This is a list of recipients of the Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts (), a German and formerly Prussian honor given since 1842 for achievement in the humanities, sciences, or arts.
Date of award Name Description Residence 1842 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Astronomer Königsberg 1842 August Boeckh Antiquity researcher Berlin 1842 Franz Bopp Linguist of Sanskrit Berlin 1842 Leopold von Buch Geologist and paleontologist Berlin 1842 Peter von Cornelius Painter Berlin 1842 Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach Surgeon Berlin 1842 Karl Friedrich Eichhorn Lawyer Berlin 1842 Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg Naturalist Berlin 1842 Johann Franz Encke Astronomer Berlin 1842 Carl Friedrich Gauss Mathematician & astronomer Göttingen 1842 Jakob Grimm Germanist Berlin 1842 Alexander von Humboldt Naturalist Berlin 1842 Karl Gustav Jakob Jacobi Mathematician Königsberg 1842 Karl Friedrich Lessing Painter Düsseldorf 1842 Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Composer Berlin 1842 Klemens Wenzel Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg Statesmen Vienna 1842 Giacomo Meyerbeer Composer Berlin 1842 Eilhard Mitscherlich Chemist Berlin 1842 Johannes Peter Müller Physiologist Berlin 1842 Carl Ritter Geographer Berlin 1842 Friedrich Rückert Poet and orientalist Berlin 1842 Friedrich Carl von Savigny Lawyer Berlin 1842 Johann Gottfried Schadow Sculptor Berlin 1842 Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling Philosopher Berlin 1842 August Wilhelm von Schlegel Poet Bonn 1842 Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld Painter Munich 1842 Johann Lukas Schönlein Pathologist Berlin 1842 Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler Sculptor Munich 1842 Ludwig Tieck Poet Berlin 1842 Dominique François Jean Arago Physicist Paris 1842 Archeologist Naples 1842 Jöns Jacob Berzelius Chemist Stockholm 1842 Bartolomeo Borghesi Archeologist San Marino 1842 Robert Brown Botanist London 1842 François-René de Chateaubriand Writer Paris 1842 Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre Painter and inventor of the photos Paris 1842 Michael Faraday Chemist and physicist London 1842 Pierre Francois Leonard Fontaine Architect Paris 1842 Vittorio Fossombroni Economist Florence 1842 Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac Chemist and physicist Paris 1842 John Herschel Astronomer London 1842 Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres Painter Paris 1842 Bartholomäus Kopitar Slavist Vienna 1842 Adam Johann von Krusenstern Research traveler St. Petersburg 1842 Jean-Antoine Letronne Numismatist Paris 1842 Franz Liszt Musician Paris 1842 Macedonio Melloni Physicist Naples 1842 Thomas Moore Poet Wiltshire 1842 Hans Christian Ørsted Physicist Copenhagen 1842 Gioacchino Rossini Composer Bologna 1842 Vasily Zhukovsky Poet St. Petersburg 1842 Gasparo Spontini Composer Maiolati 1842 Albert Thorvaldsen Sculptor Copenhagen 1842 Paolo Toschi Engraver Parma 1842 Horace Vernet Painter Paris 1844 Stephan Endlicher Botanist Vienna 1844 Alessandro Manzoni Poet Milan 1844 Adam Oehlenschläger Poet Copenhagen 1845 Heinrich Friedrich Link Botanist Berlin 1845 Théodore Gudin Painter Paris 1845 Pavel Jozef Šafárik Slavist Prague 1846 Gottfried Hermann Classical philologist Leipzig 1847 Sir David Brewster Physicist Edinburgh 1848 Karl Sigismund Kunth Botanist Berlin 1848 Louis Spohr Composer Kassel 1849 Georg Friedrich Creuzer Classical philologist Heidelberg 1849 Wilhelm von Kaulbach Painter Munich 1849 Karl Ernst von Baer Zoologist St. Petersburg 1849 Augustin Louis Cauchy Mathematician Paris 1849 François Pierre Guillaume Guizot Historian Paris 1849 Carl Benedict Hase Classical philologist Paris 1850 Wilhelm von Schadow Painter Düsseldorf 1850 Jean-Baptiste Biot Physicist Paris 1850 Eugene Burnouf Orientalist Paris 1850 Paul Delaroche Painter Paris 1850 Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall Orientalist Vienna 1851 Justus Freiherr von Liebig Chemist Giessen 1851 Friedrich Tiedemann Physiologist Frankfurt am Main 1851 Daniel François Esprit Auber Composer Paris 1851 Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve Astronomer Pulkovo 1852 Louis Gallait Painter City of Brussels 1852 Sir Richard Owen Zoologist and paleontologist London 1852 Pietro Tenerani Sculptor Rome 1853 Christian Samuel Weiss Mineralogist Berlin 1853 Honoré Théodoric d'Albert de Luynes Archaeologist Paris 1853 Thomas Babington Macaulay Historian London 1853 Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, 1st Baronet Orientalist Baghdad 1854 Sir George Biddell Airy Astronomer Greenwich 1854 Jakob Ignaz Hittorff Architect Paris 1854 Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet Mathematician Göttingen 1854 Christian August Lobeck Classical philologist Königsberg 1854 Leopold Ranke Historian Berlin 1855 Auguste Gaspard Louis Desnoyers Engraver Paris 1855 Jean-Baptiste Dumas Chemist Paris 1855 Johann Friedrich Overbeck Painter Rome 1857 Christian Lassen Orientalist Bonn 1857 Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger Geologist Vienna 1857 Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury Painter Paris 1857 François Forster Engraver Paris 1857 Sir Edward Sabine Physicist and astronomer London 1858 Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel Sculptor Dresden 1858 Friedrich August Stüler Architect Berlin 1859 Ernst Heinrich Weber Physicist Leipzig 1860 Heinrich Wilhelm Dove Meteorologist Berlin 1860 Johann August Eduard Mandel Engraver Berlin 1860 Franz Ernst Neumann Physicist Königsberg 1860 Friedrich Christoph Schlosser Historian Heidelberg 1860 Louis Agassiz Naturalist New Cambridge near Boston 1860 John Charles Frémont Research traveler Washington, D.C. 1861 August Immanuel Bekker Classical philologist Berlin 1861 Friedrich von Hermann Economist and statistician Munich 1861 Leo von Klenze Architect Munich 1861 Heinrich Rose Chemist Berlin 1861 Edme-François Jomard Geographer Paris 1863 Friedrich Drake Sculptor Berlin 1863 Carl Joseph Anton Mittermaier Jurist Heidelberg 1863 Friedrich von Raumer Historian Berlin 1863 Jean Hippolyte Flandrin Painter Paris 1863 Edward Hincks Orientalist Killyleagh, Ireland 1863 Sir Charles Lyell Geologist London 1863 Jean-Victor Poncelet Mathematician Paris 1864 Robert Bunsen Chemist Heidelberg 1864 Eduard Grell Composer Berlin 1864 Georg Friedrich Schömann Classical philologist Greifswald 1864 Wilhelm Eduard Weber Physicist Göttingen 1864 Friedrich Wöhler Chemist Göttingen 1864 Architect Munich 1865 Léon Cogniet Painter Paris 1865 Orientalist Turin 1866 Friedrich Christian Diez Romanist Bonn 1866 Peter Andreas Hansen Astronomer Gotha 1866 Johann Heinrich Strack Architect Berlin 1866 Christopher Hansteen Astronomer Christiania 1867 Eduard Bendemann Painter Düsseldorf 1867 Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg Sculptor St. Petersburg 1867 Louis Pierre Henriquel-Dupont Engraver Paris 1867 Henri Milne-Edwards Zoologist and physiologist Paris 1868 Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer Orientalist Leipzig 1868 August Meineke Classical philologist Berlin 1868 Theodor Mommsen Historian Berlin 1868 Charles Robert Darwin Naturalist London 1868 Félix Duban Architect Paris 1868 Henri Victor Regnault Chemist and physicist Paris 1868 Sir Charles Wheatstone Physicist London 1869 John of Saxony Researcher (Italian literature) 1869 Johan Nicolai Madvig Classical philologist Copenhagen 1869 Franz von Miklosich Slavist Vienna 1870 Adolph Menzel Painter Berlin 1870 Johan Peter Molin Sculptor Stockholm 1871 Moritz Haupt Classical philologist and Germanist Berlin 1871 Gustav Rose Mineralogist Berlin 1872 Richard Lepsius Egyptologist Berlin 1872 Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg Philosopher Berlin 1872 Sir Edwin Henry Landseer Painter London 1872 Elias Lönnrot Researcher (Finnish language) Helsingfors 1872 Thomas Romney Robinson Astronomer Armagh, Ireland 1873 Hermann Helmholtz Physicist and physiologist Berlin 1873 Ludwig Knaus Painter Düsseldorf 1873 Nicaise de Keyser Painter Antwerp 1874 Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander Astronomer Bonn 1874 Ernst Julius Hähnel Sculptor Dresden 1874 Gustav Kirchhoff Physicist Heidelberg 1874 Helmuth von Moltke the Elder War researcher Berlin 1874 Heinrich von Sybel Historian Bonn 1874 Thomas Carlyle Historian London 1874 Humphrey Lloyd Physicist Dublin 1874 Max Müller Orientalist Oxford 1874 Gottfried Semper Architect Vienna 1875 Karl Weierstrass Mathematician Berlin 1875 George Bancroft Historian Washington, D.C. 1875 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poet Cambridge, Massachusetts, US 1875 Theodor Schwann Physiologist Liège 1875 William Stokes Physicist Dublin 1876 Otto von Böhtlingk Orientalist Jena 1877 Emil du Bois-Reymond Physiologist Berlin 1877 Georg Curtius Classical philologist Leipzig 1877 Eduard Zeller Philosopher Berlin 1877 Japetus Steenstrup Zoologist Copenhagen 1878 Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke Physiologist Vienna 1878 Charles Hermite Mathematician Paris 1879 Ernst Curtius Historian Berlin 1879 Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold Zoologist Munich 1879 Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet Mathematician Cambridge, England 1880 Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld Arctic explorer Stockholm 1880 Friedrich von Schmidt Architect Vienna 1881 Andreas Achenbach Painter Düsseldorf 1881 Friedrich Hitzig Architect Berlin 1881 Lawrence Alma-Tadema Painter London 1881 Niels Gade Composer Copenhagen 1881 William Dwight Whitney Orientalist New Haven, Connecticut, US 1882 Gustav Richter Painter Berlin 1882 Johannes Schilling Sculptor Dresden 1882 Marcellin Berthelot Chemist Paris 1882 Jean-Baptiste Boussingault Chemist and astronomer Paris 1882 Giuseppe Fiorelli Archaeologist Rome 1882 Otto Wilhelm von Struve Astronomer Pulkovo 1882 Bernhard Studer Geologist Bern 1883 Reinhold Begas Sculptor Berlin 1883 August Wilhelm von Hofmann Chemist Berlin 1884 Fritz Schaper Sculptor Berlin 1884 Michele Amari Historian and orientalist Pisa 1884 William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin Physicist Glasgow 1885 Georg Waitz Historian Berlin 1885 Joseph Lister Surgeon London 1886 August Friedrich Pott Linguist Halle 1886 Giovanni Battista Carlo de Rossi Archeologist Rome 1886 Werner von Siemens Physicist Charlottenburg 1887 Johannes Brahms Composer Vienna 1887 Gustav Freytag Novelist and playwright Wiesbaden 1887 Giulio Monteverde Sculptor Rome 1887 Heinrich von Treitschke Historian Berlin 1887 Giuseppe Fortunio Francesco Verdi Composer Sant'Agata 1887 William Wright Orientalist Cambridge, England 1888 Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius Physicist Bonn 1888 Heinrich Rudolf Hermann Friedrich von Gneist Jurist Berlin 1888 Theodor Noldeke Orientalist Strasbourg 1888 Frederic Leighton Painter London 1888 Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac Chemist Geneva 1888 Giuseppe Giovanni Antonio Meneghini Geologist Pisa 1888 Emile Wauters Painter City of Brussels 1889 Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Physiologist Leipzig 1890 Karl Franz Eduard von Gebhardt Painter Düsseldorf 1891 Hermann Ende Architect Berlin 1891 Adolf von Hildebrand Sculptor Munich 1891 Julius von Verdy du Vernois Military writer Berlin 1891 Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyramus de Candolle Botanist Geneva 1891 Vatroslav Jagić Slavist Vienna 1891 Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern Linguist and Indologist Leiden 1891 Austen Henry Layard Archaeologist London 1891 Anton Rubinstein Musician St. Petersburg 1891 Pasquale Villari Historian Rome 1892 Arthur Auwers Astronomer Berlin 1892 Benjamin Apthorp Gould Astronomer Cambridge, Massachusetts, US 1892 John Everett Millais Painter London 1893 August Kekulé Chemist Bonn 1893 August Kundt Physicist Berlin 1893 Eduard Friedrich Wilhelm Pflüger Physiologist Bonn 1893 Sven Ludvig Lovén Zoologist Stockholm 1893 Ludwig Passini Painter Venice 1894 Jacob Georg Agardh Botanist Lund 1894 Alfred von Arneth Historian Vienna 1895 Adolf von Baeyer Chemist Munich 1895 Hermann Carl Vogel Astrophysicist Potsdam 1895 Michael Jan de Goeje Arabist Leiden 1895 Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff Chemist Amsterdam 1895 Numismatist Winterthur 1895 Giovanni Schiaparelli Astronomer Milan 1896 Otto von Bismarck Statesman Berlin 1896 Heinrich Brunner Jurist Berlin 1896 Herman Grimm Art historian Berlin 1896 Albert von Kölliker Anatomist Würzburg 1896 Friedrich Wilhelm Kohlrausch Physicist Charlottenburg 1896 Alexander Kovalevsky Zoologist St. Petersburg 1897 Johann Wilhelm Hittorf Physicist Münster 1897 Rudolf Leuckart Zoologist Leipzig 1897 Carl Neumann Mathematician Leipzig 1897 Hermann