NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal

The NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (abbreviated ESAM) was established by NASA on September 15, 1961 when the original ESM was divided into three separate awards. Under the current guidelines, the ESAM is awarded for unusually significant scientific contribution toward achievement of aeronautical or space exploration goals. This award may be given for individual efforts that have resulted in a contribution of fundamental importance in this field, or have significantly enhanced understanding of this field.

Notable recipients

 * 1963 - John Houbolt
 * 1965 - Jack N. James
 * 1968 - G. Mervin Ault
 * 1969 - Charles Berry, William F. Brown, Thomas Canning, Moustafa Chahine, Hong-Yee Chiu, Clarence Cone, James Downey, Erwin Fehlberg, Richard Green, Rudolf Hanel, Webb Haymaker, Gerhard Heller, Harvey Hubbard, James Humphreys, Mark Kelly, James Kupperian, Dale Lumb, Wolfgang Moeckel, Paul Muller, Robert Naumann, William O'Bryant, George Pieper, Henry Plotkin, Joseph Randall, Donald Rea, Nancy Roman, Lee Scherer, William Sjorgen, Charles Sonett, Robert Stone, David Wark, Richard Whitcomb, Donald Wise
 * 1970 - William Angele, James Arnold, Paul Coleman, Leverett Davis, Milner Eskew, Herbert Friedman, Paul Gast, Peter Macdoran, Warren Martin, Maurice Morin, Marcia Neugebauer, Edward Perkins, Edward Smith, Conway Snyder, Nelson Spencer, Patrick Thaddeus, Robert Walker, Gerald Wasserburg
 * 1971 - John C. Freche
 * 1973 - Conway B. Leovy
 * 1974 - John A. Simpson
 * 1975 - Edward Purdy Ney
 * 1976 - Tito T. Serafini
 * 1978 - Alvin Seiff
 * 1979 - Milton Halem
 * 1980 - Riccardo Giacconi (2002 Nobel Laureate in Physics)
 * 1981 - Talivaldis Spalvins
 * 1982 - Jeff Cuzzi
 * 1984 - James R. Houck
 * 1985 - Prem Chand Pandey, SAC/ISRO, NCAOR and IIT Kharagpur, India
 * 1986 - Jeff Cuzzi, Crofton B. Farmer, Frank J. Grunthaner, Taylor G. Wang
 * 1989 - Mario Molina (1995 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry)
 * 1990 - Charles Telesco, John W. Harvey, Martin A. Pomerantz
 * 1991 - Khairul B. M. Q. Zaman, John C. Mather (2006 Nobel Laureate in Physics)
 * 1992 - Nathan S. Jacobson, James A. DiCarlo, George Smoot (2006 Nobel Laureate in Physics)
 * 1993 - Rebecca A. MacKay
 * 1994 - Robert A. Bindschadler, Theodore E. Bunch, Emmett W. Chappelle, Malcolm M. Cohen, Dale P. Cruikshank, Hay C. Hardin, Alice K. Harding, Donald Horan, Winifred M. Huo, Isabella T. Lewis, Erick Malaret, Camden McCarl, Robert Riesse, Piers J. Sellers, Trevor C. Sorensen, Thomas A. Zang Jr.
 * 1995 - James L. Smialek, Maria T. Zuber
 * 1996 - Kevin Zahnle
 * 1997 - James O. Arnold, David H. Atkinson, David H. Bailey, John E. Carlstrom, Ara Chutjian, John W. Connell, Harald M. Fischer, Everett K. Gibson Jr., William L. Grose, Marshall K. Joy, Kathie L. Thomas-Keprta, Louis J. Lanzerotti, David S. McKay, Michael J. Mumma, Hasso B. Niemann, Glenn S. Orion, Peter A. Pilewskie, Carolyn Purvis, Boris Ragent, Alvin Seiff, Lawrence Sromovsky,Ulf von Zahn, Richard N. Zare
 * 1998 - Narottam P. Bansal, Timothy J. Lee
 * 1999 - Jeff Cuzzi, Martin Weisskopf
 * 2000 - Hugh J. Christian Jr., Joan Feynman, Mona J. Hagyard, Yoram J. Kaufman, Ellis E. Remsberg
 * 2002 - Thomas P. Charlock
 * 2003 - Philip R. Christensen, Jean O. Dickey, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Martin G. Mlynczak, Ronald L. Moore, Richard F. Mushotzky, Eric Rignot, Farid Salama, Wei-Kuo Tao
 * 2004 - Charles L. Bennett, Randall G. Hulet, David P. Kratz, Steven J. Ostro, Thomas L. Sever, Chris R. Webster, Yuk Ling Yung
 * 2005 - Ichiro Fukumori, James R. Houck, Nicholas Leventis, Steven Suess, Michael Watkins
 * 2006 - Michael F. A’Hearn, David Charbonneau, Drake Deming, Neil Gehrels, John Le Marshall, Edward C. Stone, Tod Strohmayer, Larry W. Thomason
 * 2007 - Scott Braun, Donald Brownlee, Joan Centrella, Moustafa Chahine, Mark S. Marley, Eric Rignot, Alan Title
 * 2008 - Anthony Del Genio, David G. Fischer, Gerald M. Heymsfield, Russell A. Howard, Ronald Kwok, Michael I. Mishchenko, Son V. Nghiem
 * 2009 - James E. Fesmire
 * 2010 - Peter H. Smith, William V. Boynton, Heather L. Enos, Christopher R. Shinohara
 * 2011 - Carl J. Grillmair, Suzanne E. Smrekar, Yuhe T. Song, Timothy J. Lee, Eric Jensen, Jason Rowe, Jeff Scargle, Cheryl A. Nickerson