Professor Thorsteinn I. Sigfusson (Icelandic : Þorsteinn Ingi Sigfússon; 4 June 1954 in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland – 15 July 2019) was an Icelandic physicist prominent in the field of energy research. He was awarded the Global Energy Prize in 2007, and was the Director of the Innovation Center Iceland at the University of Iceland, where he held the Icelandic Alloys Chair. [1]
After studying at Hamrahlid College in Reykjavík, Thorsteinn graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1978 with a degree in Physics. He earned his PhD in 1983 at Darwin College, Cambridge under supervision of Prof Gilbert Lonzarich, FRS.
Thorsteinn worked as a Professor of Physics in The Science Institute at the University of Iceland, and served as Chairman of The Board of Science Institute (1986–90), University Library (1994), The Research Council of Iceland (1996–99), and the Technical Committee of RANNIS. He also acted as Director of The Engineering Institute and Dean of Faculty of the Renewable Energy School in Akureyri. In 2003–07, he was Co-Chair of The International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy, and in 2006 he created and chaired the Renewable Energy Prize Ceremony, first awarded by the World Renewable Energy Council during its world conference in Florence.
The companies and institutions he founded include:
The University of Akureyri was founded in 1987 in the town of Akureyri in the northeastern part of Iceland. It is today a school of health sciences, humanities and social science, and a school of business and science. Over 2000 students attended the university in the autumn semester of 2014, around half of them through flexible learning, making the university the largest provider of distance education in the country. The University of Akureyri coordinates with other Icelandic Universities to operate the University Centre of the Westfjords located in Ísafjörður, which operates two master's degrees, one in Coastal and Marine Management and the other in Marine Innovation. Additionally, The University of Akureyri coordinates with other Nordic Universities for the West Nordic Studies and Polar Law Masters programs.
Sajeev John, OC, FRSC is a Professor of Physics at the University of Toronto and Canada Research Chair holder. He is known for his discovery of photonic crystals.
The Government College University is a public research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. GCU is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in Pakistan. Founded as Government College, Lahore, in 1864 under British administration, it became a university in year 2002.
Iceland is a world leader in renewable energy making. 100% of Iceland electricity grid is produced from renewable resources. In terms of total energy supply, 85% of the total primary energy supply in Iceland is derived from domestically produced renewable energy sources. Geothermal energy provided about 65% of primary energy in 2016, the share of hydropower was 20%, and the share of fossil fuels was 15%.
RES - The School for Renewable Energy Science was a private, non-profit, international graduate school located in the city of Akureyri in northern Iceland and shares its facilities with the University of Akureyri. It operated from 2006 to 2011.
Hans-Josef Fell was a member of the German Parliamentary Group Alliance 90/ the Greens from 1998 to 2013. He served as spokesman on energy for the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group, a member of the Environmental Protection Committee, substitute member of the Committee on Economics and Technology and substitute member of the Defence Committee. Together with Hermann Scheer, he authored the 2000 draft of the Renewable Energy Sources Act, establishing the foundation for the technology developments in photovoltaic, biogas, wind power and geothermal energy in Germany. Fell is founder and president of the Energy Watch Group and an internationally renowned energy and climate change advisor, author and speaker.
Isaac Berzin is an Israeli scientist and entrepreneur.
Joachim Luther received his PhD in experimental physics at the Leibniz University Hannover in 1970.
Bikash Sinha was an Indian physicist who was active in the fields of nuclear physics and high energy physics. Sinha was the director of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre and the chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur in June 2005. He was also a member of scientific advisory board to the Prime Minister of India.
The Global Energy Prize is an international award in the field of energy industry which is given for "outstanding scientific research and scientific-technical developments in the field of energy which promote greater efficiency and environmental security for energy sources on Earth in the interests of all mankind".
Donal Donat Conor Bradley is the Vice President for Research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. From 2015 until 2019, he was head of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division of the University of Oxford and a Professor of Engineering Science and Physics at Jesus College, Oxford. From 2006 to 2015, he was the Lee-Lucas Professor of Experimental Physics at Imperial College London. He was the founding director of the Centre for Plastic Electronics and served as vice-provost for research at the college.
Dipankar Das Sarma, popularly known as D.D. Sarma, is an Indian scientist and structural chemist, known for his researches in the fields of Solid State Chemistry, Spectroscopy, Condensed Matter Physics, Materials Science, and Nanoscience. He is a former MLS Chair Professor of Physics and Chairman of the Centre for Advanced Materials and the GAST Professor of Uppsala University, Sweden, A recipient of TWAS Physics Prize and the UNESCO Biennial Javed Husain Prize, Sarma was honored by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India, in 1994, with the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology.
David John Wales is a professor of chemical physics in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge.
Onkar Nath Srivastava was an Indian material physicist, an Emeritus professor of Banaras Hindu University and the vice president for India and South Asia of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy, who was known for his contributions to the disciplines of nanotechnology and hydrogen energy. He was the author of two books and over 440 scientific papers and a recipient of several honors including Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the highest Indian award in the science and technology categories. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2016, for his contributions to science and engineering.
Kasturi Lal Chopra was an Indian materials physicist and a former director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He was the founder of the Thin Film Laboratory at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and the Microscience Laboratory at IIT, Kharagpur and held several US and Indian patents for his research findings. Author of a number of books on thin film technology, he was a recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the highest Indian award in the science and technology categories. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for his contributions to science and engineering.
Siva Umapathy is a Professor of the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry and also at the department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics at the Indian Institute of Science. He was the Director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal (IISER). He is known for his studies of molecular dynamics using Raman spectroscopy. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and also The National Academy of Science of India. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2004, for his contributions to chemical sciences.
Muthusamy Lakshmanan is an Indian theoretical physicist currently working as Professor of Eminence at the Department of Nonlinear Dynamics of Bharathidasan University. Presently he is the DST-SERB National Science Chair awarded by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology. He has held several research fellowships which included Raja Ramanna fellowship of the Department of Atomic Energy, Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science fellowship, Royal Society Nuffield Foundation fellowship, and NASI-Senior Scientist Platinum Jubilee Fellowship. In the year 2021, on August 15, he was conferred with the Dr. A. P. J Abdul Kalam Award by the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Deepak Mathur is an Indian molecular and atomic physicist and was a Distinguished Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He has been the J C Bose National Fellow at the Department of Atomic and Molecular Physics at Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) and founding director of the UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Science at the University of Mumbai. Known for his research on molecular and biological physics, Mathur is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and The World Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences in 1991. Amongst other awards, he has been the Royal Society's Guest Fellow at Oxford University and winner of the European Union's Erasmus-Mundus prize in optical science which he held at Imperial College London. Currently he is an adjunct professor at MAHE and is also learning to fly. His initial training was on a Grob G-115 2-seater training aircraft but he has now moved on to flying PA-28 4-seater aircraft.
Junwang Tang, MAE, FRSC and FIMMM, is the Founding Director of Industrial Catalysis Center, and Carbon Neutrality Chair Professor of Materials Chemistry and Catalysis at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University and Visiting Professor at University College London (UCL). He also served as the Director of the University Material Hub at UCL (2016–2019).