UAB awards physicist Lisa Randall an honorary doctorate

Lisa Randall
On 25 March, the UAB awarded an honorary doctorate to Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical physics at Harvard University who has linked her studies with the humanistic fields. The ceremony took place at the Rectorat building at 12 noon.

19/03/2019

On 25 March, the UAB awarded an honorary doctorate to Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical physics at Harvard University and renowned theoretical physicist. Randall was sponsored by Àlex Pomarol, professor of theoretical physics of the UAB Department of Physics.

The ceremony took place at the Auditorium (Sala d'Actes) of the Rectorat building, and include dsimultaneous interpreting offered by the students of the University Master's Degree in Conference Interpreting (MUIC) at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting. This is one of the five exceptional honorary doctorates awarded by the UAB this year in commemoration of its 50th anniversary.

Lisa Randall specialises in particle physics and cosmology and is a markedly transversal thinker who has been able to relate the knowledge discovered in her field with philosophy, the humanities and music. She became the first female professor of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Princeton and Harvard. She has worked on several string theory models to explain the way the universe works and her research gave way to the first indications of the indispensability of the Higgs particle for the theory of elementary particles, far before it was discovered experimentally.

She is also a well-known scientific disseminator, author of books such as Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions (2005), Knocking on heaven's door: How physics and scientific thinking illuminate the universe and the modern world (2011), Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space (2013) and Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe (2015).

Among the exceptional honorary doctorates awarded this year by the UAB, Dr Randall received the award corresponding to the field of knowledge. The honorary doctorates already awarded correspond to freedom of expression (Congolese lawyer Caddy Adzuba), solidarity (microbiologist and activist Marie-Paule Kieny) and cultural identity (sculptor Jaume Plensa). On 7 May, journalist Joaquim Maria Puyal will receive the last of the five awards, for his commitment with the Catalan language and society.