Nobel Prize-winning physicist Professor Peter Higgs, who predicted the existence of a sub-atomic particle which gives mass to all the matter in the universe, is to be awarded an honorary degree by St Andrews University this week.
The renowned professor will be made a Doctor of Science by the university during its summer graduations, which run for four days starting today.
Joining Professor Higgs in the honours will be the BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet, conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and director of The National Gallery in London Dr Nicholas Penny.
Eight ceremonies over four days will see 13 distinguished individuals honoured.
The graduation ceremonies are held in the Younger Hall on North Street and the university will host a graduation garden party on each day of the graduation week.
The garden parties are a traditional part of the graduation and are held on Lower College Hall lawn in St Salvator’s Quad or the walled garden at Castlecliffe on the Scores.
The full list of honorary degree recipients is:
Tuesday morning: Professor Sarah Coakley, Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge.
Tuesday afternoon: Professor Timothy Shaw, Pioneer of African and Development Studies; Professor Christina Romer, economist and a leading member of President Obama’s financial recovery team.
Wednesday morning: Dr Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery, London.
Wednesday afternoon: Professor Dana Scott, mathematical logician; Professor Peter Higgs.
Thursday morning: Professor Peter Brown, Professor Emeritus, Princeton University 2011 to present; Lyse Doucet, BBC chief international correspondent.
Thursday afternoon: Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor; Professor Gayatri Spivak, founding member of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University.
Friday morning: Professor Silvia Gherardi, Professor of Sociology, University of Trento.
Friday afternoon: Professor Dusa McDuff, Kimmel Professor of Mathematics; Professor Bernard Silverman, Home Office chief scientific adviser.
For full coverage, including lists of graduands, see The Courier every day this week.