In Swedish
Honorary doctorates 2012
Professor Bryan Webber of the University of Cambridge and Dr Robert K. Thomas of the University of Oxford have been awarded the faculty’s 2012 honorary doctorates.
Bryan Webber is Professor of Theoretical Physics and works in the field of particle collisions, a field currently being studied with equipment such as the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN research facility. Professor Webber is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts in the theory of his discipline. One of his many assignments has been to write computer software for the simulation of particle collisions. In that role, he and his colleagues have worked in direct competition with a particle physics research group in Lund, in which Professors Torbjörn Sjöstrand and Leif Lönnblad work. Nevertheless, the two researchers have chosen to recommend Bryan Webber for an honorary doctorate. Leif Lönnblad explains that Webber’s successful research over more than two decades has spurred the group in Lund to a friendly competitiveness which has resulted in many new findings and insights in the field.
“Even if we are fierce rivals, Professor Webber is also a good friend of our research group”, says Professor Lönnblad at the Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics.
For more information, please contact:
Professor Leif Lönnblad
Tel. +46 46 222 7780
Robert K. Thomas, Fellow of the Royal Society, is a chemist and his research focus is on studying what happens at molecular level at surfaces relevant to many everyday activities, for example cleaning, shampooing and lubrication. His research has led to new, more efficient and environmentally friendly cleaning processes. Through his studies of models of cell surfaces, he has also contributed to greater understanding of biological systems. Robert K. Thomas has strong links to Lund University through extensive collaboration with various Lund researchers on a large number of projects.
“Professor Thomas is one of the pioneers of neutron scattering as a method of studying surface phenomena and was the one to introduce this method to researchers at the Department of Chemistry in Lund”, says Professor Tommy Nylander at the Department of Chemistry.
The collaboration with Robert K. Thomas has been important in the development of expertise at Lund University in neutron scattering as a method of studying surface phenomena. This in turn was an important contributing factor to the decision to locate ESS in Lund, according to Tommy Nylander. Robert K. Thomas has also been involved in the business sector in Lund as an adviser to pharmaceutical company Camurus.
For more information, please contact:
Professor Tommy Nylander
Tel. +46 46 222 8158
Page Manager: Helena Bergqvist
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Publisher:
Faculty of Science
Uppdaterad: 2012-04-03
Click on image to download the seminar programme.
Bryan Webber
Robert K Thomas
Photographer: Serge Claisse