Honorary Doctors through the years

The Honorary Doctorate at Chalmers is awarded as recognition of a particularly eminent and substantial professional achievement linked to areas of competence at Chalmers.

There should also be a contact network between the individual awarded the Honorary Doctorate and Chalmers.

Honorary doctors in Sweden

The title of honorary doctor, doctor honoris causa, is conferred upon academics, primarily from abroad, who have established ties with Swedish academic researchers or other individuals who have not taken a doctorate through academic studies but should clearly be inducted into the research community. Actual practice regarding what achievements should be honoured may vary from one institution to another.

However, certain rules apply across the board. It is always the faculties themselves that confer honorary doctorates, not the vice-chancellor or the university management. As Sweden is a small country, the distinction is national in scope. Any person who has attained a doctoral degree based on coursework and a dissertation at a Swedish university is not eligible to be awarded an honorary doctorate at another Swedish institution of higher learning.

The Swedish Convention for Academic Ceremonies' database of honorary doctorates consists of data from 1963 and onwards. You can find scientist at Chalmers who are appointed honorary doctors at other Swedish universities though the database. 

The Faculty Senate nominates

The Faculty Senate nominates the honorary doctors at Chalmers University of Technology and listed are those who have been appointed over the years.

2024

Gilles Barthe, founding director of the Max Planck Institute, and research professor at IMDEA Software Institute

Helen Byrne, professor at the University of Oxford

Marcus Wandt, MSc Engineer, chief test pilot at Saab, Astronaut at The European Space Agency (ESA)

First chalmerist in space, mathematician and cryptographer appointed Read:Honorary doctors (chalmers.se)

2023

Madhav Marathe, University of Virginia, USA.

Carol Flannagan, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), USA.

Francis Aish, Applied Research and Development (ARD) at Foster+Partners in London, Great Britain.

Read: Three honorary doctors appointed 2023

2022

Saras D Sarasvathy, Darden School of Business på University of Virginia, USA; Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India; and Nankai University in Tianjin, China.

Read: 2022 honorary doctorate to entrepreneurship researcher

2021

Heinz-Wilhelm Hübers, Humboldt-universitetet in Berlin, Germany, and Institute for optical sensor systems at Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfart (DLR).

Read: Heinz-Wilhelm Hübers is 2021's honorary doctor at Chalmers

2020

Simone Fischer-Hübner, Karlstad University and SWITS (Swedish IT Security Network).

Harry Barkus Gray, California Institute of Technology, Caltech and Beckmaninstitutet. Member of National Academy of Sciences i USA, and a foreign member of several other academies (including the Royal Society of Great Britain and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) .

Read: Chalmers' Honorary Doctors 2020 chosen

2019

Attilla Incecik
Olof Bergstedt
Tomoko M. Nakanishi

​2018

Anne Nouri
Lars G Larsson
Ruth Graham
Marcus Wallenberg

2017

Kaianders Sempler
Kristine M Larson
Steven Girvin

2016

Hermann Nicolai
Gerald D. Mahan
Susan Lindqvist

2015

Maria José García Borge
Jay D Keasling
Martin Lorentzon och Ludvig Strigeus
Benjamin Pierce

2014

Simon Tavaré
Kirsty B Arbogast
Andre Geim


2013

Hoda ElMaraghy
Jung Shin Choi
Bradley F Chmelka

2012

Leif Johansson
Geetam Tiwari
Peter Catto

2011

Kathryn E. Hare
Mathias Uhlén
Ingemar Andersson

2010

Kojiro Nishina
Chrisna du Plessis
Hans Geissel

2009

Reiko Kuroda
Bernhard Palsson
Anders Tjellström

2008

Kathleen M. Eisenhardt
Bruno Scrosati
Ingrid Skogsmo
Mateo Valero

2007

Dan Sten Olsson
Cynthia Mitchell
Richard N Zare
Helmut Neunzert

2006

Edward F Crawley
Tore Eriksson
Christine Wennerås
Agnes Wold

2005

Anne-Grete Hestnes
Marie Rådbo
Olle Thomsson
Hans Wallstén

2004

Olle Anderson
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Gérard Huet
Dominique Guillemaud-Mueller
David C Langreth
John Villadsen

2003

Gerhard Ertl
Birgit Jacobson
Gudrun Lönnroth
Rune Monö

2002

Geoffrey Boulton
Patsy Healy
David Marks
Marie-Paule Pileni
Annika de Ruvo

2001

Gunnel Adlercreutz
Stanley Deser
Harry Frank
Bert Hansson
Margot Wallström

2000

David Ashley
Ingemar Carlehed
Inger Hayman
Johan Karlberg
Karl Johan Åström

1999

John Heywood
Monica Sand
Boris Alexandrovitj Sevastjanov
Gert Wingårdh

1998

Pål Bergan
Stefan Edman
John Harris
Gunnar L Johansson
Sture Lindahl​

1997

Gunnar Bark
Hans Fog
Mary Jane Irwin
James M Utterback

1996

Åke Hörnell
Magnus Kellström
Hermann Kärner
Stig Larsson

1995

Sven-Erik Andersson
Per-Ingvar Brånemark
Marit Paulsen
Achim Richter

1994

Margareta Biörnstad
Jan Gezelius
Chuan Sheng Liu
Rolf Mellde

1993

Kenneth D Eason
Knut Jacobsson
William M Kahan
Tomas Kurucsev
Göran Lindahl

1992

Thomas J Allen
Per Gillbrand
Per Svedberg

1991

Hans Granum
Åke Lundqvist
Östen Mäkitalo

1990

Arne Brändström
Mat Darveniza
John W Wilkins

1989

Karl-Evert Flinck
Theodore E Harris
Anders Hård
Hadar Lidén
Gösta Nordhammar

1988

Tamás Dragonits
Håkan Frisinger
Gustav Lorentzen
Robin Milner

1987

Olof Dahlsjö
Olgierd C Zienkiewicz

1986

Robert Angus Buchanan
Bohdan Lewicki
Sigvard Smedsfelt
Haldor Topsöe

1985

Erik Berglund
James H Bramble
Gregory Choppin
J James Gibson
Stig Ingemansson
Alf Åkerman

1984

Pier Luigi Cervellati
Nils Henriksson
Jonas Verner Norrby
E C G Sudarshan
William Henry Wittrick

1983

Bogdan Baranowski
Sven-Olof Kronogård
Jacques-Louis Lions
John A Schellman
Erik Gustav Sundberg

1982

Elias Burstein
Ulla Cyrus-Zetterström
Ivar Holand
Alec W Skempton
Vadim N Tsytovich

1980

Per Brüel
Michael Field
Hugo Larsson
Sigvard Strandh

1979

Odd Brochmann
Ray W Clough
Duncan Dowson
Sigvard Hellestam
Mats Hillert
Uno Ingard
Lennart Johansson
Hans Lindgren
Torsten L Lindström
Björn Lundvall
Norman H March
Carl-Olof Morfeldt
Ingemar Petersén
Karl Stenstavold
Brita Åkerman

1978

Erik Ahlsén
Wilhelm Haglund
Bo Simmingsköld
Hans Werthén
Åke Åberg

1976

Orvar Dahle
Tore Lauritzson
Charles Massonnet

1975

Nils Einar Eriksson
Gunnar Hambraeus

1974

Sigvard Eklund
Sven Persson
Isac Rosén
Folke Thulin

1972

Gunnar Engellau
Fred Forbat
Edmund Kaiser
Lennart Stockman

1970

Elmer W Engstrom
Erik Hallén
Curt Rosenblad

1968

Ulf Bjuggren, betongtekniker
Victor Hasselblad
John Stålblad

1966

Gunnar Jancke
Nils Svensson

1963

Martin Fehrm
Erik Johansson
Torsten Källe

1960

Sixten Ulfsparre
Åke Vrethem

1957

Emil Alm
Georg A Richter
Ivar Tengbom
Axel Wenner-Gren

1951

Anker Engelund
Henning Franzén
Bror Holmberg
Richard Söderberg