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)
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
