Jens Christian Skou – winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry – turns 90
On 8 October 2008, the man behind the most significant event in Aarhus University’s 80-year-long history of research turns 90.
In 1997, Professor Emeritus Jens Christian Skou, DrMedSc, from the Faculty of Health Sciences, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for being the first person ever to describe an ion pump – the so-called sodium-potassium pump.
Although Skou was not awarded the Nobel Prize until 40 years after his description of the sodium-potassium pump, his research results rapidly led to international attention, and they were the starting point for extensive scientific work at Aarhus University. Among his achievements, Skou was co-founder of the Biomembrane Centre, the setting for a large Danish forum for research into transport across cell membranes. The PUMPKIN basic research centre was subsequently opened, where studies of the structure and function of ion pumps now continue.
On the occasion of Nobel Prize winner Jens Christian Skou’s 90th birthday, Aarhus University has commissioned the Danish artist Erik A. Frandsen to execute a Venetian mosaic portrait of Skou. The portrait is expected to be finished by spring and will be hung in connection with a number of other artworks that the New Carlsberg Foundation and the university commissioned from Erik A. Frandsen earlier in the year. This is to the great delight of Skou, who is very interested in art.
“I regard the portrait as a great honour, and I’m also glad that it’s Erik A. Frandsen doing the work. He’s a pleasant person to be with and I’m very impressed, especially by his fantastic mosaics, but also by his works with etchings in steel,” says Skou. Now ninety years old, the Nobel Prize winner still has his routine at Aarhus University – in spite of his advanced years.
“Jens Christian Skou really deserves this tribute. Throughout his long, exceptional career as a researcher, he has helped to focus international attention on Aarhus University. He is a researcher with a capital “R”, who has demonstrated that you can go all the way from a small town to winning a Nobel Prize, provided you’ve got the necessary talent, genius and willpower. He’s thus a role model not only for all the aspiring research talents at the university, but also for the whole of Aarhus University,” says Rector Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen.
As an extra gesture in honour of this great researcher, Aarhus University has decided to support the publication of Skou’s autobiography, which will be issued by the Aarhus University Press next spring.
In connection with Skou’s 90th birthday, Aarhus University has prepared a website that describes his life and research career: http://www.au.dk/en/nobelprize1997
See also the media release about the work involved in artist Erik A. Frandsen’s portrait of Skou: http://www.au.dk/en/news/archive/2008/skou_90/skou_portrait
More information
Rector Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen +45 8942 1141
Download press photos: http://www.au.dk/en/nobelprize1997/press
Anders Correll
public relations officer