The Darwin Medal is awarded by the Royal Society once every two years. It is for work in the areas of biology in which Charles Darwin worked. This means evolution, population biology, organismal biology and biological diversity. It was first awarded in 1890. It comes with a £2000 prize.[1]
The award is open to candidates from the Commonwealth of Nations or of the Republic of Ireland, with the requirement that they be either a citizen of such a nation or have lived in such a nation for at least three years before the nomination.[1]
Since its creation the medal has been awarded over 60 times. The medal was first awarded to Alfred Russel Wallace, who independently developed the theory of evolution by natural selection.