees

The Golden Plate Award has been presented since 1961 by the American Academy of Achievement to approximately 25 guests of honor at the International Achievement Summit. Chosen by the Academy’s Awards Council and other distinguished authorities, these men and women of exceptional accomplishment in the sciences, the professions, business, industry, arts, literature, sports, entertainment, and public service are acclaimed … not as winners, but as visionaries and achievers who represent the many who excel.

Featured Honorees
The Arts
1960s
Thomas Hart Benton
Painter and Muralist
Herbert L. Block
Three Pulitzer Prizes for Editorial Cartooning
Bob Hope
Oscar for Lifetime Achievement
Yousuf Karsh
Portrait Photography
Theodore Roethke
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
George Silk
LIFE Photojournalist
William Wyler
Three Oscars for Best Director
Robert Stack
Actor, TV Series The Untouchables
Paul Manship
Prometheus at Rockefeller Center
King Vidor
Oscar for Lifetime Achievement
Adolph Gottlieb
Painter and Sculptor
David Merrick
Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement
Lee J. Cobb
Film and Stage Actor
Allan Nevins, Ph.D.
Two Pulitzer Prizes for History
Allen Drury
Pulitzer Prize for Advise and Consent
Philippe Halsman
101 Covers for LIFE Magazine
William H. Goetzmann, Ph.D.
Pulitzer Prize for History
George Shearing
Pianist and Composer
Hanson W. Baldwin
Pulitzer Prize for WW II Reporting
David L. Wolper
Television Hall of Fame
1970s
Shirley Temple Black
Film Actress and Diplomat
George Cukor
Oscar for My Fair Lady
Walter Lantz
Oscar for Lifetime Achievement
John Wayne
Legendary Film Actor
Walker Hancock
Presidential Medal of Freedom
James A. Michener
Storytelling Phenomenon
Irving Stone
Master of the Biographical Novel
Louis I. Kahn
The Philosopher Architect
Lowell Thomas
Broadcaster and Author
Edward Villella
New York City Ballet
Frank Capra
Three Oscars for Best Director
Peter Graves
Actor, TV Series Mission: Impossible
Helen Hayes
First Lady of the American Theater
Rosalind Russell
Actress and Humanitarian
Jonathan Winters
Comedian
Lorne Greene
Actor, TV Series Bonanza
Mervyn LeRoy
Producer, The Wizard of Oz
Cloris Leachman
Television Hall of Fame
Patrick B. Oliphant
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
Jimmy Stewart
Oscar for Lifetime Achievement
Ray Charles
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Art Linkletter
Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement
George Pal
Oscar for Lifetime Achievement
Will and Ariel Durant
Pulitzer Prize for History
Donny and Marie Osmond
Television and Music
Stevie Wonder
Singer, Songwriter and Activist
Edward Asner
Television Hall of Fame
John Chancellor
Broadcast Journalism
Alex Haley
Pulitzer Prize for Roots
Jeffrey K. MacNelly
Three Pulitzer Prizes for Editorial Cartooning
Erma Bombeck
Humorist and Bestselling Author
Dame Olivia de Havilland
Two Oscars for Best Actress
Colleen McCullough
Author, The Thorn Birds
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Pulitzer Prize for A Thousand Days
Henry Fonda
Oscar for Lifetime Achievement
Louis L’Amour
Congressional Gold Medal
1980s
Clint Eastwood
Motion Picture Actor and Director
Norman Lear
Television Hall of Fame
Edmund Morris
Pulitzer Prize for The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Charles M. Schulz
Congressional Gold Medal
Cicely Tyson
Oscar for Lifetime Achievement
Lawrence Welk
Television Impresario
Henry Winkler
Actor, TV Series Happy Days
Larry Hagman
Actor, TV Series Dallas
Jim Davis
Creator of "Garfield"
John Forsythe
Actor, TV Series Dynasty
Robert K. Massie
Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Quincy Jones
Music Impresario
John Travolta
Trendsetting Motion Picture Actor
David McCullough
Two Pulitzer Prizes for Biography
Mortimer J. Adler, Ph.D.
Philosopher and Author
Lionel Richie
Singer and Musician
Elizabeth Taylor
Two Oscars for Best Actress
Michael Graves
Architecture Gold Medal
Clare Boothe Luce
Author and Diplomat
Loretta Lynn
Legend of Country Music
Marsha Norman
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Joseph Papp
Theatrical Producer and Director
Leontyne Price
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Robert Rauschenberg
Prolific American Painter
Steven Spielberg
Film Director and Producer
Herman Wouk
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
John L. Ashbery
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Suzanne Farrell
Ballerina Extraordinaire
Frances FitzGerald
Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction
Jim Henson
The Muppet Master
Lloyd Richards
Tony Award-winning Director
Diane Sawyer
Broadcast Journalism
Wayne Thiebaud
Painter and Teacher
Roy Acuff
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Bernard Bailyn, Ph.D.
Two Pulitzer Prizes for History
Sarah Cannon (Minnie Pearl)
Country Music Hall of Fame
Johnny Cash
Country Music Hall of Fame
Wendell Castle
Craft Furniture
Tom Clancy
Master of Military Thrillers
E. L. Doctorow
American Book Award
Michael Douglas
Oscar for Best Actor
Ahmet M. Ertegun
Music Industry
Wynton Marsalis
Pulitzer Prize for Music
August Wilson
Two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama
Tom Brokaw
Television Journalist and Author
Henry Mancini
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Arthur Mitchell
Dance Theatre of Harlem
Howard Nemerov
Poet Laureate of the United States
Mike Nichols
Motion Picture and Stage Director
Tom Selleck
Actor, TV Series Magnum P.I.
Beverly Sills
Legendary Opera Soprano
Dinah Shore
Television Hall of Fame
1990s
Maya Angelou
Poet and Historian
Neil Sheehan
Pulitzer Prize for A Bright Shining Lie
Audrey Hepburn
Actress and Humanitarian
Ken Burns
Documentary Classics
Chuck Jones
Animation Pioneer
Jim Lehrer
Broadcast Journalism
Sidney Sheldon
Bestselling Novelist
Dizzy Gillespie
Jazz Musician, Composer and Bandleader
Philip C. Johnson
Dean of American Architects
Susan Lucci
Actress, TV Series All My Children
Peter Matthiessen
Naturalist and Novelist
James Merrill
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Martin Scorsese
Film Director, Screenwriter and Producer
Wallace Stegner
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Barbara Walters
Broadcast Journalism
Kevin Costner
Motion Picture Production
Michael Crichton, M.D.
Bestselling Author
Judith Jamison
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Jessye Norman
Legendary Opera Soprano
Dolly Parton
Queen of Country Music
Oliver Stone
Motion Picture Production
Barbra Streisand
53 Gold Albums and Two Oscars for Best Actress
Russell Baker
Recipient of Two Pulitzer Prizes
Kathleen Battle
Operatic Soprano
Betty Comden
Musical Comedy Author
Pat Conroy
Bestselling Novelist
John Grisham
Bestselling Author
Naomi Judd
Country Music Hall of Fame
Charles Kuralt
Television Hall of Fame
Thomas McGuane
Novelist and Journalist
N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Agnes Nixon
Television Hall of Fame
Robert A. M. Stern
Architecture
Twyla Tharp
Dancer and Choreographer
Judy Blume
Bestselling Children's Author
Art Buchwald
Pulitzer Prize-winning Humorist
Dale Chihuly
Master Glass Artist
Francis Ford Coppola
Filmmaker, Producer and Screenwriter
Robert De Niro
Actor, Director and Producer
Rita Dove
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Harrison Ford
Motion Picture Actor
Whoopi Goldberg
Actress and Activist
David Halberstam
Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting
John Napier
Theatre Design
Lesley Stahl
Broadcast Journalism
Bernie Taupin
Songwriters Hall of Fame
Tommy Tune
Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Ph.D.
Education and Literature
Frank O. Gehry
Gold Medal for Architecture
James M. McPherson, Ph.D.
Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom
Trevor Nunn
Theatrical Director
Mike Wallace
CBS News Correspondent
Richard Wilbur
Two Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry
Robin Williams
Comedian, Actor and Activist
Sam Donaldson
Broadcast Journalism
Lanford Wilson
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Bob Woodward
The Washington Post
John Hope Franklin, Ph.D.
Educator and Historian
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.
Pulitzer Prize for History
Amy Grant
Gospel and Pop Music Singer
John Guare
Award-winning Playwright
James Earl Jones
Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement
Larry King
Broadcasters' Hall of Fame
Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall
Motion Picture Production
Richard Meier
Gold Medal for Architecture
Amy Tan
Bestselling Novelist
Robert Zemeckis
Oscar for Best Director
David Herbert Donald, Ph.D.
Two Pulitzer Prizes for Biography
Gloria Estefan
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Vince Gill
Country Music Hall of Fame
Ron Howard
Oscar for Best Director
Joyce Carol Oates
National Book Award
Cokie Roberts
Broadcast Journalism
Stephen E. Ambrose, Ph.D.
Biographer and Historian
Clarence Avant
Music Industry
James Cameron
Film Futurist
Sean Combs
Hip Hop Entrepreneur
Morgan Freeman
Master Screen Craftsman
Carol Shields
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Alice Waters
Culinary Revolution
A. Scott Berg
Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Marcy Carsey
Television Hall of Fame
Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds
Singer, Songwriter and Producer
Shelby Foote
Novelist and Historian
Aretha Franklin
The Queen of Soul
Holly Hunter
Oscar for Best Actress
Charles Krauthammer
Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
Frank McCourt
Pulitzer Prize for Biography
2000s
Christiane Amanpour
Broadcast Journalism
Clive Davis
Music Industry
Sir David Frost
Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Arthur Golden
Author, Memoirs of a Geisha
Lauryn Hill
Singer, Songwriter and Rapper
Jeremy Irons
Stage and Screen Actor
Justin Kaplan
Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Ricardo Legorreta
Gold Medal for Architecture
Maya Lin
Artist and Architect
Edna O’Brien
Novelist and Memoirist
Salman Rushdie
Novelist and Essayist
John Williams
Award-winning Composer
Ernest J. Gaines
Author, A Lesson Before Dying
Tracy Kidder
Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction
Dan Rather
Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Chuck Berry
Father of Rock and Roll
Bono
Musician and Activist
Enya
Grammy Award-winning Musician
Gao Xingjian
Nobel Prize in Literature
Plácido Domingo
Internationally Acclaimed Tenor
Bob Dylan
Icon of American Culture
Thomas L. Friedman
Three Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism
Dame Julie Andrews
Stage and Screen Actress
James Brown
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
José Carreras
Internationally Acclaimed Tenor
B.B. King
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Santiago Calatrava
Gold Medal for Architecture
Emmylou Harris
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Norman Mailer
National Book Award for Lifetime Achievement
John Updike
Two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction
Edward Albee
Three Pulitzer Prizes for Drama
Katie Couric
Television Hall of Fame
Sally Field
Two Oscars for Best Actress
John Fogerty
Songwriters Hall of Fame
John Irving
National Book Award
Toni Morrison
Nobel Prize in Literature
Itzhak Perlman
Virtuoso of the Violin
Tim Russert
Moderator of Meet the Press
Stephen Sondheim
Composer and Lyricist
Denzel Washington
Oscar for Best Actor
Tom Wolfe
America's Master Novelist
Sheryl Crow
Singer and Songwriter
Joan Didion
Novelist and Essayist
Carlos Fuentes
Mexico's Greatest Novelist
Sir Peter Jackson
Oscar for Best Director
Samuel L. Jackson
Oscar for Lifetime Achievement
Sonny Rollins
Saxophone Colossus
Julie Taymor
Theater, Opera and Film Director
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
Opera Singer
Gore Vidal
Novelist and Social Critic
Nora Ephron
Author and Filmmaker
Suzan-Lori Parks
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Harold Prince
Broadway Producer and Director
Rick Atkinson
Pulitzer Prize for History
Joshua Bell
Grammy Award-winning Violinist
David Doubilet
Pioneer of Underwater Photography
Khaled Hosseini, M.D.
Novelist and Activist
Janusz Kaminski
Two Oscars for Cinematography
Nicholas D. Kristof
Two Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism
W. S. Merwin
Two Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry
Michael Ondaatje
Author, The English Patient
Brian Wilson
Songwriters Hall of Fame
Tony Bennett
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Jackson Browne
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Hal David
Songwriters Hall of Fame
Nadine Gordimer
Nobel Prize in Literature
Alexander McCall Smith
Bestselling Author
Wole Soyinka
Nobel Prize in Literature
2010s
Johnny Mathis
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Louise Glück
Nobel Prize in Literature
Natasha Trethewey
Poet Laureate of the United States
Wolf Blitzer
CNN's Pioneering News Anchor
Audra McDonald
Six Tony Awards
Carol Burnett
Television Hall of Fame
Athol Fugard
Playwright, Actor and Director
Carole King
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Jeff Koons
Contemporary Art Phenomenon
Sidney Poitier
Oscar for Lifetime Achievement
Diana Ross
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Wayne Shorter
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Chris Wallace
Broadcast Journalist
Thomas Keller
Culinary Impresario
Lynsey Addario
Pulitzer Prize-winning Photojournalist
Svetlana Alexievich
Nobel Prize In Literature
John Banville
Acclaimed Irish Novelist
Dame Antonia Susan Byatt
English Novelist and Essayist
Sir Michael Caine
British Film Icon
Lord Norman Foster
Gold Medal for Architecture
Peter Gabriel
Singer, Songwriter and Humanitarian
Sir Kazuo Ishiguro
Nobel Prize in Literature
Sebastian Junger
Journalist and Filmmaker
Jimmy Page
Guitarist and Founder of Led Zeppelin
Bartlett Sher
Tony Award-winning Theater Director
Sting
Songwriters Hall of Fame
Ron Chernow
Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Judy Collins
Singer, Songwriter and Activist
Roger Daltrey
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Denyce Graves
Mezzo-Soprano and Cultural Ambassador
Buddy Guy
Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement
Thomas Heatherwick
Designer of the Extraordinary
Gladys Knight
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber
Musical Theatre Composer
Ian McEwan
English Novelist and Screenwriter
Sir Van Morrison
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
James Nachtwey
Photojournalist and War Photographer
Lynn Nottage
Two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama
Orhan Pamuk
Nobel Prize in Literature
Justin Peck
Tony Award for Choreography
Armando Christian Pérez
Musician, Activist and Entrepreneur
Smokey Robinson
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
T.J. Stiles
Pulitzer Prizes for History and Biography
Pete Townshend
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Steven Tyler
Songwriters Hall of Fame
2020s
David W. Blight, Ph.D.
Pulitzer Prize for History
Gordon Lightfoot
Songwriters Hall of Fame
Tracy K. Smith
Poet Laureate of the United States
Steve Harvey
Humorist and Humanitarian
Featured Honorees
Public Service
1960s
Learned Hand
Jurist and Judicial Philosopher
Frank H. Knight, Ph.D.
Economist and Social Philosopher
General Douglas MacArthur, USA
General of the Army
Alan T. Waterman, Ph.D.
Science and Public Service
Louis Nizer
Trial Lawyer and Author
Father William B. Wasson
Savior of Orphaned Children
General Holland M. Smith, USMC
Father of Modern Amphibious Warfare
General Leif J. Sverdrup, USA
Civil Engineering
General Benjamin D. Foulois, USAF
Father of U.S. Military Aviation
Rev. Billy Graham
Missionary and Evangelist
Helen Keller
Author and Political Activist
William L. Langer, Ph.D.
Historian and Intelligence Expert
Harold Russell
Oscar for Best Years of Our Lives
Vice Adm. William F. Raborn, Jr., USN
Father of the Polaris
Captain Roger H. Donlon, USA
Medal of Honor
General B. A. Schriever, USAF
Father of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Program
Percy Foreman
Criminal Defense Attorney
Bernard (Barney) Kilgore
The Wall Street Journal
Paul Freund, S.J.D.
Constitutional Law
Thomas G. Corcoran
Architect of New Deal Era
Daniel K. Inouye
War Hero and Statesman
Brig. Gen. Robin Olds, USAF
Aviation Hall of Fame
Eugene Patterson
Journalist and Civil Rights Activist
Lawrence E. Spivak
Co-founder and Host of Meet the Press
1970s
Richard G. Lugar
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Erwin D. Canham
The Christian Science Monitor
Turner Catledge
The New York Times
Leo M. Cherne
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Gerald R. Ford
38th President of the United States
Milton Friedman, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Economics
Leon Jaworski
Law and Public Service
Lloyd N. Morrisett, Jr., Ph.D.
Co-creator, Sesame Street
Howard H. Baker
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Colonel James H. Kasler, USAF
Extraordinary Heroism
Richard L. Strout
Pulitzer Prize for Lifetime Achievement
General George S. Brown, USAF
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Lee A. DuBridge, Ph.D.
President Emeritus of Cal Tech
James C. Fletcher, Ph.D.
Administrator of NASA
Anne Carlsen, Ph.D.
Disability Rights Advocate
Tom C. Clark
Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Chesterfield Smith
Law and Public Service
Caspar W. Weinberger
Presidential Medal of Freedom
General Alexander Haig, Jr., USA
Soldier and Statesman
Shirley M. Hufstedler
Law and Public Service
General Daniel (Chappie) James, Jr., USAF
Aviation Hall of Fame
Admiral James B. Stockdale, USN
Medal of Honor
Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN
Medal of Honor
General Jimmy Doolittle, USAF
Aviation Pioneer and Recipient of the Medal of Honor
Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire
Nobel Prize for Peace
Spencer W. Kimball
Religious Leader
Robert Moses
Master Builder
General Dan Shomron
Israeli Hero of the Entebbe Rescue
John J. Sirica
Watergate Trial Judge
General Louis H. Wilson, Jr., USMC
Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps
General Omar N. Bradley, USA
General of the Army
Clark M. Clifford
Lawyer and Presidential Advisor
Frank M. Johnson, Jr.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Seán MacBride
Nobel Prize for Peace
Admiral Stansfield Turner, USN
Director of Central Intelligence
William H. Webster
Director of the FBI
Colonel Ulrich Wegener
Commando Rescue of 86 Hostages
Richard (Racehorse) Haynes
Criminal Defense Attorney
General David C. Jones, USAF
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Russell M. Nelson, M.D.
Religious Leader
Dixy Lee Ray
Scientist and Politician
1980s
Benjamin R. Civiletti
U.S. Attorney General
Eugene L. Roberts, Jr.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
General Bernard W. Rogers, USA
Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Ambassador Kenneth D. Taylor
Congressional Gold Medal
General Robert H. Barrow, USMC
Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps
Hanna Holborn Gray, Ph.D.
President, University of Chicago
Sam Ervin, Jr.
Lawyer, Jurist, Legislator and Patriot
Marva Collins
Teacher Extraordinaire
Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, USN
National Security
General John W. Vessey, Jr., USA
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Lew Allen, Jr., USAF
Technology and National Security
Mother Antonia Brenner
The Prison Angel
Ambassador Sol M. Linowitz
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Claude D. Pepper
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Business and Public Service
William French Smith
U.S. Attorney General
Andrew J. Young
Civil Rights Ambassador
Ernest L. Boyer, Ph.D.
Education
Jimmy Carter
Nobel Prize for Peace
Ambassador Max M. Kampelman
Presidential Medal of Freedom
General P. X. Kelley, USMC
Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps
Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg
Publisher, Philanthropist and Diplomat
Betty Ford
Congressional Gold Medal
General Andrew J. Goodpaster, USA
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Daniel J. Boorstin, J.S.D.
The Librarian of Congress
Admiral William J. Crowe, USN
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Paul H. Nitze
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Lt. General Vernon A. Walters, USA
Ambassador to the United Nations
John C. Whitehead
Financier and Statesman
Barry M. Goldwater
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Sandra Day O’Connor
First Woman Justice, United States Supreme Court
Henry Rosovsky, Ph.D.
Education and Economics
Robert McC. Adams, Ph.D.
Secretary of the Smithsonian
Benjamin C. Bradlee
The Washington Post
General Colin L. Powell, USA
Former Secretary of State, United States of America
Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, USAF
Presidential Medal of Freedom
William S. Sessions
Director of the FBI
Anne L. Armstrong
Presidential Medal of Freedom
David P. Gardner, Ph.D.
President, University of California
Vartan Gregorian, Ph.D.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
1990s
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Donald Kennedy, Ph.D.
President, Stanford University
Ralph Nader
Consumer Crusader
Ronald W. Reagan
40th President of the United States
Alan M. Dershowitz
Defender of Civil Liberties
Jack Kemp
Sports and Public Service
Javier Pérez De Cuéllar
Secretary-General of the United Nations
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA
Commander, Operation Desert Storm
James H. Billington, Ph.D.
The Librarian of Congress
Robert M. Gates
Director of Central Intelligence
Walter E. Massey, Ph.D.
President, Morehouse College
Marian Wright Edelman
Children's Defense Fund
Zachary Fisher
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Vincent J. Scully, Ph.D.
Architectural Historian and Teacher
James and Sarah Brady
Handgun Control Advocates
Judith Rodin, Ph.D.
President, University of Pennsylvania
General John M. Shalikashvili, USA
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
George H. W. Bush
41st President of the United States
John M. Deutch
Director of Central Intelligence
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Lady Bird Johnson
Congressional Gold Medal
Tom Johnson
Journalism and Media
Peggy Noonan
Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
Johnnetta B. Cole, Ph.D.
President, Spelman College
Rosa Parks
Congressional Gold Medal
Willie L. Brown, Jr.
Mayor of San Francisco
Gilbert M. Grosvenor
Chairman of National Geographic Society
Elie Wiesel
Nobel Prize for Peace
Stephen J. Breyer
Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Barbara Pierce Bush
Advocate of Family Literacy
Gerhard Casper, Ph.D.
President, Stanford University
Coretta Scott King
Pioneer of Civil Rights
Gordon B. Hinckley
Presidential Medal of Freedom
General Charles C. Krulak, USMC
Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps
Gerry L. Spence
Trial Lawyer and Author
James A. Baker III
Former Secretary of State, United States of America
Richard B. Cheney
46th Vice President of the United States
General Wesley K. Clark, USA
Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Linda and Millard Fuller
Founders, Habitat for Humanity
Agnes Gund
Advocate for Arts Education
Nannerl O. Keohane, Ph.D.
President, Duke University
General Henry (Hugh) Shelton, USA
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Alan K. Simpson
United States Senate
George J. Tenet
Director of Central Intelligence
Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke
Diplomacy
H.E. Valdas Adamkus
President of the Republic of Lithuania
H.E. Bronisław Geremek
Statesman and Historian
H.E. Árpád Göncz
President of Hungary
William P. Magee, Jr., M.D. and Kathleen Magee
Founders, Operation Smile
General Joseph W. Ralston, USAF
Supreme Allied Commander Europe
2000s
Bertie Ahern
Taoiseach of Ireland
Benazir Bhutto
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan
Mikhail S. Gorbachev
Nobel Prize for Peace
General James L. Jones, USMC
Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Baron Robertson of Port Ellen
Secretary General of NATO
Ruth J. Simmons, Ph.D.
President, Brown University
Brendan V. Sullivan, Jr.
Defense Attorney Extraordinaire
H.E. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
President of the Republic of Latvia
Lech Walesa
Nobel Prize for Peace
Ehud Barak
Former Prime Minister of Israel
Gary Becker, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Economics
J. Carter Brown
Director Emeritus, National Gallery of Art
Bill Frist, M.D.
United States Senate
John L. Hennessy, Ph.D.
President, Stanford University
General Richard B. Myers, USAF
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Lt. Michael E. Thornton, USN
Medal of Honor
Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud
Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the U.S.
William J. Clinton
42nd President of the United States
Richard M. Daley
Mayor of Chicago
John Hume
Nobel Prize for Peace
H.E. Hamid Karzai
President of Afghanistan
Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.
Former Secretary of State, United States of America
H.E. Lennart Meri
President of the Republic of Estonia
George J. Mitchell
Presidential Medal of Freedom
José Ramos-Horta
Nobel Prize for Peace
Lord David Trimble
Nobel Prize for Peace
Hillary Clinton
Former Secretary of State, United States of America
Tom Daschle
United States Senate
Rudolph Giuliani
Former Mayor of New York City
Donald E. Graham
Publisher, The Washington Post
John McCain
United States Senate
Antonin Scalia
Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Robert S. Strauss
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Shimon Peres
Nobel Prize for Peace
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Nobel Prize for Peace
H.M. King Abdullah
King of Jordan
Maureen Dowd
Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
President of the Republic of Turkey
Congressman John R. Lewis
Champion of Civil Rights
Bernard Lewis, Ph.D.
Middle East Scholar
H.E. Yoweri Museveni
President of the Republic of Uganda
H.M. Queen Rania Al-Abdullah
Advocate for Women's Rights
Shirin Ebadi
Nobel Prize for Peace
Michael J. Fox
Actor and Activist
Alberto R. Gonzales
U.S. Attorney General
Susan J. Hockfield, Ph.D.
President, MIT
Anthony M. Kennedy
Retired Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Bernard Kouchner, M.D.
Founder, Doctors Without Borders
Norman Y. Mineta
Presidential Medal of Freedom
H.E. Festus G. Mogae
President of the Republic of Botswana
John E. Sexton, Ph.D.
President, New York University
Lawrence H. Summers, Ph.D.
President, Harvard University
William T. Coleman, Jr.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Mohamed ElBaradei
Nobel Prize for Peace
John D. Negroponte
Director of National Intelligence
H.R.H. Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa
Crown Prince of Bahrain
Wendy Kopp
Founder and President of Teach for America
Nancy Pelosi
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
Antonio Villaraigosa
Mayor of Los Angeles
Laura Bush
First Lady of the United States
General Michael V. Hayden, USAF
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.
Science and Education
Barack Obama
44th President of the United States
General Peter Pace, USMC
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Harry Reid
United States Senate
Barry Scheck
Co-Founder, The Innocence Project
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Nobel Prize for Peace
Paul Farmer, M.D.
Founder, Partners In Health
Navanethem Pillay
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa
President of South Africa
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director, ACLU
Albie Sachs
Constitutional Court of South Africa
Joseph E. Stiglitz, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Economics
2010s
Eric H. Holder, Jr.
U.S. Attorney General
Salman Khan
Founder, Khan Academy
Leon Panetta
Political Leadership
General David H. Petraeus, USA
Soldier and Scholar
Sonia Sotomayor
Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
David Boies
Counselor and Human Rights Advocate
General Philip M. Breedlove, USAF
Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Edmund G. Brown, Jr.
Governor of California
Joi Ito
Director of the MIT Media Lab
Admiral William H. McRaven, USN
Special Operations Command
Theodore B. Olson
Constitutional Advocate
Aung San Suu Kyi
Nobel Prize for Peace
Neil M. Gorsuch
Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Paul Kagame
President of Rwanda
Ernest Cardinal Simoni
Albania's Heroic Servant of God
Elaine L. Chao
U.S. Secretary of Transportation
Leymah Gbowee
Nobel Prize for Peace
Carla Hayden, Ph.D.
Librarian of Congress
Daniel Kahneman, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Economics
Brett M. Kavanaugh
Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Nadia Murad
Nobel Prize for Peace
Bryan Stevenson
Founder of Equal Justice Initiative
2020s
Abhijit Banerjee, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Economics
Esther Duflo, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Economics
Amy Coney Barrett
Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., USAF
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
James E. Clyburn
United States Congress
Mitch McConnell
United States Senate
Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Ph.D.
President, Stanford University
Lonnie G. Bunch III
Secretary of the Smithsonian
William J. Burns
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Susan Collins
United States Senate
Ketanji Brown Jackson
Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Ph.D.
Director-General of the World Trade Organization
William Ruto
President of the Republic of Kenya
Macky Sall
President of the Republic of Senegal
Featured Honorees
Science & Exploration
1960s
Roger Adams, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Luis Walter Alvarez, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
John V. Becker
Father of the X-15
Charles Stark Draper, Ph.D.
Inventor of the Gyroscope
Rear Adm. George Dufek, USN
South Polar Exploration
John S. Foster, Jr., Ph.D.
Atomic Energy
Clarence L. (Kelly) Johnson
Aircraft Design Engineer
Willard F. Libby, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Charles William Mayo, M.D.
The Mayo Clinic
Alfred Sherwood Romer, Ph.D.
Zoology and Paleontology
Edward Teller, Ph.D.
Father of the Hydrogen Bomb
Lieutenant Don Walsh, USN
Undersea Exploration
Alvin M. Weinberg, Ph.D.
Nuclear Energy
Harry Julian Allen
Aeronautical Engineering
Karel Jan (Charlie) Bossart
Father of the Atlas
Nina Starr Braunwald, M.D.
First Woman Heart Surgeon
Jerrie Cobb
Aviation Hall of Fame
Maxime A. Faget
Mercury Capsule Design
Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
John R. Pierce, Ph.D.
Pioneer of Satellite Communications
Frank Press, Ph.D.
Geophysics
Wendell M. Stanley, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Jacqueline Cochran
Aviation Hall of Fame
Colonel John H. Glenn, USMC
First American to Orbit the Earth
Edwin M. McMillan, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Walter H. Munk, Ph.D.
Pioneering Oceanographer
Gerald L. Pearson, Ph.D.
Inventor of Silicon Solar Cell
William H. Pickering, Ph.D.
Interplanetary Exploration
Joseph A. Walker
X-15 Test Pilot
Howard H. Aiken
Father of the Computer
Maria Goeppert Mayer, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Brig. Gen. James McDivitt, USAF
Astronaut Hall of Fame
Harold A. Rosen, Ph.D.
Father of the Communications Satellite
Waldo L. Semon, Ph.D.
Inventor of Vinyl
William J. Sparks, Ph.D.
Inventor of Synthetic Tires
Harold Edgerton, Ph.D.
Father of Strobeflash Photography
Ivar Giaever, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Adrian Kantrowitz, M.D.
Artificial Heart Implant
Edward C. Kendall, Ph.D.
Discoverer of Cortisone
Henry Taube, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Lt. Col. Edward H. White II, USAF
Congressional Space Medal of Honor
Irvine H. Page, M.D.
Discoverer of Serotonin
Samuel Ruben
Inventor, the Alkaline Battery
George Gaylord Simpson, Ph.D.
Zoology and Paleontology
Harold C. Urey, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
John Archibald Wheeler, Ph.D.
Theoretical Physicist
Jacob Bjerknes, Ph.D.
Creator of Modern Meteorology
Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.
Father of Modern Cardiovascular Surgery
Vladimir Haensel, Ph.D.
Inventor of the Platforming Process
Claude E. Shannon, Ph.D.
Father of Information Theory
Gordon K. Teal, Ph.D.
Inventor, First Silicon Transistor
Captain James A. Lovell, Jr., USN
Commander of Apollo 13's Perilous Flight
Vladimir Zworykin, Ph.D.
Father of Television
Denton A. Cooley, M.D.
Heart Transplant Pioneer
C. Walton Lillehei, M.D., Ph.D.
Father of Open-Heart Surgery
Lt. Col. William A. Anders, USAF
Astronaut Hall of Fame
Colonel Frank Borman, USAF
Congressional Space Medal of Honor
John C. Slater, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Jack L. Strominger, M.D.
Microbiology
Charles H. Townes, Ph.D.
Inventor of the Maser and Laser
1970s
Peter C. Goldmark, Ph.D.
Developer of Long-Playing (LP) Phonograph Disc
Robert A. Good, M.D.
First Bone Marrow Transplant
Jack S. Kilby
Inventor of the Integrated Circuit
Rita Levi-Montalcini, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Norman E. Borlaug, Ph.D.
Father of the Green Revolution
Norris E. Bradbury, Ph.D.
Nuclear Science
Herbert C. Brown, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Har Gobind Khorana, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.
Inventor of the Artificial Kidney and Heart
Earl W. Sutherland, Jr., M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Howard P. House, M.D.
Father of Modern Otology
George E. Mueller, Ph.D.
Father of the Space Shuttle
Wendell Phillips
Oil Concessionaire and Archaeologist
Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D.
Discoverer of Plutonium
Alexander P. de Seversky
Aviation Hall of Fame
Albert Starr, M.D.
Inventor of the Artificial Heart Valve
Sir Edmund Hillary
Conqueror of Mount Everest
Neil Armstrong
First Man on the Moon
Tenzing Norgay
First Man to Stand Atop Mt. Everest
Robert M. Zollinger, M.D.
Pioneering Surgeon
Norman G. Dyhrenfurth
Mountaineer and Filmmaker
Manson Benedict, Ph.D.
Nuclear Engineering
Paul J. Flory, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Henry Eyring, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Eugene P. Wigner, D.Sc.
Nobel Prize in Physics
General Chuck Yeager, USAF
First Man to Break the Sound Barrier
Carl D. Anderson, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Isaac Asimov, Ph.D.
Science Writer
Maurice R. Hilleman, Ph.D.
Developer of Mumps, Measles and Hepatitis Vaccines
George E. Palade, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Ruth Patrick, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Carl Sagan, Ph.D.
Astronomy and Literature
Harold G. Scheie, M.D.
Pioneering Ophthalmologist
Wernher von Braun, Ph.D.
Rocket Scientist and Space Architect
George S. Hammond, Ph.D.
Father of Organic Photochemistry
Sir Godfrey N. Hounsfield
Inventor of X-Ray Computed Tomography (CT Scan)
Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.
Discoverer of Lucy
Jonas Salk, M.D.
Developer of the Polio Vaccine
Allan R. Sandage, Ph.D.
Discoverer of Quasars
Hans Selye, M.D., Ph.D.
Father of Biological Stress Research
Lt. General Thomas P. Stafford, USAF
Commander, Apollo-Soyuz Mission
Maj. Gen. Leigh Wade, USAF
Aviation Hall of Fame
R. Buckminster Fuller
Designer, Inventor and Futurist
Samuel C. C. Ting, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Rosalyn S. Yalow, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Philip W. Anderson, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Andrew V. Schally, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.
Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Peace
Arno A. Penzias, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Patrick C. Steptoe, M.D.
Creator, World's First Test Tube Baby
1980s
Carl Djerassi, Ph.D.
Father of the Birth Control Pill
Sheldon L. Glashow, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Elwood V. Jensen, Ph.D.
Discoverer of Estrogen Receptors
Jesse Greenstein, Ph.D. and Maarten Schmidt, Ph.D.
Discoverer of Quasars
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D.
Author of On Death and Dying
Theodore H. Maiman, Ph.D.
Inventor of the Laser
Roger W. Sperry, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Val L. Fitch, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Emil (Tom) Frei III, M.D.
Cancer Research
Philip Leder, M.D.
Molecular Genetics
Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN
First American in Space
Frank H. Westheimer, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Colonel C. Gordon Fullerton, USAF
Astronaut Hall of Fame
Fred L. Whipple, Ph.D.
Astronomy Gold Medal
J. Desmond Clark, Ph.D.
Gold Medal for Archaeological Achievement
Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.
Author and Evolutionary Theorist
Michael R. Harrison, M.D.
Father of Fetal Surgery
Leon Lederman, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Paul B. MacCready, Ph.D.
Father of Human-Powered Flight
Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.
Father of Artificial Intelligence
George D. Snell, Sc.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Irving S. Cooper, M.D., Ph.D.
Pioneering Neurosurgeon
Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, USN
Developer of COBOL Computer Language
David H. Hubel, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
William C. DeVries, M.D.
Artificial Heart Surgeon
Robert K. Jarvik, M.D.
Developer, the Artificial Heart
Robert S. Mulliken, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Ross Perot, Jr.
First Global Helicopter Flight
Arthur L. Schawlow, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Thomas E. Starzl, M.D.
Pioneer of Organ Transplantation
Kenneth G. Wilson, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Mildred Cohn, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Douglas R. Hofstadter, Ph.D.
Pulitzer Prize for Gödel, Escher, Bach
Robert Hofstadter, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Vernon B. Mountcastle, M.D.
Father of Neuroscience
John D. Roberts, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Carlo Rubbia, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Irwin I. Shapiro, Ph.D.
Astrophysics and Radio Astronomy
Chien-Shiung Wu, Ph.D.
First Lady of Physics
Robert C. Gallo, M.D.
Co-discoverer of HIV
Maurice Goldhaber, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Henry J. Heimlich, M.D.
Inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver
John J. Hopfield, Ph.D.
Inventor, Artificial Neural Networks
Donald E. Knuth, Ph.D.
Father of Computer Science
R. Bruce Merrifield, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
William Wilson Morgan, Ph.D.
Henry Draper and Herschel Medals
Roger R. Revelle, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Herwig Schopper, Ph.D.
Director General of CERN
Robert A. Weinberg, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
David Baltimore, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Michael S. Brown, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Captain Robert L. Crippen, USN
First Space Shuttle Pilot
Freeman Dyson, Ph.D.
Theoretical Physicist and Author
Joseph L. Goldstein, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Herbert A. Hauptman, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Jerome Karle, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Isidor Isaac Rabi, Ph.D., Sc.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Solomon H. Snyder, M.D.
Neuroscience and Pharmacology
Klaus Von Klitzing, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
James D. Watson, Ph.D.
Discoverer of the DNA Molecule
Robert R. Wilson, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
John Bardeen, Ph.D.
Two Nobel Prizes in Physics
Francis H. C. Crick, Ph.D.
Discoverer of the DNA Molecule
Dame Jane Goodall
Primatologist and Anthropologist
Dudley R. Herschbach, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D.
Molecular Biology
Yuan T. Lee, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Reinhold Messner
Greatest Mountaineer on Earth
Luc Montagnier, M.D.
Discoverer of the AIDS Virus
Burton Richter, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Burt Rutan
Designer of the Voyager
Julian Schwinger, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Gordon R. Willey, Ph.D.
Dean of New World Archaeology
Robert W. Wilson, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Leonard L. Bailey, M.D.
Pioneer of Infant Heart Transplants
Donald J. Cram, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
George B. Schaller, Ph.D.
Legendary Field Zoologist
Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D.
Father of Modern Ethnobotany
James A. Van Allen, Ph.D.
Discoverer of the Magnetosphere
Allan C. Wilson, Ph.D.
Evolutionary Genetics
Edward O. Wilson, Ph.D.
Father of Sociobiology
Paul Berg, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Johann Deisenhofer, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Donald A. Glaser, Ph.D.
Inventor of the Bubble Chamber
George H. Hitchings, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Melvin Schwartz, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
1990s
Robert D. Ballard, Ph.D.
Discoverer of the Titanic
Étienne-Émile Baulieu, M.D.
Endocrinologist
Thomas R. Cech, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Hans G. Dehmelt, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Norman F. Ramsey, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Harold E. Varmus, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Elias J. Corey, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.
Undersea Explorer
Jerome I. Friedman, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Joseph E. Murray, M.D.
First Successful Human Organ Transplant
Richard E. Taylor, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Clyde Tombaugh
Discoverer of Planet Pluto
Arthur Kornberg, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Cancer Immunotherapy
Joan A. Steitz, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Edward C. Stone, Ph.D.
Interplanetary Exploration
Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.
Medicine and Education
John R. Horner
Paleontologist
Henry W. Kendall, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Mary-Claire King, Ph.D.
Discoverer of Breast Cancer Gene
Rudolph A. Marcus, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
E. Donnall Thomas, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Captain John W. Young, USN
Congressional Space Medal of Honor
Rene G. Favaloro, M.D.
Father of Coronary Bypass Surgery
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Human Genome Research
Kary B. Mullis, Ph.D.
Inventor of Polymerase Chain Reaction
Richard J. Roberts, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Michael Smith, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
George F. Smoot III, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D.
Astronaut and Oceanographer
Martin Rodbell, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Benjamin S. Carson, M.D.
Pediatric Neurosurgeon
Alfred G. Gilman, M.D., Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Joseph H. Taylor, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
William A. Haseltine, Ph.D.
Biotechnology
Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
George A. Olah, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Martin L. Perl, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Stanley B. Prusiner, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
F. Sherwood Rowland, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
J. Craig Venter, Ph.D.
Geneticist and Entrepreneur
Kent R. Weeks
Egyptologist
Robert F. Curl, Jr., Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Richard L. Garwin, Ph.D.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Peter C. Doherty, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
David M. Lee, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Douglas Osheroff, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Robert C. Richardson, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Bert Vogelstein, M.D.
Cancer Genomics
William Julius Wilson, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Edward Witten, Ph.D.
Theoretical Physicist
Lowell Wood, Ph.D.
Astrophysicist and Inventor
Paul D. Boyer, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Steven Chu, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
David Ho, M.D.
AIDS Research
Barry J. Marshall, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Donna Shirley
Mars Exploration Program
Andrew Weil, M.D.
Father of Integrative Medicine
Sir Ian Wilmut
Embryologist
Georges Charpak, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Rita R. Colwell, Ph.D.
National Medal of Science
Howard Gardner, Ph.D.
The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Robert F. Furchgott, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
John D. Gearhart, Ph.D.
Stem Cell Research Pioneer
Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones
First Balloonists to Circle the Globe
Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.
Molecular Genetics
Judah Folkman, M.D.
Tumor Angiogenesis
Lord Martin Rees
Astronomer Royal
Janet Davison Rowley, M.D.
National Medal of Science
James A. Thomson, V.M.D., Ph.D.
Stem Cell Research Pioneer
Robert B. Laughlin, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
William D. Phillips, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Steven Pinker, Ph.D.
Cognitive Neuroscience
2000s
Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Baruch S. Blumberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Developer of the Hepatitis B Vaccine
Carol W. Greider, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Sir Aaron Klug
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Ray Kurzweil
Developer of Optical Character Recognition
Peter Raven, Ph.D.
Conservationist and Biologist
Frederick Sanger, Ph.D.
Two Nobel Prizes in Chemistry
Oliver Sacks, M.D.
Neurologist and Author
Gerard ‘t Hooft, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Sir John Vane
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Ahmed Zewail, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
George F. Bass, Ph.D.
Underwater Archaeologist
Colonel Eileen Collins, USAF
First Female Space Shuttle Pilot
Herbert Kroemer, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Thomas E. Lovejoy, Ph.D.
Conservation Biologist
Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D.
Marine Ecologist
Lynn Margulis, Ph.D.
Evolutionary Biologist
Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.
Evolutionary Biologist
Jeremiah P. Ostriker, Ph.D.
Astronomy Gold Medal
Zhores Alferov, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Paul Greengard, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Sir Harry Kroto
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Sir Paul Nurse
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Immunology and Global Health
Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.
Biomedical Engineering
Alexei A. Abrikosov, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Peter C. Agre, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
John N. Bahcall, Ph.D.
Astronomy Gold Medal
Meave Leakey, Ph.D.
Paleoanthropologist
Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.
First American Woman in Space
Sir John Sulston
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Richard B. Axel, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Linda B. Buck, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Aaron Ciechanover, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
David J. Gross, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Frank Wilczek, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Richard Dawkins, Ph.D.
Evolutionary Biologist
Daniel C. Dennett, Ph.D.
Philosophy of Science
Robert H. Grubbs, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
John L. Hall, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Inventor of the World Wide Web
Brian J. Druker, M.D.
Developer, Gleevec Leukemia Drug
Ian Frazer, M.D.
Developer, Cervical Cancer Vaccine
Richard E. Leakey
Paleoanthropologist and Conservationist
John C. Mather, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Craig C. Mello, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Svante Pääbo, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Lisa Randall, Ph.D.
Theoretical Physics
Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D.
Director, National Institutes of Health
2010s
Adam G. Riess, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Roger Y. Tsien, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Frances H. Arnold, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Alan H. Guth, Ph.D.
Pioneer of Cosmic Inflation
Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Saul Perlmutter, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Thomas Südhof, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Arieh Warshel, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
David J. Wineland, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Jennifer A. Doudna, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Sir Andre K. Geim
Nobel Prize in Physics
Sir John Gurdon
Nobel Prize in Medicine
F. Duncan M. Haldane, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.
Pioneer of Artificial Intelligence
Brian K. Kobilka, M.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Randy W. Schekman, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
James P. Allison, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Yann LeCun, Ph.D.
Pioneer of Artificial Intelligence
Donna Strickland, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Kip Thorne, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Feng Zhang, Ph.D.
Co-Developer, CRISPR Gene Editing Technology
2020s
Andrea M. Ghez, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Katalin Karikó, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Ardem Patapoutian, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
William G. Kaelin, Jr., M.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Shuji Nakamura, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
Drew Weissman, M.D., Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Maria T. Zuber, Ph.D.
Geophysics and Planetary Science
Featured Honorees
Business
1960s
John W. Galbreath
Industrialist and Sportsman
George N. Hatsopoulos, Sc.D.
Co-founder of Thermo Electron
R. G. LeTourneau
Inventor and Philanthropist
David H. Murdock
Investor and Developer
Peter G. Peterson
Investor and Philanthropist
Floyd B. Odlum
Industrialist and Public Servant
Simon Ramo, Ph.D.
Industrialist and Scientist
Charles Allen Thomas, D.Sc.
Chemist and Industrialist
Kemmons Wilson
Founder of Holiday Inn
John W. Hill
Co-founder of Hill & Knowlton
George W. Jenkins
Founder of Publix Super Markets
Koji Kobayashi, Ph.D.
Japan’s Industrial Visionary
Charles B. (Tex) Thornton
Founder of Litton Industries
DeWitt Wallace
Co-founder of Reader's Digest
Lila Bell Acheson Wallace
Co-founder of Reader's Digest
Andrew L. Brimmer, Ph.D.
Federal Reserve Board
August A. Busch, Jr.
Brewer and Civic Leader
Carl E. Reistle, Jr.
Chairman, Humble Oil & Refining
J. R. Simplot
Agribusiness Pioneer
Carr P. Collins Sr.
Financier and Philanthropist
Chinn Ho
Trans-Pacific Industrialist
Ewing M. Kauffman
Industrialist and Sportsman
John C. Portman, Jr.
Architect and Developer
Eugene C. Pulliam
Newspaper Publishing
Malcolm Baldrige, Jr.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Mary Wells Lawrence
Advertising Hall of Fame
Muriel Siebert
First Woman, New York Stock Exchange
David Packard
Co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Co.
1970s
H. Ross Perot
Computer Services Entrepreneur
John W. Rollins
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
J. Willard Marriott
Founder of Marriott Corporation
Edward E. Carlson
Chairman of United Airlines
Frederick C. Crawford
Industrialist and Philanthropist
George S. Eccles
Banker and Philanthropist
Marriner Stoddard Eccles
Former Chairman of Federal Reserve Board
William (Bill) P. Lear
Inventor and Entrepreneur
Akio Morita
Co-founder of Sony Corporation
Charles Stewart Mott
Automotive Pioneer
Elmer E. Rasmuson
Banker and Philanthropist
Willard F. (Al) Rockwell, Jr.
Aerospace Conglomerate
Anthony T. Rossi
Founder of Tropicana Products
Harold Schafer
Retailer and Philanthropist
A. Alfred Taubman
Real Estate Development
Lord Roy Thomson, First Baron of Fleet
Canadian Media Entrepreneur
John H. Williams
Energy Infrastructure
Sir Kenneth Fung Ping-fan
Co-founder, Bank of East Asia
Ray A. Kroc
Mastermind of McDonald's Corporation
Mary G. Roebling
Banking Pioneer
John E. Swearingen
Chairman of Standard Oil Co. of Indiana
Howard S. Turner, Ph.D.
Engineering and Construction
Richard M. DeVos
Co-founder of Amway
Jack Eckerd
Owner of Eckerd Drugs
Malcolm S. Forbes
Magazine Publishing
J. B. Fuqua
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Ernest W. Hahn
Shopping Center Development
Nathan Shapell
Homebuilder and Philanthropist
J. Kenneth Jamieson
Chairman of Exxon
Jack LaLanne
Father of Modern Fitness Movement
Herman W. Lay
Founder of Frito-Lay
Charles W. Lubin
Founder of Kitchens of Sara Lee
Rene C. McPherson
Automotive Hall of Fame
Edward N. Ney
Advertising Hall of Fame
Colonel Harland Sanders
Founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken
Paul H. Smucker
Food Retailing
Edgar B. Speer
Chairman of U.S. Steel
Edwin C. Whitehead
Medical Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Stephen D. Bechtel, Sr.
International Engineering and Construction
William Bernbach
Advertising Hall of Fame
Helen K. Copley
Newspaper Publishing
John D. deButts
Chairman of AT&T;
V.J. Skutt
Chairman of Mutual of Omaha
J. Paul Austin
Chairman of The Coca-Cola Company
Nicholas F. Brady
Finance and Public Service
Curtis L. Carlson
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Peter Kiewit
International Construction
David S. Lewis
Chairman of General Dynamics
John D. MacArthur
Chairman of Bankers Life and Casualty Company
Sir Yue-Kong Pao
Founder of World's Largest Shipping Company
Roy Richards, Sr.
Founder of Southwire Company
Armand Hammer, M.D.
Chairman of Occidental Petroleum
Ray L. Hunt
Chairman of Hunt Oil Company
J. Robert Fluor
International Construction
Carl H. Lindner
Financier and Investor
George P. Mitchell
Energy and Development
Gerald D. Hines
Real Estate Development
Donald M. Kendall
Chairman of PepsiCo
Jay A. Pritzker
Finance and Hotels
Tung Chao Yung
Chairman of Orient Overseas Container Line
1980s
Paul N. “Red” Adair
Oil Well Firefighter
Robert O. Anderson
Founder and Chairman of Atlantic Richfield Oil Co.
Mary Kay Ash
Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics
Henry W. Bloch
Co-founder of H&R; Block
Winton M. Blount
International Construction
Joseph C. Canizaro
Real Estate Development
A. W. (Tom) Clausen
Chairman of Bank of America
R. David Thomas
Founder of Wendy's
Jay Van Andel
Co-founder of Amway
Herbert W. Boyer, Ph.D.
Co-founder of Genentech
William K. Coors
Brewer and Civic Leader
Trammell Crow
Real Estate Development
William R. Hewlett
Co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Company
James W. Rouse
Real Estate Development
Arnold O. Beckman, Ph.D.
Inventor and Entrepreneur
Nolan K. Bushnell
Computer Game Pioneer
Chung Ju-yung
Chairman and Founder of Hyundai Group
Steven P. Jobs
Co-founder and Chairman of Apple Computer Company
Reuben and Rose Mattus
Founders, Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream Co.
John H. McConnell
Manufacturer and Sportsman
William G. McGowan
Founder of MCI Communications
Roger Milliken
Textile Industrialist
Allen H. Neuharth
Newspaper Publishing
Amb. Charles J. Pilliod, Jr.
Industrialist and Diplomat
O. Wayne Rollins
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
James LeVoy Sorenson
Inventor and Philanthropist
Preston Robert Tisch
Financier and Philanthropist
Gene Autry
Entertainment and Broadcasting
John W. Kluge
Broadcasting Entrepreneur
Frank Perdue
Food Industry
Robert A. Pritzker
Investor and Philanthropist
Philip Caldwell
Chairman of Ford Motor Company
Thomas F. Frist, Jr., M.D.
Healthcare Industry
J. Peter Grace
Industrialist
Carl C. Icahn
Investor and Philanthropist
Burton M. Joseph
Agricultural Exporting
Roy H. Park
Media Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
T. Boone Pickens, Jr.
Oil Industry Entrepreneur
Robert Edward (Ted) Turner
Founder of Cable News Network
Philip F. Anschutz
Entrepreneur and Sportsman
Robert W. Galvin
Chairman of Motorola
Edward L. Gaylord
Media Entrepreneur
Roberto C. Goizueta
Chairman of The Coca-Cola Company
Cecil H. Green
Co-founder of Texas Instruments
David A. Jones
Co-founder and Chairman of Humana
Mitchell D. Kapor
Computer Software Pioneer
George Kozmetsky, Ph.D.
Technology Entrepreneur
Michael R. Milken
Financier and Philanthropist
Robert Mondavi
Robert Mondavi Winery
Arthur C. Nielsen, Jr.
Market Research
Allen E. Paulson
Founder and Chairman of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.
Wolfgang Puck
Culinary Entrepreneur
Donald W. Reynolds
Newspaper Publishing
Cyril Wagner, Jr. and Jack E. Brown
Oil Pioneers and Philanthropists
Roy M. Huffington
Oil and Natural Gas Exploration
John H. Johnson
Founder of Ebony Magazine
Ruben F. Mettler, Ph.D.
Chairman & CEO of TRW Inc.
Donald E. Petersen
Chairman of Ford Motor Company
William E. Simon
Business and Public Service
Robert A. Swanson
Co-founder of Genentech
Gloria Vanderbilt
Designer, Artist and Author
A. James Clark
Engineering and Construction
Paul Fireman
Founder of Reebok International
Stephen D. Hassenfeld
Chairman of Hasbro
C. Michael Harper
Chairman and CEO of ConAgra Foods
Henry R. Kravis
Financier and Investor
William E. LaMothe
Chairman of the Kellogg Company
Alice M. Rivlin, Ph.D.
Economic Studies
John F. Wolfe
Publisher and Civic Leader
Samuel Zell
Investor and Philanthropist
George R. Roberts
Co-founder of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts
Steven J. Ross
Founder and CEO of Time Warner Inc.
Melvin Simon
Shopping Center Development
Lester Crown
Investor and Philanthropist
Ernest and Julio Gallo
Founders of E. & J. Gallo Winery
Walter A. Haas, Jr.
Chairman and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.
Philip H. Knight
Co-founder and Chairman of Nike, Inc.
Ralph Lauren
Fashion Design
George Lucas
Motion Picture Production
Craig O. McCaw
Cellular Phone Pioneer
Robert A. Mosbacher
U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Carl E. Reichardt
Chairman of Wells Fargo & Company
Arthur Rock
Venture Capitalist
Charles R. Schwab
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Oprah Winfrey
Media Entrepreneur
Stephen A. Wynn
Founder and Chairman of Wynn Resorts
1990s
Thomas N. Jordan, Jr.
Entrepreneur and Vintner
Theodore N. Lerner
Real Estate Development
Roger S. Penske
Auto Racing and Business
Robert W. Pittman
Co-founder and CEO of MTV Networks
Edward S. (Ted) Rogers, Jr.
Telecommunications Entrepreneur
Dennis R. Washington
Industrialist and Philanthropist
Leslie H. Wexner
Retailer and Philanthropist
Oscar De La Renta
Fashion Design
Donald G. Fisher
Founder of The Gap, Inc.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Chairman and CEO of IBM
David T. Kearns
Business and Education
Calvin Klein
Fashion Design
James D. Robinson III
Chairman and CEO of American Express
Walter Scott, Jr.
Construction and Engineering
Walter H. Shorenstein
Real Estate Development
Sir Richard Branson
Virgin Group of Companies
Daniel B. Burke
Television Hall of Fame
Lodwrick M. Cook
Industrialist and Civic Leader
Barry Diller
Entertainment Entrepreneur
William H. Gates III
Co-Founder, Microsoft Corporation
R. Earl Holding
Petroleum and Development
Judith Leiber
Designer and Entrepreneur
Richard E. Rainwater
Investor and Philanthropist
Raymond G. Chambers
Financier and Philanthropist
Liz Claiborne
Fashion Design
Johnnie Bryan Hunt
J.B. Hunt Transport Services
Sherry Lansing
CEO of Paramount Pictures
J. Bruce Llewellyn
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Thomas J. Pritzker
Hotelier and Philanthropist
Sumner M. Redstone
Global Television Network
Richard M. Rosenberg
Chairman of BankAmerica Corp.
James D. Wolfensohn
Financier and Patron of the Arts
Michael D. Eisner
Chairman of The Walt Disney Company
Bruce T. Halle
Retailer and Philanthropist
Jon M. Huntsman, Sr.
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Donna Karan
Fashion Design
Ralph J. and Brian L. Roberts
Founder and Chairman of Comcast
Carlos Slim Helú
Financier and Philanthropist
Jackson T. Stephens
Financier and Philanthropist
Norman R. Augustine
Chairman of Lockheed Martin
Robert J. Eaton
Chairman of Chrysler Corporation
Stanley C. Gault
Chairman of Rubbermaid
Donald J. Hall Sr.
Chairman of Hallmark Cards
Jerome H. Lemelson
Inventor and Philanthropist
Terry S. Semel
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Raymond W. Smith
Chairman of Verizon Communications
Martha Stewart
Multimedia Lifestyle Entrepreneur
James H. Clark, Ph.D.
Technology Entrepreneur
Peter E. Haas
Chairman and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.
Tommy Hilfiger
Fashion Design
Herbert D. Kelleher
Founder of Southwest Airlines Co.
Nathan P. Myhrvold, Ph.D.
Computer Technology
Larry J. Ellison
Founder and Chairman of Oracle Corporation
Peter A. Georgescu
Advertising Hall of Fame
James H. Goodnight, Ph.D.
Computer Software
F. Warren Hellman
Financier and Investor
John S. Hendricks
Founder of The Discovery Channel
Stanley S. Hubbard
Founder of U.S. Satellite Broadcasting
François Michelin
International Manufacturing
Peter M. Nicholas
Co-founder of Boston Scientific
Jerry I. Speyer
Real Estate Development
Sanford I. Weill
Financier and Philanthropist
Edward E. Whitacre, Jr.
Chairman of AT&T;
Michael S. Dell
Founder and Chairman of Dell Computer Corporation
David A. Duffield
Computer Software
Archie “Red” Emmerson
Founder, Sierra Pacific Industries
Alan Gerry
Founder, Cablevision Industries
Joseph R. “Pitt” Hyde III
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
L. Lowry Mays
Broadcaster and Philanthropist
Lee R. Raymond, Ph.D.
Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Corporation
Frederick W. Smith
Founder and Chairman of FedEx Corporation
Barry Sternlicht
Real Estate Investments
Gertrude L. Boyle
Founder of Columbia Sportswear
Eli Broad
Financier and Civic Leader
David Bonderman
Founding Partner of TPG Capital
Stephen M. Case
Co-founder of America Online
Katharine Graham
Chairman of The Washington Post Company
Geraldine Laybourne
Television Hall of Fame
Alfred Lerner
Financier and Sportsman
Red McCombs
Entrepreneur and Sportsman
General Robert F. McDermott, USAF
Business and Military Service
Pleasant T. Rowland
Founder of American Girl
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Chairman and CEO of The Blackstone Group
2000s
Thomas J. Barrack, Jr.
Real Estate Investments
William E. Greehey
Founding CEO of Valero Energy
Vinod Khosla
Venture Capitalist
Baron Browne of Madingley
Chief Executive of BP
Gustavo A. Cisneros
Media Entrepreneur
Alfred E. Mann
Inventor and Philanthropist
Pierre Omidyar
Founder of eBay
George B. Rathmann, Ph.D.
Co-founder and CEO of Amgen
Lord Jacob Rothschild
Investment Banking
Niall FitzGerald
Chairman and CEO of Unilever
Patrick G. Ryan
Founder and Chairman of Aon Corporation
Tony Ryan
Co-founder of Ryanair
Gil Shwed
Security Software Pioneer
Charles Simonyi, Ph.D.
Computer Software
Jeffrey P. Bezos
Founder and Executive Chairman of Amazon.com
Frank A. Bennack, Jr.
Chief Executive of Hearst Corporation
James E. Stowers, Jr.
Founder of American Century Investments
Frank P. Lowy
Developer and Philanthropist
Peter D. Sutherland
Chairman of Goldman Sachs International
Mikhail Fridman
International Oil and Banking Entrepreneur
Leonard A. Lauder
Entrepreneur and Patron of the Arts
Maria Asunción Aramburuzabala
Mexico's Brewing Empire
Emilio Azcárraga Jean
Owner of Televisa
Michael R. Bloomberg
Founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P.
Sergey Brin
Co-founder of Google Inc.
Martha Rivers Ingram
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Alan G. Lafley
Chairman and CEO, Proctor & Gamble
Larry Page
Founding CEO of Google Inc.
Sir John R. H. Bond
Chairman of HSBC Holdings
Carolina Herrera
Fashion Design
Jamie Dimon
CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Bernard L. Marcus
Co-founder and Chairman of Home Depot
David M. Rubenstein
Co-founder of The Carlyle Group
Henry Samueli, Ph.D.
Co-founder and Chairman of Broadcom
Laurence D. Fink
Investment Management
John P. Morgridge
Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems
Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Rex W. Tillerson
Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Corporation
Kenneth C. Griffin
Financier and Patron of the Arts
2010s
Ray Dalio
Hedge Fund Master
James W. Breyer
Silicon Valley Investor
Tony Fadell
iPod Mastermind and Founder of Nest
Reid Hoffman
CEO of LinkedIn
Valentino Garavani
Fashion Design
Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.
Pioneer of Artificial Intelligence
John Overdeck
Co-founder of Two Sigma Investments
Stefano Pessina
CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance
David Siegel, Ph.D.
Pioneer in Technology and Investment Management
Lee S. Ainslie III
Investor and Philanthropist
John Doerr
Investor and Venture Capitalist
Sir Lucian Grainge
Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group
Marillyn A. Hewson
Chairman, President and CEO of Lockheed Martin
Paul Tudor Jones II
Investor and Philanthropist
Daniel Kahneman, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Economics
Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D.
Founder of SiriusXM and United Therapeutics
2020s
Phillip T. (Terry) Ragon
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Hamdi Ulukaya
Founder and Chairman of Chobani
Featured Honorees
Sports
1960s
Rafer Johnson
Olympic Champion
Jim Murray
Pulitzer Prize for Sports Commentary
Bill Bradley
Scholar, Athlete and Legislator
Frank Ryan, Ph.D.
Football Champion and Scholar
Stan Musial
Baseball Hall of Fame
Mickey Mantle
Baseball Hall of Fame
George M. Steinbrenner III
Owner, New York Yankees
1970s
Terry Bradshaw
Super Bowl Champion Quarterback
Bobby Orr
Hockey Hall of Fame
Casey Tibbs
Rodeo Hall of Fame
Buddy Young
College Football Hall of Fame
Phil Esposito
Hockey Hall of Fame
Robert Trent Jones, Sr.
Golf Course Architect
Curt Gowdy
Emmy for Lifetime Achievement
Sir Edmund Hillary
Conqueror of Mount Everest
Bart Starr
Super Bowl Champion Quarterback
John Havlicek
Champion of the Boston Celtics
Larry Mahan
Rodeo Hall of Fame
Rick Barry
Captain, NBA Champions
Hugh F. Culverhouse, Sr.
Owner, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Bob Griese
Super Bowl Champion Quarterback
Anton (Tony) Hulman, Jr.
Owner, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Willie Mays
Baseball Hall of Fame
Chris Schenkel
Emmy for Lifetime Achievement
Charles B. (Bud) Wilkinson
Football Hall of Fame
Tenley Albright, M.D.
Surgeon and Olympic Champion
Roger Staubach
Super Bowl Champion Quarterback
John Wooden
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Hank Aaron
All-Time Home Run King
Howard Cosell
Sports Commentator
Steve Cauthen
Horse Racing Hall of Fame
Gordie Howe
Hockey's Legend
Tom Landry
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Paul (Bear) Bryant
College Football Hall of Fame
Guy Lafleur
Hockey Hall of Fame
1980s
Carl Hubbell
Baseball Hall of Fame
Jim Plunkett
Super Bowl Champion Quarterback
Herschel Walker
All-American Football Player
Doak Walker and Bobby Layne
College Football Hall of Fame
Wayne Gretzky
Greatest Player in Hockey History
Ralph Sampson
Basketball Player of the Year
Dean E. Smith
Legendary Basketball Coach
Hobart (Hobie) Alter
Sailing Hall of Fame
Jerry H. Buss, Ph.D.
Owner, Los Angeles Lakers
Brig. Gen. Peter M. Dawkins, USA
College Football Hall of Fame
Marvelous Marvin Hagler
Boxer of the Decade
Joe Theismann
Super Bowl Champion Quarterback
Franco Harris
NFL's Player of the Decade
Thomas S. Monaghan
Owner, Detroit Tigers
Carl R. Pohlad
Owner, Minnesota Twins
Brooks Robinson
Baseball Hall of Fame
Howard Schnellenberger
Architect of Miami Football Dynasty
Mary Lou Retton
Gold Medal Gymnast
Muhammad Ali
Boxing Champion
Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D.
Founder of Aerobics
Vincent (Bo) Jackson
Heisman Trophy Winner
Emil (Bus) Mosbacher, Jr.
Yachtsman and Businessman
Reinhold Messner
Greatest Mountaineer on Earth
David M. Robinson
Basketball Player of the Year
Susan Butcher
Champion Dog Sled Racer
Julius Erving
Basketball Hall of Fame
D. Wayne Lukas
U.S. Racing Hall of Fame
Walter Payton
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Basketball Hall of Fame
Bill Walsh
Pro Football Hall of Fame
1990s
Bob Feller
Baseball Hall of Fame
Gordon Gund
Owner, Cleveland Cavaliers
Lou Holtz
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Michael Jordan
Greatest Player in Basketball History
Steve Largent
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Jerry M. Reinsdorf
Owner, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls
Pete Rozelle
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Bonnie Blair
Olympic Champion Speed Skater
H. Wayne Huizenga
Owner, Miami Dolphins
Peter A. Magowan
Owner, San Francisco Giants
Jerry Jones
Owner, Dallas Cowboys
Jerry Colangelo
Sports Entrepreneur
Peter G. Angelos
Owner, Baltimore Orioles
Mike Krzyzewski
Collegiate Basketball Champion
Tom Osborne
Collegiate Football Coach
Arnold Palmer
Athlete of the Decade
Dorothy Hamill
Olympic Hall of Fame
Scott Hamilton
U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame
Jerry McMorris
Owner, Colorado Rockies
Picabo Street
Downhill Ski Racing Champion
Katarina Witt
Olympic Gold Medalist
Drayton McLane, Jr.
Owner, Houston Astros
Cal Ripken Jr.
Baseball Hall of Fame
Grant Hill
Basketball Hall of Fame
Abe Pollin
Developer and Sportsman
Lenny Wilkens
Basketball Hall of Fame
2000s
Sir Roger Bannister
Track and Field Legend
Lute Olson
Basketball Hall of Fame
Peter M. Holt
Owner, San Antonio Spurs
Yogi Berra
Baseball Hall of Fame
Andre Agassi
Tennis Champion and Philanthropist
Peyton Manning
Super Bowl Champion Quarterback
Bill Russell
Basketball Hall of Fame
2010s
Simone Biles
Gymnast and Olympic Gold Medalist
Ron Dennis
Founder, McLaren Technology Group
2020s
Allyson Felix
Olympic Champion
Stanley Kroenke
Owner, Los Angeles Rams
View all honorees