The CNRS Gold Medal is the highest scientific research award in France. It is presented annually by the
French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and was first awarded in 1954. Moreover, the CNRS Silver Medal is given to researchers for originality, quality, and importance, while the CNRS Bronze Medal recognizes initial fruitful results.[a]
^The CNRS web pages list gold medal winners since 1954, but silver and bronze medal winners only since 2000. However, bestowals for the latter are reported as early as 1958 and 1969, e.g. to
Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat and
Évariste Sanchez-Palencia, respectively.