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Overview
The Sir James Hector Memorial Medal
The Sir James Hector Memorial Medal (known as the "Hector Medal") was established in memory of Sir James Hector KCMG FRS, director of the Colonial Museum, Manager and Editor of the New Zealand Institute from 1867 to 1903, and its President from 1905 to 1907.
Hector Medals are awarded annually by the Royal Society of New Zealand (the successor to The New Zealand Institute) to researchers working in New Zealand in the areas of plant sciences, chemical sciences, human sciences, solid earth sciences, mathematical physical and engineering sciences, and animal sciences.
The medal features a portrait of Sir James Hector in profile on one side, and on the reverse a pictorial scene of a crouching Māori hunter with a taiaha observing a pair of huia in the landscape.
It was designed by Allan Gairdner Wyon, an English sculptor and medallist who came from a celebrated family of talented coin and medal engravers.
The recipient
The Royal Society of New Zealand awarded this particular Hector Medal to Sir Charles Fleming (1916-1987), an acclaimed ornithologist, entomologist, geologist, avian palaeontologist and environmentalist, in 1963. In 1988 the society established the Charles Fleming Award for Environmental Achievement.