Scientists in the Honours List - December 31, 2007
Ian Wilmut, the scientist famous for creating Dolly the cloned sheep, has been knighted in the annual British Honours List. He has apparently professed himself to be “surprised and delighted”.
Wilmut, who recently announced he would be abandoning cloning work in favour of research into induced pluripotent stem cells, was knighted alongside a number of other scientists (full list pdf).
Others nominated for ‘services to science’ include Martyn Poliakoff, professor of chemistry at the University of Nottingham. As the BBC notes, his research includes looking at how chemistry can deliver environmental benefits.
Brian Spratt, professor of molecular microbiology at Imperial College, is also honoured. He produced an independent review of UK biosecurity after the Foot and Mouth virus escaped from a supposedly secure laboratory (report pdf).
And in a year of climate change news, it seems appropriate that Godfrey Jenkins, head of the Climate Change Programme at the Met Office's Hadley Centre, is on the list.
The Guardian notes:
But there was no knighthood for Prof Colin Blakemore, who stepped down as chief executive of the Medical Research Council this year. Despite being nominated several times, his outspoken support for the need for animal experimentation appears to have made him too controversial for Whitehall to the anger of many scientists.
Another, probably overdue, honour goes to Steve Furber, one of the designers of the classic BBC Micro computer (news coverage, appropriately enough, from the BBC). Although almost unknown outside the UK, the BBC Micro was perhaps the first widespread home computer used in the country.