| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year!!Name!!Profession!!class="unsortable"|Reason |
| 1906 | Robert Peary | polar explorer | Farthest north travel by a human. |
| 1907 | Roald Amundsen | polar explorer | First to transit the Northwest Passage. |
| 1909 | Robert Bartlett | polar explorer | Reason | Traveled the farthest to the North Pole. |
| 1910 | Sir Ernest Shackleton | polar explorer | |
| 1926 | Richard E. Byrd | polar explorer/aviator | First flight over the North Pole. |
| 1927 | Charles Lindbergh | aviator | First solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean |
| 1931 | Roy Chapman Andrews | Gobi Desert explorer | |
| 1934 | Anne Morrow Lindbergh | aviator | For serving as radio operator and copilot to her husband Charles on two flights in 1931 and 1933 |
| 1935 | Captain Orvil Arson Anderson[{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19640069000 |title=National Geographic Society Hubbard Medal, Captain Orvil Anderson |access-date=February 22, 2012 |archive-date=April 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110403173437/http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19640069000 |url-status=dead }}] and Captain Albert William Stevens | aeronauts[[http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/high-altitude-photography.html First High-Altitude Photo] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100118145349/http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/high-altitude-photography.html |date=January 18, 2010 }}] | Record setting ascent in balloon Explorer II. |
| 1954 | British Mount Everest Expedition | mountaineers | First ascent of Mount Everest.(group award)[{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/programs/re/archivesdate/2003/apr/everest/medal.html|title=NPR : Archive: Eisenhower Awards Medal to 1953 Expedition|first=Vikki|last=Valentine}}] |
| 1958 | Paul Allen Siple | polar explorer | Veteran of several Antarctic expeditions. |
| 1959 | Adm. Arleigh Burke
Rear Adm. George J. Dufek | US Navy | Establishing Antarctic science stations. |
| 1962 | John Glenn | astronaut | First American to orbit Earth.[{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20071603/standardspeaker/|title=Hubbard Medal for John Glenn|date=April 10, 1962|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=Standard-Speaker|location=Hazleton, Pennsylvania|page=16|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 15, 2018}}] |
| 1962 | Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey | anthropologist | |
| 1963 | Norman Dyhrenfurth and his team | mountaineers | First Americans to climb to the summit of Mount Everest[{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9337|title=John F. Kennedy: Remarks Upon Presenting the Hubbard Medal to the Leader of the American Everest Expedition.}}] |
| 1969 | Frank Borman
Jim Lovell
William Anders | astronauts | First crewed flight to the Moon.[{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33382957/muncie_evening_press/|title=Hubbard Medal to Borman Crew|newspaper=Muncie Evening Press|location=Muncie, Indiana|date=April 4, 1969|page=5|via=Newspapers.com|agency=UPI}}] |
| 1970 | Neil Armstrong
Edwin Aldrin
Michael Collins | astronauts | For first crewed landing on the Moon.[{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19603390/the_la_crosse_tribune/|title=Agnew Gives Medals to Apollo 11 Crew|newspaper=La Crosse Tribune|agency=Associated Press|date=February 18, 1970|page=6|location=La Crosse, Wisconsin|via=Newspapers.com}}] |
| 1978 | Marie Tharp
Bruce C. Heezen | Cartography
geologist | |
| 1981 | John Young
Robert Crippen | astronauts | Awarded for first Space Shuttle flight.[{{cite web|url=http://www.johnwyoung.org/bio/otherawards.htm|title=Astronaut John W. Young – Other Awards|first=Dana|last=Holland|access-date=2007-04-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724043953/http://www.johnwyoung.org/bio/otherawards.htm|archive-date=2011-07-24|url-status=dead}}] |
| 1994 | Richard Leakey | anthropologist | |
| 1995 | Jane Goodall | environmentalist | [{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/council/eir/bio_goodall.html |title=Explorers-in-Residence: Jane Goodall |access-date=2007-04-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614160809/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/council/eir/bio_goodall.html |archive-date=2007-06-14 }}] |
| 1996 | Robert Ballard | underwater explorer | Discovery of the wreck of the RMS Titanic[{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers-program/eir/rballard.html |title=Robert Ballard, Ocean Explorer |access-date=2007-04-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007173817/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers-program/eir/rballard.html |archive-date=2008-10-07 }}] |
| 1999 | Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones | balloonists | |
| 2000 | Matthew Henson | polar explorer | Companion to first recipient Robert Peary. Awarded posthumously. (Not awarded at the time because of his race).[{{cite web|url=http://matthewhenson.com/BBCnews.htm|title=Stealing the Glory|first=Pam|last=Fraser Solomon|author-link=Pam Fraser Solomon|access-date=April 1, 2007|archive-date=January 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104143038/https://matthewhenson.com/BBCnews.htm|url-status=usurped}}] |
| 2010 | Don Walsh | oceanographer | Bathyscaphe Trieste Dive |
| 2012 | Jacques Piccard | oceanographer | First Mariana Trench expedition |
| 2013 | Sylvia Earle
James Cameron
E. O. Wilson | biologist
film director/explorer
biologist | Marine exploration
Marine exploration
Biological research |
| 2015 | George Schaller | biologist | for his unwavering commitment to the well-being of the world's most endangered species[{{cite web|url=http://press.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/10/virunga-national-park-rangers-to-accept-national-geographic-explorers-of-the-year-honor/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611002710/http://press.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/10/virunga-national-park-rangers-to-accept-national-geographic-explorers-of-the-year-honor/|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 11, 2015|title=Virunga National Park Rangers to Accept National Geographic Explorers of the Year Honor – National Geographic Society Press Room|first=National Geographic Press|last=Room|date=June 10, 2015}}] |
| 2016 | Meave Leakey
Nainoa Thompson | paleoanthropologist
navigator | [{{cite web|url=http://press.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/15/meave-leakey-and-nainoa-thompson-to-receive-hubbard-medal-national-geographics-highest-honor/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616165603/http://press.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/15/meave-leakey-and-nainoa-thompson-to-receive-hubbard-medal-national-geographics-highest-honor/|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 16, 2016|title=Meave Leakey and Nainoa Thompson to Receive Hubbard Medal, National Geographic’s Highest Honor|date=June 15, 2016}}] |
| 2017 | Neil deGrasse Tyson | astrophysicist, author and science communicator | [{{cite journal|title=High Honors|journal=National Geographic|date=July 2017|volume=232|issue=1|page=152}}] |
| 2018 | Peter H. Raven | Biologist and environmentalist | [ {{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/awards/hubbard/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107013244/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/awards/hubbard/|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 7, 2017|title=Hubbard Medal|publisher=National Geographic Society|access-date=February 5, 2019}}] |
