Villanova University Mendel Medal

Honoring Pioneers in the Sciences

The Villanova University Mendel Medal was established and awarded to outstanding scientists who have done much by their painstaking work to advance the cause of science, and, by their lives and their standing before the world as scientists, have demonstrated that between true science and true religion there is no intrinsic conflict.

The Mendel Medal, in honor of Gregor Johann Mendel Abbot of the Augustinian Monastery, Brünn, Austria, (now Brno, the Czech Republic), who discovered the celebrated laws of heredity which now bear his name, was established in 1928 by the Board of Trustees of Villanova University to recognize scientific accomplishment and religious conviction. The Mendel Medal was first awarded in 1929 and given annually until 1943. Between 1946 and 1968, the Mendel Medal was awarded eight times. After a hiatus of twenty-five years, it was reestablished in 1992 as part of the Villanova University's Sesquicentennial Celebrations.

Past recipients have included Nobel Laureates, outstanding medical researchers, pioneers in physics, astrophysics and chemistry, and noted scientist-theologians.