It was established by the will of the pediatrician and bacteriologist Hans Aronson and has been awarded since 1921.
Aronson bequeathed a large part of his estate to the establishment of the prize.
The prize is awarded biannually on 8 March, the date of Aronson's death.
In 1969, the foundation that awarded the prize was dissolved on the initiative of its last chairman Georg Henneberg, and the responsibility for the prize and the remaining capital was transferred to the (West) Berlin government, in order to safeguard the existence of the prize.
Among the Aronson laureates are several scientists who later were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, such as Karl Landsteiner and Gerhard Domagk.