Nobel prizewinners in both literature and physics have had their achievements recognised through honorary degrees awarded by the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow on Wednesday 4th May.

Those honoured by the university were poet and translator Professor Seamus Heaney, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, was well as Physics Laureates Professor Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Professor William Phillips and Professor Theodor Hansch.

A Fellowship of the University was also conferred on Dr Gerald Wilson, former senior civil servant and current member of Strathclyde’s governing Court.

Strathclyde Principal Professor Jim McDonald says, “We have great pleasure in making awards to people who have made outstanding contributions in their field and who have achieved at the very highest level. Their exceptional abilities are in keeping with Strathclyde’s ethos of excellence and positive impact on today’s world.”

Professor Heaney says, “This honorary degree means a great deal to me because of the nurture I have received over a lifetime from Scottish writers. I am also grateful for the welcome I have always received in Scottish universities - indeed, I have especially happy memories of a conference some years ago at the University of Strathclyde on the relations between Irish and Scottish literature.”

Professor Phillips and Professor Cohen-Tannoudji were joint Nobel Physics Laureates in 1997 with Dr Steven Chu. Dr Chu is the US Secretary of Energy and one of five other Nobel Prizewinners in Physics to have received honorary degrees from the University of Strathclyde in the past year.

Professor Hansch developed laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique. It was this work that gained him the joint Nobel Prize in 2005.

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Content added on 6th May 2011.

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