The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) officially announced the winners of its 2026 awards at its A&G Highlights Meeting on January 9, 2026. Headlining the honours is Professor Shrinivas Kulkarni, an Indian-origin scientist from the California Institute of Technology, who has been awarded the prestigious Gold Medal in Astronomy. This is the society's highest honour and recognizes Kulkarni's 'field-defining' and 'sustained, innovative, and ground-breaking contributions to multi-wavelength transient astrophysics.' Professor Kulkarni's illustrious career includes fundamental discoveries such as co-discovering the first millisecond pulsar in 1982, identifying the first brown dwarf in 1995, and demonstrating that powerful gamma-ray bursts originate outside the Milky Way in 1997. He also led the development of critical survey projects like the Palomar Transient Factory and the Zwicky Transient Facility, which have revolutionized time-domain astrophysics. These achievements have significantly advanced our understanding of how celestial objects change over time. The Gold Medal in Geophysics for 2026 was awarded to Professor Andrew Jackson of ETH Zürich for his instrumental work in geomagnetism, which includes creating a widely used model for studying Earth's historical magnetic field. Other significant awards included the Eddington Medal to Professor Debora Šijački and the Chapman Medal to Professor Mathew Owens. The RAS awards, which date back over 200 years, celebrate significant achievements across various aspects of astronomy and geophysics. Professor Kulkarni, who was born in Maharashtra, India, and received his master's degree from IIT Delhi, joins a distinguished list of past Gold Medal recipients, including Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein.