A SCOTTISH Nobel Prize winner has been knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
David MacMillan, from Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, was awarded for his services to chemistry.
The professor has forged a stellar career which amounted to being co-awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and now a knighthood for his services to the science.
Graduating with a degree in Chemistry from the University of Glasgow, MacMillan proceeded to complete his PhD at the University of California.
After completing his postdoctoral work at Harvard University, he began his independent research career at the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the faculty at the California Institute of Technology where he was appointed Earle C Anthony Professor of Chemistry.
He is currently the James S McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University.
MacMillan’s leading scientific research has been recognised all over the world. He has received many prestigious science awards and been elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the Royal Society.
Uddingston and Bellshill MSP Stephanie Callaghan MSP said: “Dave’s knighthood is so well deserved. His achievements in the complex world of organocatalysis benefits all of humanity and our planet. This latest honour confirms yet again that ‘anything is possible’. From Bellshill schoolboy to Distinguished Professor at Princeton University, to Nobel Prize Winner to Knight Bachelor.
“Dave’s story is inspiring, a powerful illustration of how talent can be nurtured through a combination of a loving family, public education, talented teachers, and personal determination. Dave’s story is not only one of scientific accomplishment, it is a story of a man whose roots still mould and shape who he is today.
“Having spent some time with Dave, I was struck by how much he loves coming ‘home’ and how close he remains to family and friends in Lanarkshire. Despite Dave’s globetrotting life in academia, he remains fiercely proud of his Bellshill upbringing.”
