The Brady Medal

Abstract. In 2007 The Micropalaeontological Society commissioned and awarded the Brady Medal, the first medal in the history of the Society. This report records the various stages in that process. The inaugural recipient of the medal, Professor John Murray of the University of Southampton, was presented with the award at the Annual General Meeting of the Society, held at University College London on 7 November 2007.

THE NAME

There was no shortage of ‘possibles’ when TMS committee had the nice but tricky task of deciding the name of the medal. The final choice of the name met with strong approval by all at the Committee meeting on 14 March 2007, at which the criteria and mechanism for awarding the medal were also agreed. The medal is named in honour of George Stewardson Brady (1832–1921) and his younger brother Henry Bowman Brady (1835–1891), in recognition of their pioneering studies in micropalaeontology and natural history. Their father was a medical Doctor and they received their early education at Quaker schools in the northeast of England. George Brady went on to become Professor of Natural History at Newcastle College of Physical Science and a Fellow of the Royal Society, and is best known for his work on ostracods. Henry Brady made his way as a successful pharmacist before turning full time to the study of micro-organisms, especially foraminifera; he also received the accolade of FRS. Over their entire adult lives they published what are now deemed fundamental contributions to the then emerging . . .