The Leeuwenhoek Medal, established in 1877 by the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences in honor of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, is granted every ten years to the scientist judged to have made the most significant contribution to microbiology during the preceding decade.

The Leeuwenhoek Medal winners have been:

• 1877 Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, Germany
• 1885 Ferdinand Cohn, Poland
• 1895 Louis Pasteur, France
• 1905 Martinus Beijerinck, Netherlands
• 1915 Sir David Bruce, United Kingdom
• 1925 Félix d’Herelle, (at the time) Egypt
• 1935 Sergei Nikolaevitch Winogradsky , France
• 1950 Selman Abraham Waksman, United States
• 1960 André Lwoff, France
• 1970 Cornelis Bernardus van Niel (Kees van Niel), United States
• 1981 Roger Yate Stanier , France
• 1992 Carl Woese, United States
• 2003 Karl Stetter, Germany