Maths awards adding up

The Royal Astronomical Society has honoured two mathematicians at the University of St Andrews with prestigious awards for their research. 

Professor Bernard Roberts and Dr Ineke de Moortel have been recognised for their development of complex mathematical models to aid better understanding of the Sun and its magnetism.

The Chapman Medal, awarded biennially for investigations of outstanding merit in solar-terrestrial physics, has been awarded to Professor Bernard Roberts for his pioneering work in the field of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves in solar and stellar atmospheres.

Professor Roberts’ work in the 1970s and 1980s established a solid mathematical model for MHD waves, and came to fruition two decades later when the theoretically predicted waves were observed in the Sun’s atmosphere by spacecraft.

Dr Ineke de Moortel has been awarded The Fowler Prize, given annually for particularly noteworthy early career contributions in geophysics.  The award has been granted for Dr de Moortel’s important work on coronal magneto-seismology, in which she has made a number of fundamental discoveries.

The researchers are both members of the Solar and Magnetospheric Theory Group in the School of Mathematics & Statistics.  The Solar Group is led by Professor Alan Hood.

ENDS

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Ref:  Maths prizes 270110
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