[3] Past awards have been given for "outstanding personal researches in the fields of astronomy and geophysics" as well as general contributions to astronomy and geophysics "that may be made through leadership in research programmes, through education and through scientific administration".

This caused a problem when Neptune was discovered in 1846, because many felt an award should jointly be made to John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier.

In some years, particularly early on, the RAS sometimes decided that there were no suitable nominations and so did not award the gold medal.

To ensure balance in research areas, in 1964 the award was expanded to two medals per year, one in astronomy (including astrophysics, cosmology etc.)

The medal features an image of the 40-foot telescope constructed by Sir William Herschel, the first President of the RAS.