Villum scientists receive prestigious awards
The Global Energy Prize is awarded each year to a leading scientist whose research has led to the discoveries and technological innovations that will help meet global energy challenges.
Professor Frede Blaabjerg, of Aalborg University, received this year’s award.
Professor Blaabjerg was chosen for his contribution to research into power electronics, both in terms of technology and management. Power electronics is a technology that can increase the share of renewables in our energy systems and help reach the UN Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring sustainable energy for all.
The award was presented on 3 October by the Russian energy minister, Alexander Novak, during a ceremony in Moscow.
The Global Energy Prize is one of most prestigious academic awards internationally. Former recipients include several Nobel laureates.
In connection with the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Ørsted’s discovery of electromagnetism, the Danish society for the dissemination of natural science (SNU), together with the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, will, for the first time in 30 years, award HC Ørsted Gold Medals.
The recipient of the Gold Medal in chemistry is professor and Villum Investigator, Karl Anker Jørgensen, of Aarhus University.
Professor Jørgensen is being awarded a gold medal in recognition of his ground-breaking research in the field of catalytic chemistry and his exceptional ability to communicate scientific results to a broader audience, in keeping with Ørsted’s visions.
The medal will be presented by Her Majesty, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, at the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters on 16 October.
Morten Mattrup Smedskjær, a professor of chemistry at Aalborg University, has been awarded the 2019 Grundfos Prize for his ground-breaking research into amorphous materials, in particular oxide glasses – known colloquially as ordinary glass.
Professor Smedskjær, 35, leads a 10-person research group, and, with 135 peer-reviewed research articles to his credit, is considered one of the leading figures in his field.
Earlier this year, Professor Smedskjær, together with Professor Yuanzheng Yue, also of Aalborg University, and Professor Marcel Somers, of the Technical University of Denmark, received DKK 10 million grant from VILLUM FONDEN for research into ways to make glass stronger and more flexible.
The Grundfos Prize was established by the Poul Due Jensen Foundation in 2001 with the purpose of promoting, acknowledging and supporting Danish and foreign research and solutions that are useful to the community.
Technical and natural sciences
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