Wellington geologist Prof Colin Wilson has received one of the highest international honours in science, with his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Prof Wilson’s election to the London-based Society was announced this week alongside 46 other Fellows. His major contributions to research stem from his work studying volcanoes and he is currently a Professor of Volcanology in the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University Wellington.
The Royal Society describes him as, “an outstanding field-focussed geologist, who has made world-class contributions to understanding explosive volcanism and crustal magmatism, based on uniquely detailed data sets gathered from historic and prehistoric eruption deposits.”
Prof Wilson joins the ranks of more than 1,600 current Fellows and Foreign Members, including around 80 Nobel Laureates. Current Fellows include notable scientists such as Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins and Tim Berners-Lee.
Prof Wilson will travel to London for a formal admission ceremony and new Fellows seminar in early July, where he will give a short presentation on his area of research.
You can read more about Prof Wilsons election to the Fellowship on the Victoria University Wellington site.