Julia_Higgins

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 5

Julia Higgins

Dame Julia Stretton Higgins (née Downes; born 1


Professor
July 1942) is a British polymer scientist. Since 1976,
she has been based at the Department of Chemical Dame Julia Higgins
DBE FRS FREng HonFInstP
Engineering at Imperial College London, where (since
2007) she is emeritus professor and senior research
investigator.[1][3][4][5][6][7]

Education
Higgins was educated at the Ursuline High School,
Wimbledon and Somerville College, Oxford where she
was awarded Master of Arts and DPhil
degrees.[8][9][10]

Career
Higgins in 2019
In 1999, Higgins was elected as a member of the Born Julia Stretton Downes
National Academy of Engineering for the application 1 July 1942[1]
of neutron scattering and reflectivity to polymeric Surbiton, London, England[2]
materials, and for service to the scientific community. Alma mater Somerville College, Oxford (MA,
DPhil)
Higgins chaired the Advisory Committee on
Mathematics Education (ACME) from 2008 to 2012. Awards Sir Frank Whittle Medal (2020)
She is also a former chair (1998–2003) of the Athena Holweck Prize (2006)
Project, which aims for the advancement of women in DBE (2001)
science, engineering and technology (SET), in Higher FRS (1995)
Education. Between 2003 and 2007, she was also chair
FREng (1999)
of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council. Higgins was president of the Institution of Scientific career
Chemical Engineers 2002–03, and president of the Fields Polymer science
British Association for the Advancement of Science
Neutron scattering
2003–04. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society in 1995,[9] and was its foreign secretary 2001– Institutions Imperial College London

06.[9] University of Manchester


Institut Laue–Langevin
She is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical
Thesis Inelastic scattering of neutrons
Engineers, Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining,
from clathrate inclusion
the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal
compounds and molecules in
molecular sieves (http://solo.bodl
Academy of Engineering,[11] and the City and Guilds eian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:LSCOP_O
of London Institute, of which she is Vice-President. X:oxfaleph020545024) (1968)
She is an honorary fellow of the Institute of Physics Website www.imperial.ac.uk/people/j
and of Somerville College, Oxford.[12] .higgins (http://www.imperial.ac.u
k/people/j.higgins)
She was appointed a CBE in 1996, before being named
a dame in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours list.[13]
Dame Julia replaced Professor Adrian Smith FRS as ACME Chair in September 2008 when Adrian
became Director General of Science and Research at the Department for Innovation, Universities and
Skills. She holds honorary degrees from a number of UK universities and the University of Melbourne,
Australia. Her scientific work has concentrated on the investigation of polymers with neutron
scattering.[3] She co-authored a monograph on that field (Higgins & Benoit 1997).[14]

In April 2003, she became chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and was
succeeded by John Armitt on 1 April 2007. In June 2006, Higgins was appointed principal of the Faculty
of engineering at Imperial College London. The Faculty of engineering at Imperial College is one of the
largest in the UK, comprising nine departments with 1,000 staff, over 4,200 students and an annual
turnover of around £80 million. She is a member of the World Knowledge Dialogue Scientific Board,
president of the ESPCI ParisTech Scientific Committee.[15]

She is a Patron of WISE, a charitable organisation that encourages young women to pursue careers in
Science, engineering and Construction,[16] as well as a member of the Advisory Council for the
Campaign for Science and Engineering.[17]

She served as president of the Institute of Physics from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2019.[18]

Awards and honours


Higgins was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1989. Her nomination reads:

After obtaining a first degree in Physics the candidate undertook research in the field of
Physical Chemistry. She started using neutron scattering as a tool for investigating molecular
structure and dynamics at this stage, first applying the techniques to the study of polymers
while a post-doctoral research assistant in the Chemistry Department at Manchester. She was
closely involved with the development of new techniques, their application in Polymer Science
and the formation of an international community of scientists using these techniques while
employed as a Physicist at the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble.[9] Since [sic] returning to the
UK at Imperial she has built an internationally recognised group. She is well-known for her
studies of the dynamics of polymer molecules, especially in the bulk state and, more recently
the thermodynamics and demixing processes in polymer blends. Dr Higgins has a wonderful
ability for recognizing when a new area of polymer science is ripe for experimental study and
has a row of 'firsts' to her credit.[19]

Other awards and honours include:

Principal of the Faculty of engineering (2006–07)


Chair of the engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (2003 – April 2007)
Trustee, National Gallery until 2010[20]
Trustee, Daphne Jackson Trust
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering[11]
Foreign member of the National Academy of Engineering of the United States
Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2003
President, British Association for the Advancement of Science from 2003 until 2004.
Received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2000[21]
She is a foreign member of the National Academy of Engineering of the United States. She
was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2001
Birthday Honours. In March 2010, the UKRC announced Professor Higgins as one of six
Women of Outstanding Achievement in Science, engineering and Technology.[22]
A portrait of her by Tess Barnes was unveiled in June 2014 at Imperial College.[23]
In 1999 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng).[11]
She was chair of the Royal Society's 2008 State of the Nation Report Steering Group for
'Science and mathematics education 14–19'.[24]
In 2016, she was interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili on The Life Scientific.[10]
Awarded the Sir Frank Whittle Medal by the Royal Academy of engineering in 2020 "for her
sustained excellence in polymer engineering".[25]

References
1. "HIGGINS, Dame Julia (Stretton)" (https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswh
o/U20092). Who's Who. Vol. 2014 (online edition via Oxford University Press ed.). A & C
Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership (https://www.ukwhoswho.com/page/subscri
be#public) required.)
2. Higgins, Julia (2011). "Professor Dame Julia Higgins" (https://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/T
RANSCRIPTS/021T-C1379X0055XX-0000A1.pdf) (PDF). National Life Stories: An Oral
History of British Science (Interview). Interviewed by Thomas Lean. The British Library. Ref
no: C1379/55.
3. Julia Higgins's publications (https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=740211972
4) indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
4. "Dame Julia Higgins profile" (http://www.imperial.ac.uk/AP/faces/pages/read/Home.jsp?pers
on=j.higgins&_adf.ctrl-state=12wlum3ndv_131&_afrRedirect=1728436067837551).
Retrieved 18 April 2014.
5. Professor Dame Julia Higgins' profile (http://www.ingenia.org.uk/ingenia/articles.aspx?Index
=423) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150924035139/http://www.ingenia.org.uk/ing
enia/articles.aspx?Index=423) 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Ingenia,
September 2007
6. Symposium Opening speech by Julia Higgins 2008 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB
FIXB2kTjw) on YouTube
7. The Royal Society's The Vision Committee's Vision for the future of Science and Maths
Education (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwSe1nQaiQ4) on YouTube, chaired by Julia
Higgins
8. Higgins, Julia Stretton (1968). Inelastic scattering of neutrons from clathrate inclusion
compounds and molecules in molecular sieves (http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:LSCO
P_OX:oxfaleph020545024). bodleian.ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford.
9. "Life Stories in association with the British Library" (https://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRA
NSCRIPTS/021T-C1379X0055XX-0000A1.pdf) (PDF). Sounds.bl.uk. Retrieved 1 December
2016.
10. Al-Khalili, Jim (2016). "Julia Higgins on polymers, interview on The Life Scientific" (https://w
ww.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b083n2jg). bbc.co.uk. London: BBC.
11. "List of Fellows" (https://web.archive.org/web/20190402080731/https://www.raeng.org.uk/ab
out-us/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows). Royal Academy of Engineering. Archived from the
original (https://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows) on 2 April 2019.
Retrieved 2 July 2022.
12. "Professor Dame Julia Higgins" (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/j.higgins/honours-and-m
emberships.html). Retrieved 21 April 2018.
13. "The Queen's birthday Honours" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2001/birthday_hono
urs_2001/1390779.stm). News.bbc.co.uk. 2001. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
14. "Somerville College Oxford web-site" (http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/people/julia-stretton-higgin
s/). Some.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
15. "ESPCI Paris : Conseil scientifique international" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110720215
318/http://www.espci.fr/fr/espci-paristech/organisation/conseil-scientifique-international).
Espci.fr. Archived from the original (https://www.espci.fr/fr/espci-paristech/organisation/cons
eil-scientifique-international) on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
16. "About Us" (https://web.archive.org/web/20081231204024/http://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/
about_us.cfm). Archived from the original (http://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/about_us.cfm)
on 31 December 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
17. "Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering" (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20100828110110/http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/about/who/advisory.htm).
Sciencecampaign.org.uk. Archived from the original (http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/ab
out/who/advisory.htm) on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
18. "Dame Julia Higgins to be the IOP's next president-elect" (http://www.iop.org/news/15/may/p
age_65632.html). Iop.org. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
19. "EC/1995/11: Higgins, Dame Julia Stretton" (https://www.webcitation.org/6RTYB2Iih?url=htt
ps://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=C
atalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC/1995/11%27)). London, UK: The
Royal Society. Archived from the original (https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?ds
qIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo=
=%27EC/1995/11%27)) on 31 July 2014.
20. "Board of Trustees" (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about-us/organisation/board-of-trustee
s/minutes-of-the-board/march-2010). National Gallery. 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
21. "Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160
418163907/http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm). 1.hw.ac.uk. Archived
from the original (http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm) on 18 April
2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
22. "THE uk's MOST OUTSTANDING WOMEN IN SET ANNOUNCED : News from UK
Resource Centre for Women (UKRC)" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110721032413/http://
www.pandct.com/media/shownews.asp?ID=24492). Archived from the original (http://www.p
andct.com/media/shownews.asp?ID%3D24492) on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 19 November
2010.
23. "Imperial unveils historic portrait of leading female scientist" (http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/new
sandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_23-6-2014-9-56-15).
3.imperial.ac.uk. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
24. "State of the Nation: Science and mathematics education 14–19" (https://royalsociety.org/to
pics-policy/projects/state-of-nation/14-19/). royalsociety.org. 2008. Retrieved 1 January
2020.
25. "Sir Frank Whittle Medal" (https://www.raeng.org.uk/grants-prizes/prizes/prizes-and-medals/i
ndividual-medals/whittle-medal). Retrieved 14 September 2020.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julia_Higgins&oldid=1256309152"

You might also like