The Echegaray Medal (Spanish: La Medalla Echegaray) is the highest scientific award granted by the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences. The award was created by Alfonso XIII at the request of Santiago Ramón y Cajal after the award of the Nobel Prize to José Echegaray and is awarded in recognition of an exceptional scientific career. The first time it was granted was in 1907 to the eponymous José Echegaray. More than a hundred years after the award was created, the first woman to receive the Echegaray Medal was Margarita Salas in 2016 during a ceremony which was presided over by Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía of Spain. Source: Wikipedia (en)