Svante Pääbo one of this year’s four honorary doctors at KTH
Svante Pääbo, leading researcher within evolutionary biology, has been awarded an honorary doctorate at KTH. Together with this year’s three other honorary doctors - Moshe Ben-Akiva, Margaret H Wright and Rosalind Williams – he will receive this degree at Stockholm City Hall on 21 November.
Common to all these honorary doctors are their contacts with KTH which have been of great value to the university’s research and education, and exchange of experience activities on different levels.
Svante Pääbo
Svante Pääbo, Professor of Archaeology and Molecular Biology, is currently directing the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. He has, by combining archaeology and modern molecular biological methods, made revolutionary discoveries within evolutionary biology which have led to an increased understanding of the origins and development of human beings.
His current, gigantic undertaking - which is to map the entire DNA of Neanderthal Man from archaeological finds - was paid a considerable amount of attention in the journals Nature and Science in 2006. The same year Svante Pääbo, as one of very few scientists, was named as one of the top 100 influential people in the world by American Time Magazine. Professor Pääbo’s mapping activities are carried out using pyrosequencing, a method developed at KTH.
Early on in his career, Svante Pääbo gained the insight that the major issues within evolutionary biology could be attacked using an engineering approach. He transferred the latest methods within molecular biology to this new scientific field and further developed these techniques in order to be able to study archaeological finds such as mummies, mammoths and dinosaurs. Consequently he was the able to answer the big questions concerning the origins of human beings and the development of the human ability to speak.
Svante Pääbo’s academic background was initiated with medical studies at Uppsala University where he also presented his thesis in 1986 with a cell biological specialisation. During the latter half of the 1980s he also made his first, groundbreaking discoveries within the scientific field called “Ancient DNA” in which he was clearly the dominant pioneer.
Rosalind Williams
Rosalind Williams, Professor of the History of Science and Technology at MIT, has been a pioneer as a female academic leader and has promoted valuable exchange of doctoral students between KTH and MIT. Rosalind Williams has studied how our technological living environment has developed and the attitudes and values that have formed its foundations.
Prof. Williams first came to MIT as a researcher in 1980 to the Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Department, one of the world’s leading research environments within this field. In 1995 as the first woman ever, she was appointed Dean of Students and Undergraduate Education and in this position she implemented extensive changes to undergraduate education at MIT.
After her service as Dean she became Head of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society until 2006. Between 2005 and 2006 she was also President of the Society for the History of Technology, SHOT.
Margaret H Wright
Margaret H Wright, Professor at New York University, has made major contributions to applied mathematics in its widest meaning. Of special importance is her considerable commitment to the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics which is an influential, respected organisation within this research field.
She has also worked to include more women in this otherwise male-dominated area of study. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has made vital contributions to the KTH research centre CIAM, Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
Professor Wright completed her doctoral degree in computer science at Stanford University in 1976 and stayed there until 1988. Between 1988 and 2001 she worked at Bell Laboratories and then moved on to the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University in 2001 as Professor and Chair of the Computer Science Department.
Moshe Ben-Akiva
Moshe Ben-Akiva, Professor at MIT, is a visionary and leading researcher within the transport modelling field with strong links to KTH, Swedish transport organisations and the Swedish telecom industry.
Since the early 1970s he has been the most influential researcher within the transport field and an innovator within transport systems research. His unique contributions have led to the development and application of discrete choice analysis theory to transport demand models and he is considered to be the initiator of the entire modern era within this particular area of research.
More information? Please contact Ann Lantz, Associate Professor, School of Information and Communication Technology, KTH + 46 87906817
Christer Gummeson