Members of the Order of Merit

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. For some 62 of the years between 1900 and 1964, he was a Member of Parliament (MP) and represented a total of five constituencies over that time. Ideologically an adherent to economic liberalism and imperialism, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924.

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the office. As prime minister, she implemented policies that came to be known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.

British philosopher and logician (1872–1970)

English computer scientist (born 1955)

US-British poet (1888–1965)

English social reformer, statistician, and founder of modern nursing (1820–1910)

British theoretical physicist (1902–1984)

English novelist and playwright (1867–1933)

British physicist (1856-1940)

English novelist and poet (1840–1928)

British writer, playwright and literary critic (1904–1991)

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922

lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement (1857-1941)

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 (1883–1967)

British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist (1823–1913)

British chemist

British scientist (1862–1942)

British physicist and engineer (1824–1907)

American and British writer (1843–1916)

Scottish writer and playwright (1860–1937)

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963

British molecular biologist, biophysicist, neuroscientist; co-discoverer of the structure of DNA

English physicist (1842–1919)

English actor and director (1907–1989)

English mathematical physicist, recreational mathematician and philosopher

Sir David Frederick Attenborough is an English broadcaster, natural historian and writer. His presenting career began as host of Zoo Quest in 1954, and has spanned eight decades; it includes the nine documentary series forming The Life Collection, Natural World, Wildlife on One, the Planet Earth franchise, The Blue Planet and Blue Planet II. He is the only person to have won BAFTA Awards in black-and-white, colour, high-definition, 3D and 4K resolution. Over his life, he has collected dozens of honorary degrees and awards, including three Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator and one Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Personality - Non-Daily.

British Prime Minister, Conservative politician, and statesman (1848-1930)

British biochemist (1918–2013)

English novelist (1879-1970)

British physicist (1897–1967)

Russo-British-Latvian Jewish social and political theorist, philosopher and historian of ideas (1909–1997)

14th Prime Minister of Canada, from 1963 to 1968 (1897–1972)

British surgeon and antiseptic pioneer (1827–1912)

British astrophysicist (1882-1944)

British physicist (1897-1974)

English composer (1857-1934)

Nobel prize winning American and British structural biologist

English sculptor (1898–1986)

English footballer, neurophysiologist and Nobel Prize recipient (1857–1952)

English composer, conductor, and pianist (1913-1976)

British chemist and physicist (1832-1919)

Sir Tom Stoppard was a British playwright and screenwriter. He wrote for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covered the themes of human rights, censorship, and political freedom, often delving into the deeper philosophical bases of society. Stoppard, a playwright of the Royal National Theatre, was one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation and was critically compared with William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. He was knighted for his contribution to theatre in 1997 and awarded the Order of Merit in 2000.

British architect (born 1935)

English physiologist and biophysicist (1917–2012)

English biochemist

British statesman and naval officer (1900-1979)

prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003

British chemist and biophysicist

English-brazilian biologist (1915–1987)

English electrophysiologist (1889-1977)

English physical chemist (1897-1967)

Austrian-born British molecular biologist (1914-2002)

British chemist (1920–2002)

British biochemist (1907-1997)

Scottish doctor and pharmacologist (1924–2010)

English pharmacologist, Nobel laureate (1875–1968)

British mathematician and astronomer (1877 – 1946)

physiologist and biophysicist (1914-1998)

English chemist (1886-1975)

British actor and theatre director (1904-2000)