[{Image src='Ferscht_Alan_Copley.jpg' caption='' height='220' alt='Alan Ferscht' class='image_left' caption='Sir Alan Fersht MAE FMedSci FRS'}]
!!Copley Medal 2020 awarded to Sir Alan Fersht MAE

The Copley Medal 2020 is awarded to [Sir Alan Fersht|Member/Fersht_Alan] MAE. He has developed and applied the methods of protein engineering to provide descriptions of protein folding pathways at atomic resolution, revolutionising our understanding of these processes. 

!!Academia Europaea congratulates Prof. Fersht to this distinction! 
\\ \\
\\ \\
\\ \\
\\
[{Image src='copley-medal_4-5.jpg' caption='' height='210' alt='copley-medal_4-5.jpg' class='image_left' caption='Godfrey Copley FRS'}]
!!The award

The Copley Medal is the Society’s oldest and most prestigious award. The medal is awarded for outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science.  
\\ \\
First awarded in 1731 following donations from [Godfrey Copley|https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsnr.1954.0007] FRS, it was initially awarded for the most important scientific discovery or for the greatest contribution made by experiment. The Copley Medal is thought to be the world's oldest scientific prize and it was awarded 170 years before the first Nobel Prize. Notable winners include Benjamin Franklin, Dorothy Hodgkin, Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin. The medal is of silver gilt, is awarded annually, alternating between the physical and biological sciences (odd and even years respectively), and is accompanied by a a gift of £25,000.