Honorary fellows
The highest honour we can bestow
Our Honorary Fellows come from a wide range of backgrounds, career paths and countries and are nominated by our members.
They include individuals whose distinguished research careers have made an extraordinary impact on scientific advancement, leaders of companies, or other major enterprises that have been of significant benefit to the application of chemical science. Some of our Honorary Fellows have contributed to the benefit and welfare of the chemical sciences through public service, outreach, policy development, and change, and through connecting or leading the chemical science community to provide solutions for societal challenges.
You can see all 115 current Honorary Fellows below.
Nominate an Honorary Fellow
Any member may submit a nomination at any time throughout the year to be considered by the Nominations Committee for recommendation to the Board of Trustees.
For more information, please get in touch with our Governance team using the contact details on this page.
Our Honorary Fellows
Please see the candidates invited and accepted below (ordered by year):
2020
Professor Emmanuel I Iwuoha CSci CChem HonFRSC
Professor Pilar Goya Laza HonFRSC
Professor Tebello Nyokong HonFRSC
2019
Professor Frances H Arnold HonFRSC
Professor Dr Natalia Tarasova HonFRSC
Dr Anthony Wood CChem HonFRSC
2018
Professor Juliet A Gerrard HonFRSC FRSNZ
Dr Fiona H Marshall HonFRSC
Professor Roger A Sheldon HonFRSC FRS
2017
Professor Jacques Dubochet HonFRSC
Professor Richard Henderson HonFRSC FRS
Professor Thisbe Lindhorst HonFRSC
Professor Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian HonFRSC
The Rt Hon. Lord David Willetts HonFRSC
2016
Professor Jean-Pierre Sauvage HonFRSC
Professor Dr Bernard L Feringa CChem HonFRSC
Professor Dr Xinhe Bao HonFRSC
2015
Professor Andrew D Hamilton HonFRSC FRS
Dr Tomas R Lindahl HonFRSC FRS
Professor Dame Carol V Robinson DBE HonFRSC FRS
Professor Lesley J Yellowlees CBE HonFRSC FRSE
2014
Professor Jacqueline K Barton HonFRSC
Professor Dr Stefan W Hell HonFRSC
Professor William E Moerner HonFRSC
Professor Bengt J F Norden HonFRSC
Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff CBE HonFRSC FRS
Professor Dame Julia Slingo DBE HonFRSC
Professor Gabor Somorjai HonFRSC
2013
Professor Michael Grätzel HonFRSC
Professor Dame Anne Glover DBE HonFRSC FRSE FRS
Professor Dame Julia S Higgins DBE HonFRSC FRS
Professor Andrew B Holmes HonFRSC FRS
Professor Michael Levitt HonFRSC FRS
Professor Arieh Warshel HonFRSC
Mr Keith Wiggins HonFRSC
2012
Professor Brian Kobilka HonFRSC
Professor Robert J Lefkowitz HonFRSC
Sir Gregory P Winter CBE HonFRSC FRS
2011
Dr Yusuf Khwaja Hamied HonFRSC
2010
Professor Andre Geim HonFRSC FRS
Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys HonFRSC FRS
Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov HonFRSC FRS
Professor Sir Paul Nurse HonFRSC FRSE FRS
Professor Akira Suzuki HonFRSC
2009
Professor Christian André Amatore HonFRSC
Dr Venkatraman Ramakrishnan HonFRSC FRS
Professor Ada E Yonath HonFRSC
2008
Professor Martin Chalfie HonFRSC
2007
Professor Gerhard Ertl HonFRSC HonFRSE
Professor Dieter Fenske HonFRSC
2006
Professor Roger D Kornberg HonFRSC FRS
Professor Goverdhan Mehta CChem HonFRSC FRS
2005
Mr Heston Blumenthal OBE HonFRSC
Professor Satoshi Omura HonFRSC
Professor Richard Royce Schrock HonFRSC ForMemRS
Professor George M Whitesides HonFRSC
2004
Professor Aaron J Ciechanover HonFRSC
Professor Harry Barkus Gray HonFRSC ForMemRS
Professor Avram Hershko HonFRSC
Professor Roderick MacKinnon HonFRSC
2003
Professor Sir Richard Friend HonFRSC FRS
2002
Professor Henri B Kagan HonFRSC
Sir Thomas Fulton Wilson McKillop HonFRSC FRSE FRS
Professor Kurt Wuthrich HonFRSC HonFRSE ForMemRS
2001
Our history
Learn about how we've championed chemistry for more than 179 years.
Our origins
Our origins can be traced through the history of our predecessor societies
A history of Burlington House
Discover how Burlington House became the home of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and seven other societies.