The Robert Koch Award is one of the most prestigious scientific awards in the Federal Republic of Germany. The prize is awarded annually to researchers for outstanding and internationally recognized scientific achievements. The Federal Ministry of Health has supported the prize for years and finances half of the prize money, which was increased in 2017 from 100,000 to 120,000 euros.
| 2020 | Shimon Sakaguchi (Japan) |
| 2019 | Rino Rappuoli (Italy) |
| 2018 | Jeffrey V. Ravetch (USA) |
| 2017 | Rafi Ahmed (USA), Antonio Lanzavecchia (Switzerland) |
| 2016 | Alberto Mantovani (Italy), Michel C. Nussenzweig (USA) |
| 2015 | Ralf Bartenschlager (Heidelberg), Charles M. Rice (USA) |
| 2014 | Jean-Laurent Casanova (USA), Alain Fischer (France) |
| 2013 | Jeffrey I. Gordon (USA) |
| 2012 | Tasuku Honjo (Japan) |
| 2011 | Jorge Galán (USA) |
| 2010 | Max Dale Cooper (USA) |
| 2009 | Carl F. Nathan (USA) |
| 2008 | Hans Robert Schöler (Münster), Irving Weissman (USA), Shinya Yamanaka (Japan) |
| 2007 | Pascale Cossart (France) |
| 2006 | Peter Palese (USA), Yoshihiro Kawaoka (Japan) |
| 2005 | Brian J. Druker (USA) |
| 2004 | Shizuo Akira (Japan), Bruce A. Beutler (USA), Jules A. Hoffmann (France) |
| 2003 | Adriano Aguzzi (Switzerland) |
| 2002 | Rudolf Jaenisch (USA) |
| 2001 | Axel Ullrich (Martinsried) |
| 2000 | Stanley Falkow (USA) |
| 1999 | Ralph M. Steinman (USA) |
| 1998 | Yuan Chang (USA), Patrick S. Moore (USA) |
| 1997 | Philippe J. Sansonetti (France) |
| 1996 | Fritz Melchers (Switzerland), Klaus Rajewsky (Köln) |
| 1995 | Shigekazu Nagata (Japan), Peter H. Krammer (Heidelberg) |
| 1994 | Volkmar Braun (Tübingen), Manuel Elkin Patarroyo Murillo (Colombia) |
| 1993 | Hans-Georg Rammensee (Heidelberg), Daniel W. Bradley (USA), Michael Houghton (USA) |
| 1992 | Kary B. Mullis (USA) |
| 1991 | Walter Fiers (Belgium), Tadatsugu Taniguchi (Japan) |
| 1990 | Lloyd J. Old (USA) |
| 1989 | Irun R. Cohen (Israel), Alex J. van der Eb (Netherlands) |
| 1988 | Donald Metcalf (Australia) |
| 1987 | Mario Rizzetto (Italy), Rudolf Rott (Gießen), John J. Skehel (UK) |
| 1986 | Susumu Tonegawa (USA) |
| 1985 | Stefania Jablonska (Poland), Gérard Ch. J. Orth (France) |
| 1984 | Walter Doerfler (Köln), Stuart F. Schlossman (USA) |
| 1983 | Werner Goebel (Würzburg), Robert A. Weinberg (USA) |
| 1982 | Raymond L. Erikson (USA), Franz Oesch (Mainz) |
| 1981 | Robert M. Chanock (USA), Lars A. Hanson (Sweden) |
| 1980 | César Milstein (UK), Lewis W. Wannamaker (USA) |
| 1979 | Ruth Arnon (Israel), Peter Starlinger (Köln) |
| 1978 | Albrecht K. Kleinschmidt (Ulm), Heinz L. Sänger (Gießen) |
| 1977 | Jean Dausset (France), Jan J. van Rood (Netherlands) |
| 1976 | Richard A. Finkelstein (USA), Mark H. Richmond (UK) |
| 1975 | Harald zur Hausen (Erlangen), Heinz-Günter Wittmann (Berlin) |
| 1974 | Norbert Hilschmann (Göttingen) |
| 1973 | Jean Lindenmann (Switzerland), Hans G. Schwick (Marburg) |
| 1972 | Lubertus Berrens (Netherlands), Alain L. de Weck (Switzerland) |
| 1971 | Gertrude und Werner Henle (USA) |
| 1970 | William M. Hutchison (UK), Jorgen C. Siim (Denmark) |
| 1969 | Pirjo Helena Mäkelä (Finland) |
| 1968 | Heinz Stolp (Berlin) |
| 1968 | Arthur Brockhaus (Düsseldorf), Hans-Werner Schlipköter (Düsseldorf) |
| 1966 | Karl Bartmann (Berlin) |
| 1965 | Gertrud Meissner (Borstel) |
| 1963 | Tomizo Yoshida (Japan) |
| 1962 | John Franklin Enders (USA), Albert Bruce Sabin (USA), Jonas Edward Salk (USA) |
| 1960 | Hugo Braun (München), René Jules Dubos (USA), Toshiaki Ebina (Japan), Ludwig Heilmeyer (Freiburg), Franz Redeker (Mehlem), Josef Tomcsik (Switzerland) |
