Alexander Hamilton Medal
The Alexander Hamilton Medal is presented each year by the Columbia College Alumni Association to an alumnus/a or faculty member for distinguished service and accomplishment in any field of endeavor. The Alexander Hamilton Medal, first presented in 1947 to Nicholas Murray Butler, is the highest tribute awarded to a member of the Columbia College community.
Recently, Herman Wouk's was sold on eBay as a paperweight.
Past Winners
- 1947 - University President Nicholas Murray Butler CC 1882
- 1948 - Frank Diehl Fackenthal CC 1906
- 1948 - Vi Kyuin Wellington Koo CC 1909
- 1950 - William Joseph Donovan CC 1905
- 1951 - Harry James Carman (namesake of Carman Hall)
- 1952 - Carlton Hayes CC 1904
- 1953 - Arthur Hays Sulzberger CC 1913
- 1954 - Frank Smithwick Hogan CC 1924
- 1955 - Frederick Coykendall CC 1895
- 1955 - Marcellus Hartley Dodge CC 1903
- 1956 - Richard Rodgers CC 1923
- 1956 - Oscar Hammerstein II CC 1916
- 1957 - Grayson Kirk
- 1958 - Edmund Prentis CC 1906
- 1959 - Mark Van Doren
- 1960 - Ward Melville CC 1909
- 1961 - Edward Calvin Kendall CC 1908 (Nobel Laureate)
- 1961 - Polykarp Kusch (Nobel Laureate)
- 1961 - Willis Eugene Lamb, Jr. (Nobel Laureate)
- 1961 - Joshua Lederberg CC 1944 (Nobel Laureate)
- 1961 - Herman Joseph Miller CC 1910 (Nobel Laureate)
- 1961 - John Howard Northrop CC 1912 (Nobel Laureate)
- 1961 - Isidor Isaac Rabi (Nobel Laureate)
- 1961 - Harold Clayton Urey (Nobel Laureate)
- 1975 - Meyer Schapiro CC '24
- 1979 - University President William McGill
- 1980 - Herman Wouk CC '34
- 1983 - Franklin Thomas
- 1986 - Joseph Mankiewicz
- 1989 - Robert Pollack CC '61
- 1991 - John Kluge CC '37
- 1994 - Core Curriculum Faculty: Honoring the 75th Anniversary of the Core Curriculum by awarding the 75 tenured faculty teaching Core Classes. Accepted on their behalf by Jacques Barzun CC '27
- 1995 - Columbia Science Nobel Prize Winners since 1961: Leon N. Cooper `51 (Physics 1972), Roald Hoffmann `58 (Chemistry 1981), Norman F. Ramsey, Jr. `35 (Physics 1989), Melvin Schwartz `53 (Physics 1988) Julian S. Schwinger `36 (posthumously) (Physics 1965)
- 1997 - Alfred Lerner CC '55
- 1998 - Roone Arledge CC '52
- 1999 - Columbia Professors: William Theodore de Bary, CC'41, James Shenton, CC'49, Richard Axel, CC'67
- 2000 - William Campbell, CC '62
- 2003 - Emanuel Ax CC '70
- 2004 - Robert Kraft CC '63
- 2005 - Richard Witten CC '75
- 2006 - Bob Berne CC '60 BUS '60
- 2007 - Mark E. Kingdon CC '71
- 2008 - Columbia College Dean Austin Quigley
- 2009 - Conrad H. Lung CC '72
Previous winners also include Columbia President Dwight D. Eisenhower and alumni William Joseph Donovan, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
