Previous Honorary Members


R G Williams OBE


Former Secretary of the National Institute of Oceanography at Wormley and former Treasurer of the Challenger Society for Marine Science from 1956 - 1973. Sadly, Ray died in January of 2016 aged 92.
Ray Williams played a key role in managing the Institute’s  finances and most notable in managing the funding the construction of the new (1962)  RRS Discovery.


 1987

  • Prof RI Currie

1977

  • Commander WJ Copenhagen

1973

  • Sir George Edward Raven Deacon FRS 1906-1984 (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1985 vol 31 pp 111-142)
  • Dr Cyril Lucas, biography
  • Sir Frederick Stratten Russell FRS 1897-1984 (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1986 vol 32 pp 461-493)

1966

  • JN Carruthers

1964

  • HO Bull

1958

  • Eric Henry Edwardes Havelock CB, CBE, OBE, FRSE

1957

  • Joseph Proudman FRS 1888-1975 (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1976 vol 22 pp 319-333)

1951

  • William Thomas Calman FRS 1871-1952 (Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1952-1953 vol 8 pp 355-372) HU Sverdrup

1950

  • GP Bidder

1948

  • Dr HR Mill
  • Mr HG Maurice

1939

  • Edgar Johnson Allen FRS 1866-1942 (Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1942-1944 vol 4 pp 357-367)
  • HB Bigelow, biography
  • E le Danois
  • G Gilson
  • B Helland-Hansen
  • O Pettersson
  • G Schott

1929

  • Schmidt
  • Swire (last surviving member of officers and scientific staff of HMS Challenger)

1923

  • Dr Johan Hjort FRS 1869-1948 (Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1950-1951 vol 7 pp 167-181)

1915

  • Prof Georg Ossian Sars

1910

  • H.S.H. The Prince of Monaco

1905

  • Prof Dr Karl Brandt
  • Prof Dr Carl Chun
  • Prof Max Wilhelm Carl Weber FRS 1852-1937 (Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1936-1938 vol 2 pp 347-355)

Latest News

Nominations open for the 2024 Challenger Society Marine Science Student Award!

Nominations are now open for the Challenger Society Marine Science Student Award - deadline 31st July!  

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2024 Challenger Medallist and Fellows

We are delighted to announce the 2024 recipients of the Challenger Medal and the Challenger Fellowships. These biennial awards will be presented to awardees at the Challenger Conference in September.


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Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition

Please see a news item from the Royal Society below.

The Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition is now open for entries. Submit your photograph by 23 August 2024 in our categories of; Astronomy, Behaviour, Earth Science and Climatology, Ecology and Environmental Science, and Microimaging.

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