St Andrews professor elected to Royal Society

Professor Andy Mackenzie of the School of Physics and Astronomy has been elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society for his work on understanding the way electrons in solids behave.

Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is the world’s oldest academy of sciences, and elects approximately fifty new Fellows annually from all fields of science.

Professor Mackenzie joins Professor James Naismith and Professors Emeriti Eric Priest and Wilson Sibbett as current St Andrews members of staff to hold the award.

Professor Mackenzie came to his chair in St Andrews in 2001, after doing his BSc at Edinburgh, doctoral and post-doctoral work in Cambridge and holding an academic position at Birmingham.  In 2013 he took up post as Director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, Germany, retaining a partial position in St Andrews and establishing formal collaborations between the two institutions.

“It is always nice to receive recognition like this, but it is really recognition of a group effort rather than the work of an individual,” he said.

“I have always been lucky to have worked in leading institutions, and to have had great colleagues, research fellows and students.  I am enthusiastic about the prospects for joint ventures between the Max Planck Society and Scottish universities, and hope that I can continue to contribute to St Andrews for many years to come.”

Notes to news editors

The Royal Society is a self-governing Fellowship of many of the world’s most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering, and medicine. The Society’s fundamental purpose, reflected in its founding Charters of the 1660s, is to recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.

For further information please visit http://royalsociety.org.

A photograph of Professor Mackenzie is available. Contact Communications Office.

Issued by the University of St Andrews Communications Office, contactable on 01334 467310 or [email protected].