A St Andrews University professor has been given a prestigious honour to mark his outstanding contribution to physics.
Professor Kishan Dholakia has been awarded the Institute of Physics (IOP) Thomas Young Medal and Prize for 2017.
The awards recognise and reward excellence in people and teams who have made outstanding and exceptional contributions to the strength of physics.
Professor Dholakia is being recognised for distinguished contributions to the fields of optical physics and biophysics.
His work over the last two decades has included using shaped light for biomedical imaging with particular emphasis on early detection of cancer, neuroscience and developmental biology.
Professor Dholakia said: “I am truly honoured and humbled to receive this highly prestigious award.
“It is a recognition of my whole group’s work in this exciting area of optical manipulation and beyond. They share this accolade with me.”
Thomas Young was a well-known physician who developed the wave theory of light, characterised elasticity through the Young’s modulus and deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs using the Rosetta stone.
The award was originally termed ‘The Thomas Young Oration’ of the Optical Society, instituted in 1907, and was to be “on an optical subject”.
