The Irish physicist Margaret Murnane and the Leonese poet Antonio Colinas were invested as honorary doctors from the University of Salamanca on June 19.
The investiture ceremony was presided over by the rector, Ricardo Rivero, and held in the Auditorium of the Escuelas Mayores.
The ceremony held in Latin, in which professors Carlos Hernández García (principal investigator of Attostructura) and María Ángeles Pérez López, from the Department of Applied Physics and the Department of Spanish and Latin American Literature, respectively, acted as godfather and godmother of the new honorary doctors, had the assistance from numerous academic and institutional authorities.
The proposal of the Department of Applied Physics to appoint the scientist Margaret Mary Murnane as doctor honoris causa was defended by Professor Carlos Hernández García. Professor Murnane’s work focuses on the science of X-rays and ultra-fast lasers. Her multiple discoveries have transformed the field, making it possible to capture and manipulate quantum dynamics on the faster time scales relevant to atoms, molecules, and materials.
Her research is distinguished by its innovation, impact and transversality, integrating laser technology as a transforming element in various fields such as optics, magnetism, chemistry, materials engineering or biology. Her ideas have been widely adopted in the worlds of science and industry. In fact, laser light sources based on her work can be found in most universities and research institutions around the world.
During her acceptance speech, Professor Murnane highlighted the scientific collaboration that she has maintained for a decade with the Research Group on Laser Applications and Photonics in Applied Physics and Technology, which she recognized as one of the few research groups in the world with knowledge both optical science and quantum mechanics and atomic physics.
With her appointment as an honorary doctorate, Professor Margaret Murnane has become the eleventh woman to receive that honor at the University of Salamanca. The exhibition “Women honorary doctors at the University of Salamanca”, coordinated by professors Esther del Brío, professor of Financial Economics, and Inmaculada Sánchez Barrios, director of the Equality Unit, already has a panel commemorating the incorporation of Professor Murnane into the faculty of doctors.
Numerous media outlets have echoed her appointment and her inauguration ceremony.
- La física Margaret Murnane, undécima mujer honoris causa en la Universidad de Salamanca- El diario (19 june 2023)
- La Universidad de Salamanca se vuelca con la poesía y la física con la concesión de sendos honoris causa a Antonio Colinas y Margaret Murnane – Comunicación Universidad de Salamanca (19 june 2023)
- Margaret Murnane is Awarded a Honorary Doctorate from the University of Salamanca – JILA Science Communicator (21 june 2023)
- La física Margaret Murnane, undécima mujer honoris causa en la Universidad de Salamanca – COPE (19 june 2023)
- Margaret Murnane y Antonio Colinas investidos como nuevos doctores honoris causa de la Usal – SalamancaHoy (19 june 2023)
- La Universidad de Salamanca se vuelca con la poesía y la física con sendos honoris causa a Antonio Colinas y Margaret Murnane – El Español (19 june 2023)
- Investidura de doctores honoris causa por la USAL – LeónNoticias (19 june 2023).
- Colinas y Murnane, la unión de Letras y Ciencias en la Universidad – La Gaceta (19 june 2023).
- Colinas y Murnane, doctorado Honoris Causa a la luz de la palabra y la Física – Castilla y León Televisión (19 june 2023).
- El poeta Antonio Colinas y la física Margaret Murnane se incorporan al claustro de doctores ‘honoris causa’ de la USAL – Europa Press Castilla y León (19 june 2023)
- El panel de la física Margaret Murnane se une a la exposición ‘Mujeres doctoras honoris causa en la USAL’ – Comunicación Universidad de Salamanca (21 june 2023)
- El panel de la física Margaret Murnane se une a la exposición ‘Mujeres doctoras honoris causa en la USAL – Salamanca24horas (21 june 2023)
In addition, the entire ceremony can be seen and heard on the USAL YouTube channel and on the USAL Radio service. It is also possible to download the thank you and laudatio speeches at this link.
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