Prestigious international award for eminent Victoria University scientist
Innovative research resulting in millions of export earnings for New Zealand has landed Victoria University physicist Professor Sir Paul Callaghan a major international award.
"Blown away" was the reaction of Professor Callaghan on hearing he had won the prestigious Günther Laukien Prize for Magnetic Resonance.
The award is given for "cutting edge experimental nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) research with a high probability of enabling beneficial new applications".
"My work in nuclear magnetic resonance essentially uses radio waves to detect the motion of molecules," says Professor Callaghan.
"The exciting thing is that we've now got a New Zealand company—Magritek—exporting NMR technology overseas. Although NMR technology probably doesn’t mean a lot to most people, the young company has 16 employees and revenue in the millions.
"The way I see it, if the general public is familiar with the things being manufactured in the high tech sector, we’re probably trying to produce the wrong things.
"New Zealand is not going to be making flat-screen TVs. Our future is in high tech, niche markets and that’s how we’ll ensure that the New Zealand we know and love is still here tomorrow."
The prize was announced on 19 April at the annual Experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Conference at Florida in the United States. Unfortunately, Professor Callaghan was unable to receive the award in person because he is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.
The prize was accepted on his behalf by a past PhD student, Dr Andrew Coy, now CEO of Magritek, a spin-out company from the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology based at Victoria University. Professor Callaghan was the Institute’s founding Director.
"It’s an honour to be included with previous winners who are some of the world’s top people in the field," says Professor Callaghan.
The Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University, Professor Pat Walsh said that Professor Callaghan’s award was well-earned.
"In recent years, his work has broadened to raise awareness on how to lift New Zealand’s prosperity through research and technology. At heart though he remains a dedicated scientist and I am delighted that his illustrious career has been recognised in this way."
About the prize
The Günther Laukien prize was established in 1999 to honour the memory of Professor Günther Laukien, the co-founder of Bruker Corporation. The prize is worth US $20,000.
It is awarded annually by a prize committee chaired by Nobel Laureate Professor Richard Ernst of the university, ETH Zürich.