President Obama Announces Presidential Medal Of Freedom Award-Winners: Full List

President Obama on Wednesday announced the names of 21 Presidential Medal Of Freedom award-winners, a list that includes actors, humanitarians and scientists.

The award is the highest honor available to civilians and is given to "individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," according to a White House release.

The award winners are listed below:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — NBA's all-time leading scorer and social justice advocate

Elouise Cobell (posthumous) — Blackfeet Tribal community leader and advocate for Native Americans

Ellen DeGeneres — award-winning comedian, daytime talk show host and advocate for equality

Robert De Niro — seven-time Academy Award nominee, two-time Oscar winner, Kennedy Center honoree

Richard Garwin — polymath physicist who worked on U.S. defense and intelligence technologies

Bill and Melinda Gates — philanthropists who established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, which has raised more than $36 billion

Frank Gehry — architect who designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Dancing House in Prague and the Guggenheim Museum building in Bilbao, Spain

Margaret H. Hamilton — scientist who helped create on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo command modules and lunar modules

Tom Hanks — award-winning actor and advocate for social and environmental justice

Grace Hopper (posthumous) — computer scientist who helped make coding languages more practical and accessible

Michael Jordan — six-time NBA champion and legendary sports figure

Maya Lin — artist and designer who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Lorne Michaels — producer and screenwriter best known for creating and producing "Saturday Night Live"

Newt Minow — attorney and FCC chairman who was a vigorous advocate for broadcasting that promoted the public interest

Eduardo Padrón — President of Miami Dade College and champion of education access and inclusion

Robert Redford — actor, director, producer, businessman and environmentalist

Diana Ross — Academy Award nominee, inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and recipient of the Grammy Awards' Lifetime Achievement Award

Vin Scully — legendary baseball broadcaster for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers who retired this year after 67 seasons

Bruce Springsteen — singer, songwriter and bandleader for more than five decades

Cicely Tyson — two-time Emmy Award-winner, Tony Award-winner and Kennedy Center Honoree

Image via White House