Royal honour for School of Physics and Astronomy

Regius professorships are a rare privilege - before today's announcement only two had been created in the past 100 years. The chairs are awarded to institutions that have demonstrated an exceptionally high quality of teaching and research in a specific discipline area. The School of Physics and Astronomy, which also operates the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, is one of the leading physics departments in the world with more than 1,000 students, leading research projects in physics, astrophysics and astronomy, and significant public engagement activities. The School boasts world-leading staff in all areas of modern physics and has produced nine of the 25 Nobel prize winners associated with The University of Manchester, two of whom are among the current staff. The inaugural Regius Professor of Physics at Manchester will be conferred on Andre Geim. As well as being awarded the 2010 Nobel prize for his work on graphene, Professor Geim has produced many key results in other areas of physics that have caught the public's imagination, including development of 'gecko tape' and 'levitating-frog' experiments which won him the 2000 Ig Nobel prize. Stephen Watts, Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy, said: "Physics at Manchester has a proud tradition, starting with Rutherford and the discovery of the atomic nucleus, to the recent discovery of graphene.