An annual cycle of intrigue and speculation, followed by the denouement – at which point the whole knotty process come to a head. Not the sagas of the political party conference season, but the perennially shocking announcement of the . The same questions often follow. Who is that? From where? For what? Last year’s decision, , generated more headlines than ever – and a different question. What is “literature”, asked many commentators, if a songwriter wins?

It drew further attention to the . Its 16 members draw up a shortlist from the longlist nominated by previous Nobel laureates, experts in the field and national writers’ associations. The somewhat random process is further complicated by the criterion that the winner should be “”. How do these 16 academicians respond to work in so many genres, in so many languages, in any meaningful way? And what is their ideal direction?

This year’s choice, Kazuo Ishiguro, like and Dylan, has written for music, but is best known for his two novels which have been turned into movies: (1989), which won the Booker Prize, and (2005).

Return to type

Following Dylan’s success, and the success of the oral historian , this year’s announcement means that the prize has returned to a more conventional writer, a novelist who is easily read alongside predecessors such as VS Naipaul, Doris Lessing, Herta Muller and Orhan Pamuk.

Like Naipaul and Lessing, Ishiguro is a naturalised British citizen: born in Nagasaki, Japan, his family moved to the UK when he was a child. He studied at Kent and then took an MA in Creative Writing at UEA, where his London-based tutor Angela Carter, herself shortly returned from time spent living in Japan, was a powerful example of the independent literary life.

When Ishiguro first began to publish in the 1980s he was identified with the “” of Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Graham Swift and Julian Barnes. The books treated the fixed manners and social norms of British and Japanese society with coolly understated prose, generating pathos and tragedy from the ways in which their subjects’ good manners and expectations were overwhelmed by events.

Experiments in genre

The success of The Remains of the Day seems to have given Ishiguro pause and his fourth novel, , published in 1995, was more abstract, featuring an unnamed protagonist, a pianist, whose dreamy, self-questioning wanderings invited comparisons with Kafka and also put clear water between Ishiguro and his more social realist contemporaries. Like Lessing before him – and like Jeanette Winterson and other fabulists of his own generation – Ishiguru’s work has increasingly veered from the recognisable worlds of his childhood to more fantastical realms.

Critically acclaimed: Never Let Me Go. Faber & Faber

Never Let Me Go typically confused reviewers who sought to identify its genre: its story of clones raised for organ donation was read as horror, science fiction and parable (it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Arthur C. Clarke Award), although its tender illustration of adolescent uncertainty and powerlessness was what made it both a critical and popular favourite.

Continuing his experiments in genre, his most recent novel, (2015), is a fantastical account of Arthurian Britain, whose travelling protagonists must negotiate tribal politics and feudal hierarchies. It makes for an uncomfortable perspective on the Brexit referendum – and the rise of anti-immigrant rhetoric in the UK – which also drew Ishiguro into an unusually political intervention, calling for a second referendum in an .

The essay is, as readers might expect, carefully attuned to the ways in which societies can be suddenly transformed, when yesterday’s norms no longer apply and sections of a population suddenly find themselves stranded under a new dispensation. Given that the Nobel academicians as much as for its stylistic innovation and integrity, what Ishiguro wrote in that essay may well be the “ideal direction” they use as a compass when they look for what is best in contemporary literature.

The Britain I know – and deeply love – is a decent, fair-minded place, readily compassionate to outsiders in need, resistant to hate-stoking agitators from whatever political extreme – just as it was in the first half of the 20th century when fascism rampaged across Europe. If that view has now become outdated, if it has become naive, if today’s Britain is one I should no longer recognise as the one I grew up in, then let me at least hear the bad news loud and clear. Let us find out what we’re dealing with. Let us find out who we are.

Ishiguro is an interesting and – in his experiments with genre – original novelist. He is also a relatively young recipient of the Nobel Prize. Winning the Booker propelled his writing in a new direction, so this award may likewise encourage what is most ambitious about his work. This time next year, when the bookies start quoting odds on his contemporaries, he may well have the look of a classic choice.

, Professor of Creative Writing and Modern Literature,

This article was originally published on . Read the .

Researchers at the University had asked the question – could self-rotation occur in , when different crystals are stacked together such as on boron nitride? It was found that perfect stacking between graphene and boron nitride did indeed exist. Furthermore, if the layers in the heterostructure were disturbed – the crystals would self-rotate back to the ideal configuration, this effect had been seen at a nanoscale but had yet to be observed on larger scales until now, as published in .

This scientific discovery is important for better understanding the fundamentals of how interact with each other and how these interactions can be provide another degree of control to fine tune the materials with tailored properties.

Graphene was the world’s first two-dimensional material, isolated in 2004 at , since then a whole family of other 2D materials have been discovered.

Using graphene and other new materials, scientists can layer these materials in a precisely chosen sequence known as heterostructures, to produce high-performance structures for novel applications. For example layering graphene with hexagonal boron nitride or transition metal dichalcogenides can result in new types of transistors, solar cells or light emitting diodes.

The interaction between the individual layers is governed by the van der Waals forces. It is those forces, which ensures specific stacking between the layers in layered crystals. When perfect stacking is lost, for example due to a rotational fault, the layers are restored to perfect stacking- known as self-rotation.

Sir Kostya Novoselov who led the team of researchers said “This work will pave the way for a new direction in physics and technology in van der Waals heterostructures. 2D crystals assembled together can exhibit dynamic properties which will be able to produce precision nanomechanics.”

Colin Woods added: “The self-alignment mechanism will allow more controllable fabrication of ever complex van der Waals heterostructures”

The relationship between the two materials has also exhibited interesting phenomena such as a moiré pattern- which due to the mismatch and rotation between the layers produces a geometric pattern similar to a kaleidoscope, and elusive butterfly, a structure of energy levels in the shape of a butterfly due to the complex behaviour of electrons in a magnetic field.

Although at this time, the interaction has only been observed between these two materials, this now opens up discussion on the relationship between other 2D materials and how the interactions between these materials can be used to maximise the potential of heterostructures.

Ұ������ scientistd Ernest Rutherford – famed for “splitting the atom” – also deserves better recognition for helping to pioneer a system we now know as sonar as part of a top secret World War One defence project.

Rutherford, who worked at The University of Ұ������, produced a ‘secret report’ during The Great War which was to form the basis of research to develop an acoustic system to detect German U-boats, then terrorising British merchant shipping and Royal Navy battleships.

Rutherford’s great genius was put to the test as he continued his ground-breaking work on nuclear science –successfully “splitting the atom" in 1917 – while also covertly leading a band of researchers to develop an effective method to detect submarines and safeguard Britain’s vital sea routes.

In 1915, the Nobel prize-winner published an historic paper entitled, ‘On methods of collection of sound from water and the determination of the direction of sound’.  In this document Rutherford “discussed the possibility of a system of secret signalling by the use of sound waves of frequency beyond the limit of audition”.

“This is the first mention of the system that would one day become modern sonar,” explained Dr Christine Twigg from The University of Ұ������, who has researched this less well-known part of Rutherford’s brilliant career.

“This momentous report was the foundation of subsequent anti-submarine warfare and would safeguard thousands of Allied lives in both world wars.”

Rutherford’s team conducted clandestine experiments using water tanks at landlocked labs at The University of Ұ������ to test hydrophone systems before full-scale testing was conducted using two donated fishing trawlers at a research outpost based at Hawkcraig, on the south coast of Fife, Scotland.    

Rutherford attracted the talents of former students and associates, including Albert Beaumont Wood, Harold Gerrard, Robert Boyle and William Henry Bragg. Critically, these exceptional pioneers would share their ideas with their French counterparts, such as Paul Langevin, to produce a working prototype of what the British originally called ‘ASDIC’ and later dubbed sonar.

Early versions of the technology were being installed on Royal Navy war ships just as the war came to an end but would be used to great effect in the following global conflict.

As sonar research progressed, Rutherford led an official British scientific mission to the USA in the spring of 1917 which coincided with America’s entry into the war – partly related to the outcry following  a German U-boat torpedoing the liner RMS Lusitania, with the loss of 128 American lives.

As a direct result of this trip a new naval research centre was set up in New London, America’s primary East Coast submarine base, and Rutherford continued to share his expertise with the Americans on naval research into peacetime.

This crucial work was kept from the public – and early biographers – for many years, as it was strictly embargoed by the Official Secrets Act.  

However, Dr Twigg believes Rutherford and his team deserves full recognition for the significant contribution they made to science and the Allied war effort, a role that has been long overlooked. 

“Rutherford’s role in the development of this field is relatively unknown and was rarely mentioned by his associates as it was one of the greatest official secrets at the time of his death in 1937,” added Dr Twigg.

“Nevertheless, it is believed to be an example of his great genius in an area of intellectual adventure which few had previously entered.”

Ends

Notes for editors

• More information about the

Media enquiries to:

Aeron Haworth
Senior Media Relations Officer
The University of Ұ������

Tel: 0161 275 8387
Mob: 07717 881563
Email: 

The groundbreaking Science paper that laid out foundations of graphene research is one of the most cited publications of all time.

Despite only being brought out in 2004, the seminal work '' has been cited more than 15,000 times and is at number 65 in the top 100 list, produced by the journal Nature to mark the 50th anniversary of the citation system. Only two other papers in the list, which review popular research software, were written later.

Citations, in which one paper refers to earlier works, are the standard means by which authors acknowledge the source of their methods, ideas and findings, and are often used as a rough measure of a paper’s importance.

The Nature article gives a comparison with Mount Everest where these 100 papers represent a 1 cm thick tip at the top of the amount of papers published over the years.

Ұ������ researchers isolated graphene at in 2004, and two of them, Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov, later received the Nobel Prize for Physics for demonstrating graphene’s extraordinary properties set out in the paper.

Another graphene paper, entitled ‘’ and published in Nature Materials in 2007, has more than 11,000 citations and should enter the top 100 before long.

In addition, Ұ������ researchers have between more than 15 graphene and related 2D materials papers cited more than 1,000 times – a unique feat for one subject area. There have been only 15,000 research papers in this category, roughly a metre at the paper mountain’s top, according to Nature.

The statistics provide another demonstration of the fascination with graphene, which is the strongest, thinnest and most conductive material known to man.

Sir Andre said: “I remember having a bet with one of my colleagues that this manuscript not yet published at the time would gain more than 500 citations. He doubted saying that 500 was a very big number. How wrong we were.

“It should be said that citation numbers is the worst system to judge research quality, except for all the others that I am aware of, if I may paraphrase Winston Churchill. Citations should never be considered as a sole indicator of research quality, especially by funding agencies.”    

The most cited work is a 1951 paper describing determining the amount of protein in a solution. It has now gathered more than 305,000 citations — a recognition that always puzzled its lead author, the late US biochemist Oliver Lowry. “Although I really know it is not a great paper … I secretly get a kick out of the response,” he wrote in 1977.

The full list can be accessed from

Notes for editors

Images and more information on graphene can be found at

For more information please contact:

Daniel Cochlin
Graphene Communications and Marketing Manager
The University of Ұ������
0161 275 8382
07917 506158


Twitter: @UoMGraphene
 

and have been awarded the Freedom of the City of Ұ������.

The freedom of the city is the highest honour Ұ������ can bestow. The honour recognises the pioneering work undertaken by Sir Andre and Sir Kostya, who won in 2010 for their work on .

In their resolution, the Council also recognised the importance of the University to the growth and regeneration of the city.

At a ceremony at Ұ������ Town Hall last night, Sir Andre and Sir Kostya were honoured by The Lord Mayor of Ұ������ Councillor Naeem ul Hassan.

Since 1984, only four people or groups have been given the Freedom of the city – record label owner Tony Wilson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Charlton and the GB Cycling Team.

Sir Andre said: “It is a great honour to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Ұ������. Ұ������ has been my home now for almost 14 years and is very close to my heart."

Sir Kostya said: “I’m thrilled to have been awarded the Freedom of the City. Ұ������ was home for the largest proportion of my most exciting experiments, and the local support we get is tremendous.”

Cllr Hassan added: “It was a privilege to be able to present the freedom of the city to Sir Andre and Sir Kostya.

“The significance of their work on graphene is truly breath-taking and we are yet to truly grasp the magnitude of its real-life applications.”

“Ұ������ is a city born of innovation so it is only right we recognise the achievements of Sir Andre and Sir Kostya – who have joined the pantheon of scientific giants connected to our forward-looking city.”
 

Notes for editors

Pictures are available on request from the Press Office.

More information about graphene can be found at

For media enquiries please contact:

Daniel Cochlin
Graphene Communications and Marketing Manager
The University of Ұ������
0161 275 8382
07917 506158
www.graphene.manchester.ac.uk
www.manchester.ac.uk
Twitter: @UoMGraphene
 
 

The new staff will cover a wide range of disciplines across all four of the University’s Faculties, covering teaching and research.

The President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Ұ������, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, said: “The University remains in a strong and stable position, so we are now able to recruit a further 100 academic stars, following on from a similar exercise just over two years ago.

“As one of the UK’s largest universities we are committed to pioneering research, which enriches the learning environment for our students and helps to improve the quality of the student experience, which remains one of our top priorities.”

The University of Ұ������ has made a number of significant investments for its students recently, including the £24m Alan Gilbert Learning Commons, which opened in the summer of 2012.

The University of Ұ������ already has many world-leading scholars, including three Nobel Prize winners, on its staff, and these new posts will help the University to build upon its proud record of achievement and ambitious vision for the future. The exceptional academics who come forward through this process will cover science, humanities, engineering, life sciences and medicine.

With £1 billion being invested in the campus over the next decade, the new staff will also enjoy some of the best teaching and research facilities in the world.

Professor Rothwell said: “We are looking to attract the highest quality researchers and teachers from right across the world.  The time is right for Ұ������ to invest in improving the student experience and enhancing our research profile. Great thinking got us where we are today, and this new talent will help us to enter the top 25 universities in the world by 2020.”

A global advertising campaign has been launched today to recruit up to 100 senior academic staff and a new website has also gone live at as part of the new World Leading Minds Staff Recruitment campaign.

Notes for editors

Contact Jon Keighren,
Media Relations Manager,
The University of Ұ������
0161 275 8384
or
Mike Addelman
Press Officer
The University of Ұ������
0161 275 0790

The Danish physicist and philosopher conducted postdoctoral work at the Victoria University of Ұ������ following an invite from Ernest Rutherford.

The New Zealander had discovered the atomic nucleus in 1911 and further investigations by Bohr led to his quantum model of the atom where electrons travel around the nucleus in certain orbits. When these electrons moved from a higher energy orbit to a lower one, they would emit a quantum of discrete energy. His theory won Bohr the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.

“The discoveries of the atomic nucleus, and subsequently the quantum atom and the concepts of isotopes and atomic number, between 1911 and 1913, were perhaps the most important of advances in physical science of the 20^th century and lay the foundations for modern physics and chemistry, including the periodic table as we know it today,” said Dr Neil Todd, from The University of Ұ������ and one of the speakers at the event.

“Across the world events have been taking place to celebrate the centenary of this historical landmark. This period also stands out as one of the greatest in the history of science at the University of Ұ������. It is fitting, therefore, that this celebratory event will be held close to site of the old Physical Laboratories now referred to as the Rutherford Building. The meeting will also celebrate the work of HGJ Moseley for his work in establishing the concept of atomic number.”

Dr Todd's lecture is entitled: “Bohr and Moseley in Ұ������ from a Ұ������ perspective”.

Also speaking at the event are:

Dr Finn Aaserud, Niels Bohr Archive, Copenhagen: “At home while away: The private background of Bohr’s scientific creativity, 1910-1913”. 

Professor Emeritus John Heilbron, University of California, Berkeley: “Bohr and Moseley: A Fleeting Collaboration”. 

Dr Aaserud and Professor Heilbron will also be promoting their new book, “Love, Literature and the Quantum Atom,” published by Oxford University Press.

Ends

Notes for editors

For further information about the book contact: jennifer.winders@oup.com

For media enquiries contact:

Aeron Haworth
Media Relations
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
The University of Ұ������

Tel: 0161 275 8387
Mob: 07717 881563
Email: aeron.haworth@manchester.ac.uk

United legend Sir Bobby Charlton and Professor Peter Higgs, who has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, will be honoured by the University at a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.

Honorary degrees will also be conferred upon Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the TUC, and Nobel Prize-winning chemist Professor Mario Molina, who will also deliver this year’s Foundation Lecture at The University of Ұ������.


The Honorary Graduands

Prof Peter Higgs, the scientist who gave his name to the Higgs-boson particle, was awarded the Nobel Prize last week. The 84-year-old was part of a group of scientists in the 1960s that dedicated their work to theorising the Higgs-boson particle.

Last year in Switzerland, the Large Hadron Collider discovered the theoretical particle some 49 years later, helping to explain how the building blocks of the universe have mass. Prof Higgs shared the Prize with Belgian scientist Francois Englert.

Prof Higgs posited in 1964 that subatomic particles gained mass by way of a particle that has since been called the Higgs-boson. Prof Higgs grew up in Birmingham and Bristol, then went to King's College in London in 1947.

He went on to earn his doctorate and then became a researcher at the University of Edinburgh. Between 1960 and 1980, Higgs was a mathematics professor there, and from 1980 he was a professor of theoretical physics. His theory of the missing boson drove physics research for decades. In July of last year at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, results were presented which confirmed Peter Higgs’ idea and heralded the start of the next chapter to study in detail the properties of this new particle.


Sir Bobby Charlton is probably best known for his outstanding record as a footballer for Ұ������ United and England. Being immortalised in bronze outside Old Trafford evidences the legendary status achieved by Sir Bobby during his epic career.

He burst onto the scene as a flag-bearer for the ‘Busby Babes’ and went on to form part of United’s fabled ‘Holy Trinity’ alongside George Best and Denis Law.

His achievements since his football career ended have been immense, often for benefit of the City of Ұ������, as well as further afield. Sir Bobby is a member of the Laureus Academy which uses the power of sport to help tackle pressing social challenges through the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation projects.

In 2011, he founded the ‘Find a Better Way’ charity to develop new technology to accelerate the detection and removal of landmines globally, working with The University of Ұ������ and other partners in the North West.


Professor Mario Molina is a Professor at the University of California, San Diego. In the 1970’s he drew attention to the threat to the ozone layer from industrial chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases that were being used as propellants in spray cans, refrigerants and solvents.

More recently, he has been involved with the chemistry of air pollution of the lower atmosphere, and with the science and policy of climate change.

Prof Molina was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, and of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican.

He has received many honorary degrees, as well as numerous awards for his scientific work, including the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.


Frances O’Grady, an alumnus of The University of Ұ������, is General Secretary of the TUC. Joining the TUC as Campaigns Officer in 1994, she launched the TUC’s Organising Academy in 1997.

Frances headed the TUC’s organisation department in 1999, reorganising local skills projects into unionlearn which now helps a quarter of a million workers into learning every year.

As Deputy General Secretary from 2003, Frances has led on industrial policy, the NHS and the Olympics. She has served as a member of both the Low Pay Commission and the High Pay Centre, and the Resolution Foundation’s Commission on Living Standards.

Frances was born in Oxford, has two adult children and lives in North London.


Foundation Lecture

Prof Molina will give this year’s Foundation Lecture at The University of Ұ������ on Wednesday afternoon. The event is held annually to mark the formal creation of The University of Ұ������ in 2004, universally hailed as one of the boldest and most ambitious initiatives in UK higher education.

Following the opening address by the University’s President and Vice Chancellor, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, the Lord Lieutenant of Greater Ұ������, Warren Smith, will confer the Regius Professorship on the School of Physics and Astronomy.

The School was awarded the rare professorship by the Queen in January in recognition of its exceptionally high quality of teaching and research in the discipline. The inaugural Regius Professor of Physics at Ұ������ will be Professor Andre Geim.

Following the lecture, the honorary degrees will be conferred by the Chancellor of The University of Ұ������, Tom Bloxham, in the Whitworth Hall.

Notes for editors

Contact Jon Keighren, Media Relations Manager, The University of Ұ������ 0161 275 8384

Sir Andre is the recipient of the Copley Medal, believed to be the world’s oldest scientific prize. He receives the medal for numerous scientific contributions and, in particular, his work on graphene and other 2D materials.

The Copley medal was first awarded by the in 1731, 170 years before the first Nobel Prize.

It is awarded for outstanding achievements in scientific research and has been awarded to such eminent scientists as Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Albert Einstein and James Watson.

Professor Novoselov receives the Royal Society’s Leverhulme Medal, for revolutionary work on graphene, other two‐dimensional crystals and their heterostructures that has great potential for a number of applications, from electronics to energy. Both professors are Fellows of the Royal Society.

Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel prize in 2010 for groundbreaking experiments with graphene – the two-dimensional, one-atom thick material they first isolated in 2004.

Graphene is the world’s thinnest, strongest and most conductive material. It has the potential to revolutionise a huge number of diverse applications; from smartphones and ultrafast broadband to drug delivery and computer chips.

Sir Andre said: “I am absolutely delighted to receive this old and prestigious award. Not only I am humbled, I also feel younger.

“I especially appreciate that the medal recognizes my post-Nobel work on atomically-thin materials and their smart assemblies, the new research field richer and even more exciting than graphene itself.” 

Sir Kostya added: “It has always been part of the excitement of the work on graphene – most fundamental experiments in the physics of this material often lead to the creation of new devices and applications. The developments of the recent few years show that such transition goes even smoother and faster than one could have envisaged.”

As well as the Copley and Leverhulme Medals, the Royal Society has announced all of the recipients of its awards, medals and prize lecture. The scientists receive the awards in recognition of their achievements in a wide variety of fields of research.

Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said: “I’m delighted that the Copley Medal has been awarded to Andre Geim this year. His work on graphene could truly revolutionise many technologies.

“Chancellor George Osborne highlighted graphene as one of the many exciting areas of science the UK should exploit during his speech on science as a UK economic driver given at the Royal Society. He has since backed that up with funding and I’m in no doubt that we’ll see exciting developments from Geim, his collaborator Novoselov and graphene in the next few years.”

Notes for editors

Images of Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov are available on request.

High-resolution images of graphene can be downloaded from

The full list of Royal Society Awards Medals and Prize Lecture announced today is as follows:

PREMIER AWARDS

Copley Medal. Professor Sir Andre Geim FRS for his numerous scientific contributions and, in particular, for initiating research on two‐dimensional atomic crystals and their artificial heterostructures.   

Royal Medals. Professor Rodney Baxter FRS for his remarkable exact solutions of fundamental models in statistical mechanics.   

Sir Walter Bodmer FRS for seminal contributions to population genetics, gene mapping and understanding of familial genetic disease.

Professor Peter Wells FRS for pioneering the application of the physical and engineering sciences to the development of ultrasonics as a diagnostic and surgical tool which has revolutionised clinical practice.

MEDALS

Davy Medal. Professor Graham Hutchings FRS for the discovery of catalysis by gold and for his seminal contributions to this new field of chemistry.

Gabor Medal. Professor Christofer Toumazou FREng FRS for his success in applying semiconductor technology to biomedical and life-science applications, most recently to DNA analysis.

Hughes Medal. Professor Henning Sirringhaus FRS for his pioneering development of inkjet printing processes for organic semiconductor devices, and dramatic improvement of their functioning and efficiency.

Leverhulme Medal. Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov FRS for revolutionary work on graphene, other two‐dimensional crystals and their heterostructures that has great potential for a number of applications, from electronics to energy.

Buchanan Medal. Professor Douglas Higgs FRS for his seminal work on the regulation of the human alpha-globin gene cluster and the role of the ATRX protein in genetic disease.

AWARDS

Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture. Professor Frank Close OBE for his excellent work in science communication.

GlaxoSmithKline Prize. Dr Nicholas Lydon FRS for the development of the drug imatinib, a targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has transformed the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) and is a paradigm for cancer drug discovery.

Rosalind Franklin Award. Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore for her scientific achievements and her proposal to promote women in STEM.

Kohn Award. Professor Peter Vukusic for his excellence in engaging with society in matters of science and its societal dimension.

Milner Award. Dr Serge Abiteboul in recognition of his world leading database research with significant scientific and industrial impact.

Royal Society Pfizer Award. Dr Abdoulaye Diabate for his important work on the identification of mosquito swarming cues, which opens up new possibilities for malaria vector control.

PRIZE LECTURES

Bakerian Lecture. Professor Lynn Gladden CBE FREng FRS for her work in the development of magnetic resonance techniques to study multi-component adsorption, diffusion, flow and reaction processes.

Croonian Lecture. Professor Brigid Hogan FRS for pioneering contributions that have transformed understanding of cell specification, organogenesis and morphogenesis in mammalian development.               

Clifford Paterson Lecture. Professor Polina Bayvel FREng for her fundamental research in high bandwidth digital communications and nonlinear optics.   

Francis Crick Lecture. Dr Duncan Odom for his pioneering work in the field of comparative functional genomics, which has changed our understanding of the evolution of mammalian transcriptional regulation.

For media enquiries please contact:

Daniel Cochlin
Graphene Communications and Marketing Manager
The University of Ұ������
0161 275 8382
07917 506158
www.graphene.manchester.ac.uk
www.manchester.ac.uk
Twitter: @UoMGraphene
 

A fascinating glimpse of Industrial Revolution life, including the remains of a club frequented by Friedrich Engels, has been revealed at the site of the National Graphene Institute.

Cellars from rows of 1830s terraced houses and the remnants of the Albert Club have been unearthed by archaeologists beginning work at the new £61m Institute at The University of Ұ������ – the home of graphene.

The buried remains provide a window into life in Ұ������ almost 200 years ago and show how graphene, Ұ������’s new revolution, will be built on the foundations set by the Industrial Revolution.

The club was founded for Ұ������’s community of middle class Germans involved in the cotton trade, and Engels became a member in 1842. It was while living in Ұ������ that experienced the horrific conditions people worked in, which inspired his book The Condition of the Working Class in England.

Fronted by formal gardens and previously owned by architect Jeptha Pacey as his private villa, the club was converted into a private social club named after Queen Victoria’s consort.

With the remodelling that the building has undergoing during the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, very little survives that can be identified firmly with the Albert Club. However, several fragments of ornate stone columns are likely to derive from the use of the building as a Turkish baths.

The cellars of five properties along the former Lawson Street have been discovered, together with the rear yards of larger houses that fronted onto Booth Street East. The fabric of the cellars retain interesting evidence for how they were used, and how they were adapted during the later nineteenth century to comply with legislation that was introduced during the 1880s and 1890s.

An intact sink has been removed from the site and Nobel Laureate Professor Kostya Novoselov intends to include it in the Institute when it opens in 2015.

The site covers where Lawson Street used to run – the old cobbled street has also been unearthed – and the former houses on Ebenezer Plat Terraces.

The stunning, glass-fronted (NGI) will be the UK’s home of research into the world’s thinnest, strongest and most conductive material, providing the opportunity for researchers and industry to work together on a huge variety of potential applications.

It is hoped the centre will initially create around 100 jobs, with the long-term expectation of many thousands more in the North West and more widely in the UK.

The 7,600 square metre building will house state-of-the-art facilities, including two ‘cleanrooms’ – one which will take up the whole of the lower ground floor – where scientists can carry out experiments and research without contamination.

Funding for the NGI will come from £38m of Government funds via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, as part of £50m allocated for graphene research, and the University has applied for £23m from the European Research and Development Fund (ERDF). The NGI will operate as a ‘hub and spoke’ model, working with other UK institutions involved in graphene research.

Professor Novoselov said: “it was an unexpected and pleasant surprise to find these fascinating remains at the site of the Institute.

“We have been very careful to record these remnants of the Industrial Revolution and we will look to keep some artefacts for use in the new building or elsewhere.

“It is genuinely exciting to start work on such a significant research institute on such an important site.”

University of Ұ������ Director of Estates Diana Hampson said: “We have been advised that the remains we have uncovered are not hugely significant in archaeological terms, but are fascinating nonetheless.”

An open day is taking place on Friday March 1st from 10am-3pm. The site is on Booth Street East, opposite the Aquatics Centre car park.

Notes for editors

Members of the press are invited to a photocall at the site from 11am-12pm on Thursday February 28th. Professor Novoselov and architects Oxford Archaeology North will be available for photos/filming and for brief interviews.

Please contact the Press Office to confirm your attendance.

Artist impressions of the National Graphene institute are available from the Press Office.

More information about graphene can be found at

For media enquiries please contact:

Daniel Cochlin
Graphene Communications and Marketing Officer
The University of Ұ������
0161 275 8382
Daniel.cochlin@manchester.ac.uk
@UoMGraphene

The University of Ұ������’s School of Physics and Astronomy has been awarded a prestigious Regius professorship by the Queen, the government has announced.

Regius professorships are a rare privilege – before today’s announcement only two had been created in the past 100 years. The chairs are awarded to institutions that have demonstrated an exceptionally high quality of teaching and research in a specific discipline area.

The School of Physics and Astronomy, which also operates the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, is one of the leading physics departments in the world with more than 1,000 students, leading research projects in physics, astrophysics and astronomy, and significant public engagement activities. The School boasts world-leading staff in all areas of modern physics and has produced nine of the 25 Nobel prize winners associated with The University of Ұ������, two of whom are among the current staff.

The inaugural Regius Professor of Physics at Ұ������ will be conferred on Professor Andre Geim. As well as being awarded the 2010 Nobel prize for his work on graphene, Professor Geim has produced many key results in other areas of physics that have caught the public’s imagination, including development of ‘gecko tape’ and ‘levitating-frog’ experiments which won him the 2000 Ig Nobel prize.

Professor Stephen Watts, Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy, said: “Physics at Ұ������ has a proud tradition, starting with Rutherford and the discovery of the atomic nucleus, to the recent discovery of graphene. The School is proud of its world-class research, its impact on society, and dedication to passing that knowledge to the next generation. We are delighted these accomplishments have been recognised by the award of a Regius professorship by the Queen.”

A total of 12 Regius professorships were awarded by the Queen to mark her Diamond Jubilee. In the past, Regius professorships were created only when a university chair was founded or endowed by a Royal patron; each appointment is approved by the Monarch on ministerial advice.

Professor Colin Bailey, Vice-President and Dean of the University’s Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, said: “It is a great honour to be bestowed a Regius professorship in recognition of the excellent education and research activities carried out by our staff in the School of Physics and Astronomy. I am particularly delighted that Andre has agreed to accept the inaugural Regius Professor of Physics. His passion for scientific research and education, together with its impact on society and the economy, is truly inspirational.”

Professor Nancy Rothwell, University President and Vice-Chancellor, added: “The University of Ұ������ has a proud and illustrious heritage in physics and astronomy teaching and research, so we are delighted that our past and present world-changing achievements have been recognised by such a prestigious honour bestowed by the Queen. Ұ������ remains at the heart of exciting new developments in science that have the potential to change the world.”

Commenting on the honour, Professor Geim said: “The Regius professorship reflects the tradition of exceptionally strong physics at The University of Ұ������. I am most honoured to play a role as the current figurehead for this century-long effort. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the University and School leadership for their efforts in gaining this hallmark.”

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, commented: “I was incredibly impressed by the quality and range of the applications received and am delighted that 12 new Regius professorships are to be created. Together, the successful applications demonstrated an exceptionally high level of achievement in both teaching and research.”

Notes for editors

The other 11 institutions awarded Regius professorships were: University of Dundee (Life Sciences), Imperial College, London (Engineering), London School of Economics and Political Science (Economics), The Open University (Open Education), Royal Holloway, University of London (Music), University of Essex (Political Science), King’s College London (Psychiatry), University of Reading (Meteorology and Climate Science), University of Southampton (Computer Science), University of Surrey (Electronic Engineering) and University of Warwick (Mathematics).

For further information contact:

Aeron Haworth
Media Relations
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
The University of Ұ������

Tel: 0161 275 8387
Mob: 07717 881563
Email: aeron.haworth@manchester.ac.uk

Scientists who worked on one of the world’s first supercomputers will gather this week to mark its 50th anniversary.

Developed at between 1956 and 1963, the Atlas computer was at the time the most powerful in the world.
 
The first production Atlas was inaugurated at the University on 7 December 1962 by Sir John Cockcroft, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who was Director of the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority.

Scientists and engineers who worked on the Atlas will attend the celebrations on Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th, which will include demonstrations of the 1948 Ұ������ Baby – the world’s first stored-program computer currently housed at the – an exhibition of Atlas artefacts, talks by pioneers and presentations on current Computer Science research.

Among the attendees will be a number of people who used the Atlas computer during their studies at The University of Ұ������ in the 1960s.

The aim of the Atlas was to build a computer that could operate at processing speeds approaching one microsecond per instruction, about one million instructions per second.

It was claimed that when the first Atlas arrived, it roughly doubled the UK’s computing scientific capability. A total of six Atlas 1 and Atlas 2 computers were delivered between 1962 and 1966.

Professor Simon Lavington, who started using Atlas as a research student in 1962, said: “The Atlas event will bring together, probably for the last time, a unique group of industrialists, academics and end-users who contributed to a world-class project which brought a huge increase of computing power to the UK’s scientific community in the 1960s”. 

Professor Steve Furber, ICL Professor of Computer Engineering at The University of Ұ������, said: “Atlas was in many ways the most remarkable of all of the machines designed at Ұ������.

“Fifty years later, the concept of single-level store – what we now call virtual memory – is vital to the operation of everything from smart phones to supercomputers, and we owe that idea to the Atlas designers.

“Ұ������ built the world's first stored program computer, the Baby, in 1948, but it's important to remember that that wasn't our only contribution. Atlas was spectacularly fast for its day and highly innovative, and we are still building exciting new machines here to this day.”

The following events are open to anyone with an interest in the history of technology:

Tuesday 4 December (11am–3.30pm)

Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI), Castlefield
•    Special demonstrations of the 1948 Ұ������ Baby (the world’s first stored-program computer);
•    Special demonstrations of Hartree’s Differential Analyser;
•    Display of Atlas archives.

Wednesday 5 December

School of Computer Science, Kilburn Building

10.30am–1.50am: Three presentations on current Computer Science research
Numbers are limited. If you wish to attend any of these sessions, please register at:

1.30–7pm: The main Atlas Anniversary event, consisting of an Exhibition, a Symposium of invited talks and discussion, demonstrations of an Atlas simulator and a drinks reception.

There will be no charge for attending the main event, but you are asked to register before 1 December at:

Notes for editors

Professor Furber, Professor Lavington and a number of other attendees are available for interview on request.

Images of the Atlas computer are available from the Press Office.

More details are available at

For media enquiries please contact:

Daniel Cochlin
Media Relations Officer
The University of Ұ������
0161 275 8387
Daniel.cochlin@manchester.ac.uk

Further quotes:

Speaking of the Atlas Operating System (which was called the Supervisor), Hugh Devonald who headed Ferranti’s Software Division, said in 1962: “The ‘Supervisor’ is the most ambitious attempt ever made to control automatically the flow of work through a computer. 

“Its ability to handle the varied workloads that a machine of this size tackles will influence the future design of all computers. 

“Atlas is in fact claimed to be the world’s most powerful computing system.  By such a claim it is meant that, if Atlas and any of its rivals were presented simultaneously with similar large sets of representative computing jobs, Atlas should complete its set ahead of all other computers.”

The Science Research Council installed an Atlas at its Chilton Computer Laboratory in 1964, for use by the UK’s scientific community. By 1966 the Laboratory’s Director, Jack Howlett, was able to write in his annual Report:  “In a typical week we run 2,500 jobs, input 800,000 cards and 30 miles of paper tape, print 1.8 million lines of output, punch 50,000 cards, handle 1,200 reels of magnetic tape.

“We have 250 projects on our books from university users and are usually doing work on 100 of these…. Our experience over the past year has shown that the Atlas central processor, with the Supervisor which is an integral part of the system, is an exceedingly powerful and flexible device which deals smoothly and efficiently with a heavy load of very varied work”. 

In 1975 Bernard Swann, the Ferranti Sales Director, wrote:  “One of the remarkable features of the Atlas project was the small number of staff compared with the large numbers employed by IBM.”

Robin Kerr, who was part of the Atlas software team and who has worked for many years in America, said: “The Atlas project produced the patents for Virtual Memory. I would claim that Virtual Memory is the most significant computer design development in the last 50 years. Certainly it is the most widely used”.

Recently, George Coulouris who wrote software for Atlas in the 1960s, said: “The Compiler Compiler was remarkable in many ways. I still find it a quite amazing achievement in terms of the innovations that it contained and the effectiveness of its design and implementation.

“It encompassed innovative contributions at so many levels, from the very concept of a compiler-compiler to the inclusion of a domain-specific language for applications in system programming and the combination of interpretation with code generation.

“Its implementation was completed at a time when we had virtually no debugging tools, with only paper tape for inputting programs, no file storage and certainly no capability for interactive debugging or user interaction. What a tour de force!”




 

iSEI’s move underlines the Faculty’s commitment to conducting high-quality research that has broad social and economic relevance and impact, and will help to further develop a new overarching field of academic study in ‘science ethics’, which is at the core of the Institute’s work.

Distinct from the more traditional subject of philosophy of science and the more specific disciplines of bioethics or research ethics, science ethics is important today owing to the truly interdisciplinary (and global) nature and impact of scientific research. 

Chaired by John Sulston (Nobel prize winner for Physiology/Medicine 2002), who is currently leading the Royal Society’s study on ‘people and the planet’, iSEI is directed by John Harris, a bioethicist and philosopher who regularly appears in the media to discuss current dilemmas associated with the advancement of science.

Other members of the group are deputy director Sarah Chan, who is already closely involved in developing and delivering teaching and training in science ethics within FLS, researchers Catherine Rhodes and Amel Alghrani, and research manager Catherine Spanswick. 

The work of iSEI is conducted within the context of current and future trends in life sciences, and involves ‘bench-scientists’ as much as those with backgrounds in ethics, law, philosophy and governance. An excellent example of this is iSEI’s recent public panel on ‘human bodies: animal bodies’, an event co-organised with the Academy of Medical Sciences and based on the Academy’s report on animals containing human materials. Other examples of projects that offer excellent collaboration opportunities include those in neuroscience, stem cell biology, reproduction, biosecurity and biofuels.

Another major theme of iSEI’s work entitled ‘Who owns science?’ is asking fundamental questions about the ownership, control and direction of science and the motivations for doing science and funding science. The Institute has a book series on ‘Science ethics & society’ with the open-access publisher Bloomsbury Academic, with titles including International Governance of Biotechnology and Scientific Freedom.

The planned alignment of iSEI alongside the Faculty’s Centre for History of Science, Technology and Medicine will also build the Faculty’s capacity under the broad theme of ‘medical humanities’. 

To find out more about the work of iSEI visit www.manchester.ac.uk/isei or contact catherine.spanswick@manchester.ac.uk 

Notes for editors

Media enquiries to:

Aeron Haworth
Media Relations
Faculty of Life Sciences
The University of Ұ������

Tel: 0161 275 8383
Mob: 07717 881563
Email: aeron.haworth@manchester.ac.uk

A day of celebrations will be held on Wednesday 26th January to honour the achievements of and , 2010 winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics.

The University of Ұ������ academics received the award for their pioneering work in 2004 on – the world’s thinnest material.

Having received their awards at an official ceremony in Sweden in December, the pair will now be honoured at a special event at which both will give speeches.

Held at University Place, the celebrations will be attended by the Astronomer Royal and immediate past President of the Royal Society, Lord Rees, the British Ambassador to Sweden, heads of major UK academic and funding bodies, local leaders and many members, friends and guests of the University.

Also attending will be many of the Professors’ colleagues and students eager to celebrate their success.

The celebrations will begin at 5.15pm with a reception, followed by a welcome and opening address from Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Ұ������.

Professor Novoselov, universally known as “Kostya”, will then give a lecture entitled ‘Graphene: Materials in the Flatland’, which will be followed by questions to the two Laureates.

Lord Rees will then deliver an address, with a reply from Professor Geim, before Dame Nancy closes the proceedings.

A capacity audience of around 600 people will be attending the occasion, and the speeches will be broadcast live on the University website www.manchester.ac.uk.

Dame Nancy said: “This day of celebration will be a fitting tribute to the fantastic achievements of both Andre and Kostya, who have been awarded the highest accolade in the scientific world. 

“Their work is a wonderful example of a fundamental discovery based on scientific curiosity with major practical, social and economic benefits for society.

“I am thrilled to be able to welcome so many people to the University to help celebrate the award of the for Physics, which is an honour not just for the University but for the city of Ұ������ as well.”

Professor Geim said: “I am immensely fortunate to have received incredible support from the University which has given us the time and opportunity to experiment and innovate.

“I am lucky enough to work for an employer which puts great emphasis on nurturing and supporting young talent and this has greatly contributed to our success.”

Professor Novoselov added: “Since the Nobel prize was awarded, we have been to many ceremonies and events.

“Here we have the chance to celebrate with our friends, families and colleagues and we are honoured to be rewarded in this way.

“It would not have been possible to have won the Nobel prize without the support and help of both the University and our colleagues and students, so this is our chance to say thank you to them.”

The Nobel Prize was awarded to Professors Geim and Novoselov for “groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene".

Graphene is a carbon lattice just one atom thick.  It is described as the thinnest possible material you can imagine, with incredible strength and truly unusual electronic properties.

Professors Geim and Novoselov have published numerous research papers in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature, which have demonstrated the exquisite properties of graphenel and its potential in novel applications such as ultrafast transistors just one atom thick and sensors that can detect just a single molecule of a toxic gas.

This work was made possible by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, which made a very major award for the work, the Royal Society, the Leverhulme Trust and many other significant funders.

Notes for editors

Images of Professor Geim and Professor Novoselov are available on request.

The ceremony will be broadcast live on The University of Ұ������ website www.manchester.ac.uk from 5.45pm on Wednesday 26th January.

For media enquiries please contact:

Daniel Cochlin
Media Relations Officer
The University of Ұ������
0161 275 8387
daniel.cochlin@manchester.ac.uk
 

Taking place at the Midland Hotel in Ұ������, he will discuss ways in which countries can mitigate the effects of climate change.

Entitled ‘Climate Change: The Missing Institutions’, the lecture will mark the start of an SCI workshop – ‘Climate Change and Common Sense’ attended by  leading economists.

Discussing measurable actions and economic principles for climate change, the workshop will be held over a two day period, starting today and running until 22 October.

Professor Schelling, who yesterday received an honorary degree from The University of Ұ������, will also be co-writing a book to coincide with the workshop.

Based on the paper he delivers at the lecture plus the papers delivered and discussed at the workshop, the book will be produced by Oxford University Press with contributions from each of the workshop’s 23 participants.

Professor Schelling received the Nobel prize for Economics in 2005.

He has made important contributions to areas including game theory, nuclear arms policy, conflict resolution, alcohol and drug addiction, segregation and global warming.

Notes for editors

Tom Schelling’s lecture takes place  on 21 October at 5 pm in the Stanley Suite, Midland Hotel, Ұ������.

For more details contact:

Lynda McIntosh
Communications and Marketing Officer
Sustainable Consumption Institute
0161 275 0187
Lynda.S.Mcintosh@manchester.ac.uk

 

Two scientists who discovered at The University of Ұ������ have today been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.

and have been awarded the highest accolade in the scientific world for their pioneering work with the world’s thinnest material.

Graphene was discovered at the University in 2004. It has rapidly become one of the hottest topics in materials science and solid-state .

Professor Novoselov, 36, known as Kostya, first worked with Professor Geim, 51, as a PhD-student in the Netherlands. He subsequently followed Geim to the United Kingdom. Both of them originally studied and began their careers as physicists in Russia.

The award of the means there are currently four Nobel Laureates at The University of Ұ������.

Professor Geim said: “This is a fantastic honour. People have been talking about graphene as a possible prize winner for a number of years so for the community in graphene research it hardly comes as a surprise.

“However I personally did not expect to get this prize. I slept soundly last night because I never expected to win it.

“Having won the Nobel Prize, some people sit back and stop doing anything, whereas others work so hard that they go mad in a few years. But I will be going into the office as usual and continuing to work hard and paddle through life as usual.

“I have lots of research papers to work on at the moment which all need writing up so I will be carrying on as normal.

“I have a fantastic working relationship with Kostya. We worked together in Holland and then I managed to bring him to England with me.

“Very often I fall out with people who don’t work hard but I have never fallen out with those who work as hard as Kostya.”

Professor Konstantin Novoselov said: “I was really shocked when I heard the news and my first thought was to go to the lab and tell the team.

“I didn’t know until this morning when I had a call from Stockholm.

“We have had a fantastic seven years working together on this new material graphene.

“The University is well suited to this style of research- we have excellent facilities.

“It’s great to be a young academic at The University of Ұ������ and I’m grateful to everyone who has collaborated with us.”

is a two-dimensional layer of carbon atoms that resembles chicken wire.

Since its discovery, Professor Geim and Dr Novoselov have published numerous research papers in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature, which have demonstrated the exquisite new physics for the material and its potential in novel applications such as ultrafast transistors just one atom thick – making it a potential successor to silicon – and sensors that can detect just a single molecule of a toxic gas.

A team of materials scientists and physicists from Ұ������ recently reported that graphene has the potential to replace carbon fibres in high performance materials that are used to build aircraft.

University of Ұ������ President and Vice-Chancellor Nancy Rothwell said: “This is fantastic news. We are delighted that Andre and Konstantin’s work on graphene has been recognised at the very highest level by the 2010 Nobel Prize Committee.

“This is a wonderful example of a fundamental discovery based on scientific curiosity with major practical, social and economic benefits for society.”

Vice-President and Dean of Engineering and Physical Sciences Professor Colin Bailey added: “This is a truly tremendous achievement, and is a testimony to the quality of research that is being carried out in Physics and more broadly across the University”.

Professor David Delpy, Chief Executive, EPSRC, said: “This work represents an enormously important scientific development. An exciting new material that has a huge range of applications and will no doubt bring significant benefits to the UK economy.

"EPSRC has been supporting research by Professor Geim and his group for nearly 10 years and our latest grant has enabled the UK to retain the key academic and research staff behind this discovery, who might otherwise have been lost to foreign institutions.”
 

Notes for editors

Media enquiries and interview requests should be directed to Dan Cochlin in the University of Ұ������ Press Office on 0161 275 8387.

Biographies

Prof Andre Geim

Prof Geim was born in Russia in Oct 1958 to German parents and has Dutch nationality.

He holds the position of Langworthy Research Professor at The University of Ұ������, previously held by leading names in physics such as Rutherford, Bragg and Blackett.

He also serves as Director of Ұ������ Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology, based at The University of Ұ������, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). In addition, Prof Geim holds a Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professorship.

Prof Geim gained a PhD in 1987 at the Institute of Solid State Physics, Chernogolovka, Russia.

After working there for another three years, he conducted research in England and Denmark. In 1994, he was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands

He joined The University of Ұ������ in 2001 as Professor of Physics.

During his career, Prof Geim has published over 150 peer-refereed research papers, including many in Nature and Science.

He is best known for his discovery of two-dimensional crystals made of carbon atoms – and most notably graphene – in 2004 with Prof Kostya Novoselov, also of The University of Ұ������ (see below).

Since then, graphene has rapidly become one of the hottest topics in materials science and solid-state physics.

Prof Geim’s work has led to a number of prestigious awards. In 2007 he was given the Mott Prize “for the discovery of a new class of materials – 2D atomic crystals – particularly graphene”.

In September 2008, Prof Novoselov and Prof Geim were awarded the prestigious Europhysics Prize for discovering graphene - and also their subsequent work to reveal its remarkable electronic properties.

In April 2009, Prof Geim received the Körber European Science Award for his discovery of two-dimensional crystals made of carbon atoms – and particularly graphene.

This was soon followed by the award of a Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professorship in celebration of the Society's 350th anniversary.

Prof Geim’s earlier educational experiments on diamagnetic levitation have been publicised by the media all over the world and are featured in dozens of textbooks. As part of this work, Prof Geim famously levitated a frog.

Prof Geim is also well known for demonstrating a new microfabricated adhesive, which is based on the same physics mechanism that underlies the amazing climbing ability of geckos.


Prof Kostya Novoselov

Prof Novoselov was born in Russia in August 1974. He also has British citizenship.

He completed his PhD at the High Magnetic Field Laboratory at The University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands in 2004 and joined The University of Ұ������ as a Leverhulme Research Fellow in 2005.

He also holds the position of Royal Society Research Fellow at The University. In 2008 he was named as one of The University of Ұ������’s Researchers of the Year.

Prof Novoselov has published over 90 peer-refereed research papers, mainly as the principal or corresponding author, including several in Nature and Science.

His pioneering work with Prof Andre Geim led to the discovery of two-dimensional crystals made of carbon atoms, and most notably graphene.

In 2008 Prof Novoselov was selected from more than 300 nominees under the age of 35 by a panel of expert judges and the editorial staff of Technology Review following his discovery of graphene with Professor Andre Geim in 2004.

In September of the same year, Prof Novoselov and Prof Geim were awarded the prestigious Europhysics Prize for discovering graphene - and also their subsequent work to reveal its remarkable electronic properties.

Since the discovery of graphene in 2004, Prof Geim and Prof Novoselov have published numerous research papers in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature, which have demonstrated the exquisite new physics for the material and its potential in novel applications such as transistors just one atom thick and sensors that can detect just a single molecule of a toxic gas.

In April 2008, Prof Geim, Prof Novoselov and Dr Leonid Ponomarenko published a paper in the leading journal Science, which reported that they had used graphene to create the world's smallest transistor, one atom thick and ten atoms wide.

Novoselov’s original joint paper on grapheme in Science in 2004 has also been acknowledged as “one of the most cited recent papers in the field of Physics” according to the ISI citation index.

 

A £39M research centre that will make Ұ������ home to one of the largest biomedical complexes in Europe will be officially opened today (May 7th).

will house 300 scientists in 50 research groups, mainly focussing on neuroscience and immunology, from the University of Ұ������'s Faculty of Life Sciences and Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences.

The 6000 sq metre facility connects the Core Technology Facility, Michael Smith and Stopford Buildings, thus creating a linked complex housing more than 300 research groups. The complex is adjacent to the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility and the Central Ұ������ and Ұ������ Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust and is therefore sited at a focal point in the University's 'biomedical corridor'.

The building is named after , who won in Physiology or Medicine while he held the Chair in Physiology at the University of Ұ������. Professor Hill shared the 1922 Nobel Prize with Otto Fritz Meyerhof for work on the generation of heat by muscles.

One of the pioneering physiologists of the 20th Century, AV Hill made outstanding contributions in the field of muscle physiology and was regarded as one of the founders of Biophysics. In the 1930s he played a leading role in the establishment of the Academic Assistance Council (AAC), later to be known as the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL), which rescued many German refugee academics from Nazi persecution and provided employment and financial support. During the Second World War, he accepted an invitation to stand for Parliament representing Cambridge University, and used his considerable influence in support of many worthy causes.

AV Hill's grandson Nicholas Humphrey, a Professor at the London School of Economics, Dr Ralph Kohn, a University of Ұ������ alumnus and winner of the Queen's Award for Export Achievement who founded the Kohn Foundation, will officially open the building. A replica of AV Hill’s Nobel Prize medal, kindly provided by Blundell’s School, which he attended, will be on display at the opening.

Professor Humphrey said: “My grandfather loved laboratories. But he could never have imagined a lab of this magnificence!”

Dr Kohn said: “I am deeply honoured to officially open the building named after such a great man as AV Hill, who was an outstanding physiologist, humanitarian and parliamentarian, together with his grandson Professor Nicholas Humphrey.”

The Deans of FLS and FMHS Professor Martin Humphries and Professor Alan North said: “This facility will further enhance the major programme of biomedical research established in Ұ������ over the past ten years.

“The operations group behind its design spent eighteen months considering not only how this building will operate, but also how the 'biomedical corridor' – incorporating the teaching hospitals – can be better integrated. Benefits include the clustering of core equipment, easily accessible resources for researchers and enhanced opportunities for collaboration.”

The building houses a number of internationally-recognised groups examining novel approaches for treatment of human disease. For example neuroscience research group which is investigating the causes and possible prevention of brain damage from stroke. The researchers have found that if the immune system has been stimulated by infection, it can attack the brain following a stroke. This has important implications for the elderly who are most at risk of stroke and frequently suffer from infection and other conditions, such as atherosclerosis, that stimulate the immune system. The team believe their findings could change the way stroke patients are treated in the future. For example, anti-inflammatory drugs that are currently being tested in human trials may be able to dampen the activated immune system and so reduce brain damage.

immunology research group have discovered how parasitic worms subvert the host's immune system to allow them to survive. One in five people in the developing world (1,000 million) suffer from parasitic worm infection, which results in anaemia, tiredness and general morbidity. Dr Else's group is now trying to identify the molecules made by the worms which allow them to subvert the host's immune system.

And recent arrival is researching human developmental biology and stem cells with the aim of understanding the process so that it can be re-enacted in regenerative medicine, specifically to help diabetes sufferers.

Notes for editors

The official opening of the AV Hill Building will take place at 5pm on Thursday 7th May.

The AV Hill Building represents an investment by the University of 

£39M and includes £11.6M from SRIF. The delivery of this four-year project was overseen by the Directorate of Estates and the building was designed by Wilson Mason. The project sponsors were Andrew Loudon and Julian Davis and client group Simon Merrywest, Gary Porteous and Louise Hewitt. The stunning complex recently won the Best Corporate Workplace in the North regional heat of the British Council for Offices awards and will compete in the final in October.

High-resolution images of the building are available - photographer Oliver Foxley must be credited.

For more information, photographs or to arrange an interview with 

Professor Martin Humphries, Professor Alan North, Dr Ralph Kohn or Professor Nicholas Humphrey contact Media Relations Officer Mikaela Sitford on 0161 275

2111, 07768 980942 or Mikaela.Sitford@manchester.ac.uk.

Two winners are to launch a national debate on intellectual property to address rising concerns over commercialisation of science today (Saturday 5 July).

Professor Joseph E Stiglitz will join Professor Sir John Sulston at a public lecture following Friday’s launch of The University of Ұ������’s Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation where they will discuss the monopoly of scientific knowledge and economic power.

The 2001 and 2002 laureates will also attend the first meeting of 40 leading scientists and ethicists from across Britain - also today - to begin the process of formulating a ‘Ұ������ Manifesto’ which they hope will lay down a consensus on intellectual property in science. The Ұ������ Manifesto process will be completed in November this year.

Professor Sulston starts his role as the new Institute’s first Chair. Following the completion of a working draft of the human genome sequence in 2000, Sulston took on US scientist Craig Venter who tried to patent the most lucrative genes.

The British scientist famously kept his data in the public domain.

Professor Stiglitz, Chair of the University’s Brooks World Poverty Institute, will join him on Saturday for a day of discussions and lectures as well as a public lecture.

Stiglitz was Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 1997-2000 and also Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Clinton White House.

He is widely known for his critical stance on the privatization and liberalization policies pushed by the World Bank and the IMF, which led him to step down from his position in the World Bank in 2000.

Professor Sulston will work alongside the School of Law's Professor John Harris, a world-renowned authority on bioethics.

Professor Harris said: “We hope launch of the Institute and Ұ������ Manifesto process will stimulate a national conversation on the huge impact of new science and technology on society and the ethical dangers this represents - most notably intellectual property.

“As the frequency of ethical and regulatory dilemmas seems to be increasing, our task of observing and analysing the role and moral responsibilities of science and innovation is vital.

“So with that in mind, the Institute will examine the ways in which science is used in the 21st century, evaluate possible or desirable changes, and consider the forms of regulation and control of the process that are appropriate or required.”

Notes for editors

Journalists are invited to attend the public lecture given by Professor Sulston and Professor Stiglitz on 5 July from 5pm to 7pm.
Venue:
University Place, Theatre A
University of Ұ������
Oxford Road

For more details contact:
Mike Addelman
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Ұ������
0161 275 0790
07717 881 567
michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk

This year's prize was awarded jointly to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and former United States Vice President Al Gore.

Professor Geoff Levermore is a UK-nominated Lead Author on the IPCC working group that deals with mitigating the effects of climate change. He has also helped write and edit a key chapter on residential and commercial buildings in the forthcoming Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).

Professor Levermore, who is Professor of the Built Environment, received a letter of congratulation from the chairman of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, who wrote: "The fact that the IPCC has earned the recognition that this award embodies, is really a tribute to your knowledge, hard work and application."

Professor Levermore said he was delighted that the IPCC had achieved "the recognition it deserves". He said the research had provided the basis on which governments took their decisions on limiting greenhouse gas emissions and protecting the environment.

The Nobel citation says that the award made to the IPCC and Al Gore is "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change".

Notes for editors

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The School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering is part of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS).