| 1871-1878* | Joseph Henry |
| 1878-1880* | Simon Newcomb |
| 1881 | Joseph Janvier Woodward |
| 1882 | William Bower Taylor |
| 1883 | John Wesley Powell |
| 1884 | James Clarke Welling |
| 1885 | Asaph Hall |
| 1886 | John Shaw Billings |
| 1887 | William Harkness |
| 1888 | Garrick Mallery |
| 1889 | John Robie Eastman |
| 1890 | Clarence Edward Dutton |
| 1891 | Thomas Corwin Mendenhall |
| 1892 | Grove Karl Gilbert |
| 1893 | George Brown Goode |
| 1894 | Robert Fletcher |
| 1895 | William Healey Dall |
| 1896 | Frank Wigglesworth Clarke |
| 1897 | Marcus Baker |
| 1898 | Frank Hagar Bigelow |
| 1899 | Otto Hilgard Tittmann |
| 1900 | George Miller Sternberg |
| 1901 | Charles Doolittle Walcott |
| 1902 | Richard Rathbun |
| 1903 | James Howard Gore |
| 1904 | Charles Frederick Marvin |
| 1905 | George Washington Littlehales |
| 1906 | Cleveland Abbe |
| 1907 | John Filmore Hayford |
| 1908 | Louis Agricola Bauer |
| 1909* | Charles Kasson Wead |
| 1910 | Robert Simpson Woodward |
| 1911 | Arthur Louis Day |
| 1912 | Edward Bennett Rosa |
| 1913 | Charles Greeley Abbot |
| 1914 | Louis Albert Fischer |
| 1915 | William Snyder Eichelberger |
| 1916 | Lyman James Briggs |
| 1917 | Edgar Buckingham |
| 1918 | George Kimball Burgess |
| 1919 | William Jackson Humphreys |
| 1920 | Robert Browing Sosman |
| 1921 | Robert Lee Faris |
| 1922 | Eugene Casson Crittenden |
| 1923 | Walter Porter White |
| 1924 | Daniel Lyman Hazard |
| 1925 | John Adam Fleming |
| 1926 | William Bowie |
| 1927 | James Percy Ault |
| 1928 | Paul Renno Heyl |
| 1929 | Leason Heberling Adams |
| 1930 | Walter Davis Lambert |
| 1931 | Harvey Lincoln Curtis |
| 1932 | Louis Bryant Tuckerman |
| 1933 | Oscar Sherman Adams |
| 1934 | Hugh Latimer Dryden |
| 1935 | Oliver Holmes Gish |
| 1936 | Francis Briggs Silsbee |
| 1937 | Frank Wenner |
| 1938 | Nicholas Hunter Heck |
| 1939 | Ferdinand Graft Brickwedde |
| 1940 | Ralph Edward Gibson |
| 1941 | Harold Edgar McComb |
| 1942 | William George Brombacher |
| 1943 | Raymond John Seeger |
| 1944 | Harold Frederic Stimson |
| 1945 | George Ray Wait |
| 1946 | Francis Marion Defandorf |
| 1947 | Fred Loomis Mohler |
| 1948 | Walter Ramberg |
| 1949 | Francis Edgar Johnston |
| 1950 | Frank Charles Kracek |
| 1951 | Edward Uhler Condon |
| 1952 | Alvine Greene McNish |
| 1953 | Archie Irvin Mahan |
| 1954 | Scott Ellsworth Forbush |
| 1955 | Lawrence Arnell Wood |
| 1956 | Bruce Lee Wilson |
| 1957 | Chester Hall Page |
| 1958 | Ladislaus Laszlo Marton |
| 1959 | Michael Goldberg |
| 1960 | Louis Rigby Maxwell |
| 1961 | Lawson Morell McKenzie |
| 1962 | Ralph Delavan Myers |
| 1963 | François N. Frenkiel |
| 1964 | Malcolm C. Henderson |
| 1965 | Urner Liddel |
| 1966 | Maurice M. Shapiro |
| 1967 | William J. Youden |
| 1968 | George T. Rado |
| 1969 | John A. O’Keefe |
| 1970 | Herbert A. Hauptman |
| 1971 | L.T. Crane |
| 1972 | E.E. Beasley |
| 1973 | B.F. Bennett |
| 1974 | G.E. Hudson |
| 1975 | R.P. Hudson |
| 1976 | Robert J. Rubin |
| 1977 | Harold Glaser |
| 1978 | G.T. Armstrong |
| 1979 | William G. Maisch |
| 1980 | James Franklin Goff |
| 1981 | Donald H. Tsai |
| 1982-1983 | Athleston Frederik Spilhaus Jr. |
| 1984 | Dirse W. Sallet |
| 1985 | Joe G. Foreman |
| 1986 | David F. Bleil |
| 1987 | James F. Schooley |
| 1988 | Julius William Enig |
| 1989 | Ronald O. Hietala |
| 1990 | Lisa Heinz |
| 1991 | Robert S. Kaeser |
| 1992 | Willard S. Grant |
| 1993 | William J. Spargo |
| 1994 | Mary Gertrude Enig |
| 1995 | James S. Ohlmacher |
| 1996 | Joseph F. Coates |
| 1997 | Thomas R. Lettieri |
| 1998 | Eloise Moore Agger |
| 1999 | John S. Garavelli |
| 2000 | William J. Spargo |
| 2001 | Ruth S. McDiarmid |
| 2002 | Robert J. Collins |
| 2003 | Kenneth Haapala |
| 2004 | Steven J. Dick |
| 2005 | Robert L. Hershey |
| 2006 | William Saalbach |
| 2007 | Ruth S. McDiarmid |
| 2008 | Kenneth Haapala |
| 2009 | Larry Stephen Millstein |
| 2010-2011 | Robin Marie Taylor |
| 2012-2013 | John G. Ingersoll |
| 2014-2024 | Larry Stephen Millstein |