| Sir James Lighthill FRS |
1964 - 1966 |
| Professor Sir Bryan Thwaites |
1966 - 1967 |
| Dr Peter Wakely FRS |
1968 - 1969 |
| Professor George Barnard |
1970 - 1971 |
| Professor Charles Coulson FRS |
1972 - 1973 |
| Sir Hermann Bondi FRS |
1974 - 1975 |
| HRH The Duke of Edinburgh |
1976 - 1977 |
| Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw |
1978 - 1979 |
| Sir Samuel Edwards FRS |
1980 - 1981 |
| Dr Peter Trier |
1982 - 1983 |
| Sir Harry Pitt FRS |
1984 - 1985 |
| Professor Bob Churchhouse FRS |
1986 - 1987 |
| Professor Douglas Jones FRS |
1988 - 1989 |
| Sir Roy Harding |
1990 - 1991 |
| Mr J H McDonnell |
1992 |
| Professor Lord Julian Hunt FRS |
1993 - 1995 |
| Professor David Crighton FRS |
1996 - 1997 |
| Professor Henry Beker |
1998 - 1999 |
| Professor Stephen Reid |
2000 - 2001 |
| Professor John McWhirter FREng, FRS |
2002 - 2003 |
| Professor Tim Pedley FRS |
2004 - 2005 |
| Professor Peter Grindrod CBE |
2006 - 2007 |
| Professor David Abrahams |
2008 - 2009 |
| Professor Michael Walker OBE, FRS |
2010 - 2011 |
| Professor Robert MacKay FRS |
2012 - 2013 |
| Professor Dame Celia Hoyles |
2014 - 2015 |
| Professor Chris Linton |
2016 - 2017 |
| Professor Alistair Fitt |
2018 - 2019 |
| Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE |
2020 - 2021 |
| Professor Paul Glendinning FRSE |
2022 - 2023 |
| Professor Hannah Fry |
2024 - 2025 |
| Dr Heather Tewkesbury |
2026 - |
