'Personal Chairs' in Physics

The story of the Professors of Natural Philosophy at the Universities of Aberdeen has come to a halt, meanwhile.  The post exists, in principle, but no-one has been appointed since Professor G V Marr.  Over the centuries the post attracted Doctors of Divinity, Doctors of Law, Doctors of Medicine, Doctors of Philosophy and plain MA graduates.  During their tenure, the Department of Natural Philosophy had only a single professor who was, de facto, Head of Department.  None of the former holders of the Chair are alive at the time of drafting these pages in late 2017.  The Head of Physics rôle now rotates among Professorial and non-Professorial staff.

Professor David W L Hukins was appointed in 1994 as MacRobert Professor of Physics to pick up the pieces left by the destruction of the 80s and early 90s (see under 'Marr'), the administrative remit being effectively to create a viable Department of Physics with the remaining staff.  John Reid became executive Head, Jan Skakle, Geoff Dunn and Norval Strachan were added to existing staff as lecturers and, in brief, the goal was achieved.  Professor Hukins resigned in 2003 to move to the University of Birmingham.

Professor Jan Skakle’s research field is structural crystallography with particular reference to novel oxides and biomaterials both natural and synthetic.  After two spells as Head of Physics she is Head of School at the time of writing.

Professor Norval Strachan’s research centres around modelling the spread of disease and related issues.  After a spell as Head of Physics he has been seconded as Chief Scientific Adviser to Food Standards Scotland.

Professor Marco Thiel has a personal Chair in Physics with commitments in the Department of Physics and in the Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology.  He works on mathematical modelling covering a range of physical and biological systems.

Professor Celso Grebogi occupies a sixth-century Chair located in the research-based Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology of which he is the Director.  His work covers a range of areas involving non-linear and complex systems.

Professor Antonio Politi occupies the sixth-century Chair in Physics of Life Sciences and is also located in the Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology.  His interests are particularly in non-linear dynamics and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.

Professor Bjoern Schelter has a personal chair in the Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology.  His interest is in bio-physical modelling, particularly in relation to disease.

Dec 2017