Sir David King
The Chancellor, Sir David King, has been named among the 100 most important people in British science and engineering.
Sir David, was appointed Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University in 1974 and was the former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government during the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001. As Director of the Government’s Foresight Programme, he created an in-depth horizon-scanning process which advised Government on a wide range of long-term issues, from flooding to obesity. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University in 2001.
The University can also boast nine other Honorary Graduates on the list which includes Sir Paul Nurse (Hon DSc 2009), Nobel prizewinning geneticist, at number one. The University’s other nominations are:
Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys (DSc 2006) for DNA fingerprinting; Sir John Sulston (Hon DSc 2009), the pioneer of the human genome project; Sir David Attenborough (Hon DSc 1974), best known for environmental nature programmes; Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow (Hon DSc 2008), Royal Astronomer; Dame Sally Davies (Hon DSc 2009), current Chief Medical Officer; Sir Tim Hunt (DSc 2003), a cancer specialist and head of Cancer Research UK’s Cell Cycle Control Laboratory; Sir Harold Kroto (DSc 2004), a Nobel Laureate chemist and Lord David Sainsbury (Hon LLD 2008), the former Chief Executive of the family’s famous supermarket chain and ex-Labour science minister and philanthropist.