News

Double Top honours for Durham physics professors

(28 May 2004)

The Department of Physics at the University of Durham is celebrating the election of two colleagues as Fellows of the Royal Society - the country's top scientific distinction that recognises work of the highest international acclaim.

The title of FRS, a kind of 'knighthood' for the science community, goes to cosmologist Professor Carlos Frenk, Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology, and to Professor Alan Martin, a specialist in elementary particle physics.

Their research represents the whole spectrum of research in physics, from the smallest parts of an atom to the entire cosmos.

Vice-Chancellor Sir Kenneth Calman said: "This is superb recognition for research work of outstanding quality and importance. I congratulate Professor Frenk and Professor Martin on this award, which is a matter of great pride for the University and for the North East as a whole."

Professor Frenk and his team are engaged in studies of the origins and development of the universe, and carry out huge calculations to create supercomputer simulations that can be compared against the observable universe to test theories about the formation and evolution of the universe itself and of the galaxies its contains. He is also part of a major international team that, by measuring the large-scale distribution of galaxies, has helped identify 'dark energy' as the most widespread component of the universe, determining the way in which it expands.

Professor Martin is a senior member of the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology and former Head of the Physics Department. His research involves unravelling the fundamental building blocks of all matter and the forces that operate on them. In a distinguished research career of over forty years he has made many outstanding contributions, particularly concerning the properties of the strong interaction, the force responsible for the binding in the atomic nucleus.

The news comes a week after the Physics department celebrated a fourth year as the Top Department in the UK for Physics & Astronomy in The Times University Guide subject tables. Physics is one of Durham’s largest science departments, with international-class research, with nearly 50 academic staff, more than 70 postgraduate students and 500 undergraduates. It already has two other staff who are an FRS - Professor James Stirling and the former Astronomer Royal, Professor Sir Arnold Wolfendale.

Contact:
Professor Carlos Frenk 0191 334 3641
Professor Alan Martin 0191 334 3672
Or Keith Seacroft, PR Office 0191 334 6074