University Professor made Fellow of the Royal Society
An eminent Professor of Chemistry from the University of Sheffield has joined a prestigious list of the world's most accomplished scientists after being made a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Professor of Theoretical Chemistry Patrick Fowler, of the University's Department of Chemistry, joins more than 1,400 of the UK and Commonwealth's most distinguished scientists, engineers and technologists to be recognised as a Fellow.
Professor Fowler said: "I feel very pleased and honoured. It is recognition of my research by the oldest scientific academy in the world, which includes scientists who work across all disciplines. "
"I knew I had been nominated, but it was still quite a shock to be elected. There are hundreds of nominations across the sciences every year, and in any one year perhaps only three or four chemists are elected."
Professor Fowler is renowned for his work on the theory, modelling and computation, of molecular properties, in which he uses tools based on symmetry arguments and graph theory to build predictive models for chemical problems.
Areas in which his research has been particularly influential include: the calculation and interpretation of molecular ring currents, with wide application to problems of aromaticity; systematics of fullerene structure, stability and properties; models for the geometries of hydrogen-bonded complexes; in-crystal modification of properties of ions; a graph-theoretical model of molecular conduction, where a selection-rule approach offers the advantage of new insights on how connection pattern affects current.
Receiving a BSc in Chemistry with Mathematics from the University in 1977, Professor Fowler stayed in the city and went on to gain a PhD in Chemistry in 1980. Continuing his association, he returned to the University in 2005 to become Professor of Theoretical Chemistry.
Professor Fowler added: "It is especially gratifying that this recognition comes when I am back in the department where I first learned about Theoretical Chemistry and where I started my research career all those years ago. My teachers then and my PhD supervisor, as well as many research collaborators elsewhere, should all take their share of the credit."
There are approximately 1,450 Fellows and Foreign Members, including more than 80 Nobel Laureates in the Royal Society. The Society aims to recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.
Professor Fowler joins three other Chemistry Fellows from the University of Sheffield including Professor Chris Hunter, and two retired Emeritus Professors Peter Maitlis and Charles Stirling, as well as Professor Sir Harry Kroto who studied Chemistry at the University of Sheffield in 1961 when he obtained a first class BSc honours degree, followed in 1964 by a PhD.
Notes for Editors: With nearly 25,000 students from 125 countries, the University of Sheffield is one of the UK's leading and largest universities. A member of the Russell Group, it has a reputation for world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. The University of Sheffield has been named University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards for its exceptional performance in research, teaching, access and business performance. In addition, the University has won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes (1998, 2000, 2002, and 2007).
These prestigious awards recognise outstanding contributions by universities and colleges to the United Kingdom's intellectual, economic, cultural and social life. Sheffield also boasts five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and many of its alumni have gone on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence around the world. The University's research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls Royce, Unilever, Boots, AstraZeneca, GSK, ICI, Slazenger, and many more household names, as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.
The University has well-established partnerships with a number of universities and major corporations, both in the UK and abroad. Its partnership with Leeds and York Universities in the White Rose Consortium has a combined research power greater than that of either Oxford or Cambridge.
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