The James Clerk Maxwell Medal and Prize is awarded by the Institute of Physics (IOP) in theoretical physics.

[1] The award is made "for exceptional early-career contributions to theoretical (including mathematical and computational) physics."

It is named in honour of James Clerk Maxwell.

The first medal was awarded in 1962 to Abdus Salam.

Past recipients include subsequent Nobel Prize in Physics laureates (Abdus Salam, David Thouless, Anthony James Leggett, John Michael Kosterlitz) and Lucasian Professors of Mathematics (Stephen Hawking, Michael Green, and Michael Cates).