May 1, 2009
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| His Majesty King Harald V of Norway (left) presents the Gunnar Randers Prize to Roger Pynn (photo: Einar Madsen, IFE) |
Roger Pynn has been awarded the prestigious Gunnar Randers Research Prize. The prize was presented to him by King Harald V of Norway at a ceremony at the Institute for Energy Technology in Kjeller, Norway, on April 20, 2009. The Gunnar Randers Research Prize was established in 2001, and is awarded every second year in recognition of outstanding work in condensed matter physics by Norwegians or persons connected with Norwegian research. Roger Pynn was awarded the prize for his pioneering work in the development of new neutron scattering methods and applications within the field of advanced materials science. The international prize selection committee’s commendation noted that Prof. Pynn "has documented the most outstanding professional quality, and his work has led to increased fundamental understanding within the areas of complex fluids, bio molecular systems and magnetic structures. He is also a brilliant communicator with profound insight in research political questions."
At the ceremony, which was attended by many dignitaries from the government and scientific world, Prof. Pynn received the prize of 100,000NOK, plus a work of art by Kåre Tveter. In his acceptance speech, Pynn acknowledged the debt he owed to the mentoring of Dr Tormod Riste while he was a postdoc in Norway and encouraged the Norwegian authorities to put their weight behind efforts to bring the European Spallation Source to Lund in Sweden. Following the ceremony he gave a public lecture entitled "Energy, Information, Geilo Schools and Neutron Scattering—Tieing together some loose ends." I was really pleased that so many of my old colleagues from the early days were able to attend the ceremony," Pynn said. "The Norwegians have a great opportunity to use their oil wealth to make a major international impact in basic research, and they are especially concerned to make that impact in areas of renewable energy. After the prize ceremony, King Harald opened a new photovoltaics lab at IFE, which is part of that commitment."
Roger Pynn was born in England, and obtained his doctorate degree from Cambridge University. He spent two years as a post doctoral researcher at the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) in the 1970s, and has maintained a close relationship with Norwegian researchers since then through his work at the Geilo Schools, a series of NATO Advanced Study Institutes that have been organized every other year since 1971. In addition to his work at IFE, Pynn has carried out neutron scattering experiments in Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Japan, France, Germany and the United States. He has worked in a variety of fields including structural phase transitions, low dimensional magnets, soft condensed matter and biology. In 1987 he became Director of Manual Lujan Jr. Neutron Scattering Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory. After a 13-year management career at Los Alamos, which included periods as the Laboratory´s Program Manager for Basic Energy Sciences and as Division Director of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Division, he returned to research in 2001. Since that time, he has developed programs in the design of novel neutron instrumentation and in the biophysical research using neutron scattering.
