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UCL academics honoured by American Academy of Arts and Sciences
22 April 2010
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ucl.ac.uk/iha/linda-partridge" target="_self">Professor Linda Partridge
Two UCL academics have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Dame Linda Partridge, Director of the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing, has been elected a Foreign Honorary Member and Professor Christopher Peacocke, UCL Philosophy, has been elected a Fellow.
Professor Partridge and Professor Peacocke are among 229 leaders in the sciences, the humanities and the arts, business, public affairs, and the non profit sector who have been elected to the Academy. They join one of the world's most prestigious honorary societies, whose other new Foreign Honorary Members include Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and filmmaker and playwright Mike Leigh.
Established in 1780 by John Adams and other US founding fathers, the Academy is a centre for independent policy research and undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems. Its membership of scholars and practitioners from many disciplines and professions enables it to conduct a wide range of interdisciplinary, long-term policy research. Current projects focus on science and technology; global security; social policy and American institutions; the humanities and culture; and education.
Professor Partridge said: "I am surprised and delighted by the news and am looking forward to learning more about the AAAS and its work. This honour is also an excellent mark of regard for the research community working on ageing."
Professor Peacocke said: "I am delighted and humbled to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The dynamism and vigour of American academic life has much in common with the character of UCL. I hope this election will facilitate the growth of UCL's already extensive research and teaching relationship with the United States."
The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on 9 October at the Academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A complete list of the 2010 class of new members can be viewed at the links above.
Images from top: Professor Linda Partridge and Professor Christopher Peacocke
UCL context
The UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing is an interdisciplinary centre of excellence for research on the biology of ageing and ageing-related diseases. Its goal is to improve the health and quality of life for older people, and its primary purpose is to bring together researchers working on the basic biology of ageing (biogerontology) with those working to understand the causes of ageing-related disease.
The teaching of Philosophy at UCL began in 1830 with the appointment of
a Professor of Logic and the Philosophy of Mind. The founding
principles of the College, and its early connections with Jeremy
Bentham and the Utilitarian movement, gave particular importance to the
subject. Today the department has notable strengths in the Philosophy of Mind
and Language, Political and Moral Philosophy, Metaphysics and
Epistemology, and the History of Philosophy.
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