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Forty-four
new Fellows of the Royal Society join ranks of science greats
(alestous Juma, 1993 Laureate)
Forty-four scientists have been recognised for their exceptional
contributions to science, engineering and medicine with their election
to the Fellowship of the Royal Society the UK national academy of
science it was announced today (Friday 19 May 2006).
Following in the footsteps of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Stephen
Hawking, David Attenborough and Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the
world wide web, the new Fellows have been elected from the UK and
Commonwealth countries for their scientific excellence. They come
from a wide range of fields including neuroscience, tropical medicine,
astrophysics and quantum optics.
Lord Rees, President of the Royal Society, said: "These scientists
join an outstanding group of over 1400 Fellows and Foreign Members
of the Royal Society, including more than 60 Nobel Laureates. Their
election to the Fellowship, by their own peers, is recognition of
their impressive achievements in, and contributions to, science."
This year the new Fellows of the Royal Society include Professor
Valerie Beral of the University of Oxford, elected for her epidemiological
research which has led to the discoveries of some causes of cancers
and clarified the role of hormonal factors in breast cancer. Her
work has also suggested that cervical cancer and Kaposi's sarcoma
were infectious diseases before the relevant viruses were identified.
John Browne, Group Chief Executive of BP, has been elected for his
application of science to transform BP, a major UK company. Lord
Browne was responsible for exploiting advances in seismic reflection
to greatly increase BP's reserves of oil and gas. He is also being
recognised for his leadership of the climate change debate within
the oil and gas industry, as the first leader of a large oil company
to accept the scientific arguments that burning fossil fuels may
be affecting the Earth's climate.
Professor Calestous Juma of Harvard University has been elected
for his work on the application of science and technology in developing
and developed countries. Professor Juma, who was born in Kenya,
was coordinator of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Science,
Technology and Innovation and is co-chair of the Expert Panel on
Modern Biotechnology of the African Union and the New Partnership
for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
Professor Joseph Peiris of the University of Hong Kong has been
elected for his work on human viral infections that cause respiratory
disease including SARS.
Professor Atta-ur-Rahman, Chairman of the Higher Education Commission
in Pakistan and formerly Federal Minister for Science and Technology,
has been elected for his internationally renowned work in the field
of natural product chemistry the study of chemical substances produced
by living organisms. He has also brought about revolutionary changes
in Pakistan's science and technology and higher education sectors,
and contributed to the promotion of science in a large number of
countries in Africa, the Middle East and Central and South Asia.
Four women have been elected this year bringing the number of women
in the Fellowship to 61. Of the 216 Fellows elected in the past
five years, 10.6 per cent (23) are women. This compares with UK
universities where 8.5 per cent of professors in science, engineering
and technology subjects are women.
The new women Fellows are: Professor Valerie Beral, Professor of
Epidemiology at the University of Oxford; Professor Ruth Lynden-Bell
Emeritus Professor in Condensed Matter Simulation at Queen's University
Belfast and Emerita Fellow, New Hall Cambridge; Professor Trudy
Mackay, Professor of Genetics at North Carolina State University;
and Professor Helen Saibil, Professor of Structural Biology at Birkbeck
College London.
Six Foreign Members have been elected this year, including two Nobel
Laureates. Professor Kenneth Arrow of Stanford University has been
elected for his ground-breaking contributions to a large number
of fields of economics including the theory of democracy, foundations
and applications of risk analysis, the economics of health and environmental
economics. He was awarded one of the earliest Nobel Memorial Prizes
in Economic Science.
Professor Paul Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute, Germany, and
the University of California, has also been elected a Foreign Member.
Professor Crutzen is the most innovative figure in atmospheric chemistry
for the last three decades and received the Nobel prize for Chemistry
in 1995 for his work in identifying the processes which control
the formation and removal of atmospheric ozone.
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