New Year Honours

The UK Government's chief scientific adviser has received a knighthood. Professor David King is head of the Office of Science and Technology and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

He played a central role in advising the Prime Minister during the £8bn foot-and-mouth crisis which rocked British farming in 2001, and which saw the destruction of seven million animals.

Professor King is one of two Knights Bachelor in the list with a scientific affiliation to the University - the other being Professor Alan Fersht.

Professor Fersht received the honour for his pioneering work on protein folding and is sometimes described as a founder of protein engineering. He is credited with driving forward our understanding of the folding process and how it can be harnessed to produce new medical treatments.

Toni Beardon, Senior Teaching and Research Associate in the School of Education, was awarded an OBE for her services to mathematical education. Mrs Beardon founded NRICH, the Online Maths Club, in November 1996 and ran the project until her recent retirement.

Professor Malcolm Grant, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor of Land Economy at the University and a fellow of Clare College was awarded a CBE. He is an environmental lawyer and in 2000 was appointed Chair of the Government’s new 20-member Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission, whose job is to provide strategic advice to the Government on the implications of biotechnology (including genetic modification) for agriculture and the environment. He was recently also appointed by the Government to lead the national public debate on GM, to assist in policy-making around issues such as the commercial growing of GM crops in the UK.

Professor Mike Gregory, Head of the Institute of Manufacturing, was awarded a CBE for services to industry and business. After an early career in manufacturing engineering and management in the machine tool industry, Professor Gregory was the founder member of the Manufacturing Engineering Group at Cambridge, the forerunner of the Institute for Manufacturing. He has served on various institutional and Government committees, including most recently the UK Manufacturing Foresight panel and the UK Research Assessment exercise for which he chaired the general engineering panel. He is a Fellow of Churchill College.

Professor Colin Humphreys, Goldsmiths Professor of Material Science, was awarded a CBE for his services to science as a researcher and communicator. His work has ranged from research into the best way to eat spaghetti splatter free to the next generation of light bulbs that are likely to last almost 70 years.

In an interview on the Cambridge Science Festival website, Professor Humphreys said that he would like to be remembered as someone who has done a good job and has inspired others. He said: