The following University staff have recently been made Fellows of the Royal Society: John Barrow, Professor of Mathematical Sciences; William Bonfield, Professor of Medical Materials; Anthony Dickinson, Professor of Comparative Psychology, Ann Dowling, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Stephen O'Rahilly, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine.

William Bonfield, Professor of Medical Materials
Professor Bonfield is distinguished for his internationally recognised pioneering research on biomedical materials. From distinctive early work on the deformation of germanium, beryllium and precipitation hardening alloys, he has made outstanding contributions to an understanding of deformation and fracture of bone. His knowledge of the biological template provided the insight for his subsequent pioneering research on bone-replacement materials. His innovation of hydroxyapatite reinforced polyethylene as a bone analogue has been world leading. This "artificial" bone has already been taken from laboratory concept to provide a major clinical benefit as a middle ear prosthesis, with a range of other skeletal implants in prospect.

He was founder, and the first Director, of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) in Biomedical Materials in London, where he demonstrated exceptional scientific leadership for this emerging subject. He recently moved to Cambridge as the first Professor of Medical Materials. He has also played a pivotal role in the international development of materials science through his position, since 1973, as Editor of the Journal of Materials Science. He is a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering, and in 1998 he was appointed CBE for his contribution to healthcare and to materials science.

Professor John Barrow, Professor at the Department of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
Professor Barrow is distinguished for research in Cosmology, Gravitation, and the Large-scale Structure of the Universe. His work has furthered our understanding of the Universe's deviations from perfect homogeneity and isotropy. He devised new ways to evaluate the amplitudes and patterns of possible cosmological anisotropies and inhomogeneities, and identified the conditions for cosmological chaos to occur. He has investigated many applications of particle physics to the early Universe, especially the study of nucleosynthesis, the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe, and 'inflation'. He is also an effective populariser of science through his many books, newspaper articles, lectures, and radio broadcasts.

Anthony Dickinson, Professor of Comparative Psychology
Professor Dickinson has made internationally-recognised contributions to the study of associative learning, human causal judgements, goal-directed action and episodic memory. Modern accounts of associative learning are based around the central role of prediction errors. Such errors may have a direct effect on the learning process or, as Dickinson was the first to observe, may indirectly modulate the way in which we learn new things. His work on human causal judgements established a hitherto unsuspected dependence on associative learning phenomena, whilst that on goal-directed action, which he has cogently argued to be a fundamental marker of cognition, is characterised by innovative behavioural paradigms that are now in widespread use by others. His findings have led to a new theory of incentive learning and to important clinical insight into the circumstances that lead to compulsive drug-seeking. A new chapter in comparative psychology has also opened through his observations on mental time travel in animals; he and his colleagues have presented the first clear evidence that animals can form episodic-like memory representations. He has won several awards for his research and, through his monograph, made a lasting contribution to the teaching of his discipline.

Ann Dowling, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cambridge
Professor Dowling is a leading authority on developments that are enabling the control of unstable combustion systems in both aeronautics and power generation. She was the first to understand the mechanics of the jet engine instability known as reheat buzz. The two underlying themes of Ann's work are: the interaction of sound with unsteady flow, and the control of aeroacoustic instabilities. Her publications range from problem-defining fundamental papers to descriptions of the technology behind successful practical applications. Her research and academic leadership are admired internationally and she is a strong research leader.

Stephen O'Rahilly, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine
Professor O'Rahilly has made major contributions to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying human disorders of energy balance and metabolism. His work first established that mutations in single genes could result in severe human obesity and that these defects largely acted through disruption of central satiety mechanisms. These findings have altered clinical approaches to the evaluation of the obese child and have identified a subtype of obesity amenable to dramatically effective therapy. His studies of patients with extreme insensitivity to insulin have also provided new insights into human insulin action and its disruption in states of insulin resistance.

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