The honorary doctoral degree is awarded to researchers who are deemed to have achieved such outstanding scientific results that it is considered natural to honour them with the highest academic degree.
A majority of Aarhus University’s honorary doctors have been/are internationally recognised foreign researchers who – as visiting scholars or through international research partnerships – have had a significant impact on the research and learning environment at Aarhus University.
The first honorary doctors at Aarhus University were appointed on 11 September 1946 at the formal inauguration of the university’s new main building.
(Report on ‘Aarhus University’s Inaugural and Promotion Ceremony’ (1946) is found in Acta Jutlandica XIX,1 (U4)) and can be read here (pdf, 2 MB).
During the first decades, mainly researchers from Scandinavia were appointed honorary doctors – including Danish research enthusiasts. But as the university became increasingly integrated in an ever more globalised research environment, the entire international research community was included.
Up until 2007, honorary doctors were only appointed in connection with anniversary celebrations and on very special occasions. But since 2007, appointments of honorary doctors have formed part of Aarhus University’s annual celebration.
In principle, the list comprises all honorary doctors at Aarhus University since 1946, including honorary doctors appointed at institutions that have merged with Aarhus University.
ARTS: Professor James Phelan, Department of English, Ohio State University
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Professor Pankaj K. Agarwal, Department of Computer Science, Duke University, USA
HEALTH: Professor Sander Greenland, Department of Epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health, USA
BUSINESS ANS SOCIAL SCIENCES: Professor David F. Hendry, Department of Economics, University of Oxford
ARTS: Professor Isabelle Stengers, Université Libre de Bruxelles >
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Professor James W. Hicks, University of California >
HEALTH: Professor Andreas Engel, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland >
BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES: Professor David C. Rubin, Duke University (business and social sciences) >
ARTS: Professor Francis Fukuyama >
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Professor George M. Whitesides >
HEALTH SCIENCES: Professor Timothy Alan Springer >
BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES: Professor Anne O. Krueger >
HUM: Professor Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Division of Literature, Cultures and Languages at Stanford University, USA
SUN: Professor Pierre J. Verroust, UMRS 592, Institut de la Vision, Paris, Frankrig
TEO: Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Graf, indehaver af lærestolen i systematisk teologi og etik ved Ludwig Maximillians Universitet i München, Tyskland
NAT: Professor Robert E. Ricklefs, Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, USA
SAM/ASB: Professor emeritus William Richard Scott, Stanford University, USA
ASB: Professor Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp, University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill, USA
DJF: Professor Daniel Gianola, College of Agricultural & Life Sciences, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
HUM: Professor Georges Kleiber, l’Université Marc Bloch de Strasbourg
SUN: Doktor Mark Alan Knepper, MD, Laboratory of Kidney and Electrolyte Matebolism (LKEM), USA
SUN: Professor Thomas Willnow, de medicinske fakulteter ved Berlins universiteter
SAM: Professor Neil Shephard, Nuffield College/Oxford-Man Institute, Oxford University
SAM: Dommer Peer Lorenzen, Den Europæiske Menneskerettighedsdomstol
NAT: Professor Irving A. Mendelssohn, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA
ASB: Professor Theodor Baums, Institut for Jura og Finansiering, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität i Frankfurt
DPU: Professor emeritus i almen pædagogik Dietrich Benner, Humboldt Universitetet, Berlin
HUM: Professor, Dr. Heinrich Detering, Seminar für Deutsche Philologie, Georg-August Universität, Göttingen
SUN: Professor Salvador Moncada, direktør for The Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, University College London
DPU/SAM: Professor emerita Jean Lave, University of California, Berkeley
TEO: Professor Bernhard Lang, Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Universität Paderborn
NAT: Professor Kurt Mehlhorn, Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik, Universität des Saarlandes
NAT: Sir Alan Roy Fersht, Director of the MRC Centre for Protein Engineering and Professor of Organic Chemistry at University of Cambridge, UK
NAT: Professor Bai Chunli, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chief Scientist for the National Steering Committee for Nanoscience and Technology in China and Director of the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China
NAT: Professor Yang Huanming, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
AARHUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: Professor, Ph.d. Edvard P. Lazear
HUM: Professor Rom Harre, University of Oxford
SUN: Professor K.G.M.M. Alberti, University of Newcastle
SAM: Professor Robert Keohane, Duke University
TEO: Professor Kurt Rudolph, Philipps-Universität Marburg
NAT: Professor Robert Milner, University of Cambridge
SUN: Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen
SUN: Timothy Prout
AARHUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: Professor Yoshio Kondo
AARHUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: Professor Herbert Ernst Wiegand
SAM: Ulrich Neisser
SUN: Christoph E. Broelsch
TEO: A.M. Allchin
AARHUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: Professor, dr.oecon. Vagn Madsen
AARHUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: Professor, dr. Wolfram Wilss
AARHUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: Professor, Phd. Arthur Stonehill
SUN: Halfdan Mahler
SUN: Ian Michael Glynn
HUM: Eugenio Barba
SAM: Mogens Munch
TEO: Rudolf Arendt
NAT: Olaf Holm
SAM: Thorkil Kristensen
SAM: Erik Ib Schmidt
HUM: Bernhardt Jensen
HUM: Eli Fisher-Jørgensen
HUM: Carl Heinrich Petersen
HUM: Karl Stackmann
HUM: David Wilson
SUN: Mogens Fog
SUN: Johannes Clemmesen
SAM: Stein Rokkan
TEO: Gustaf Wingren
TEO: Jacob Jervell
NAT: Ralph Alger Bagnold
NAT: Max Perutz
HUM: Louis L. Hammerich
HUM: Morten Borup
HUM: Erik Lönnroth
SUN: Jan Jansen
SUN: Jörgen Lehmann/Jørgen Lehmann
NAT: Haldor Topsøe
HUM: Emanuel Sejr
HUM: H.P. Hansen
Niels Bohr (appointed by the Dean of NAT, but Honorary Doctor of Philosophy)
HUM: Sverre Steen
HUM: Axel Lindvald
HUM: Viggo Thorlacius-Ussing
HUM: Joseph Vendryes
HUM: Bruno Snell
SUN: H.C. Hagedorn
SUN: P. Boysen-Jensen
SAM: Hans Chr. Plessing
SAM: Axel H. Pedersen
TEO: Ragnar Bring
HUM: Holger Pedersen
HUM: Peter Holm
HUM: Curt Weibull
HUM: Francis Bull
SUN: Knud Faber
SAM: Bertil Ohlin
SAM: Frederik Zeuthen
TEO: Oskar Andersen
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