Andreas Mogensen, astronaut and honorary professor at DTU Space, and Henrik Stiesdal, CTO of Stiesdal and honorary professor at DTU Wind, receive the H.C. Ørsted Medals for their outstanding communication of science. Each medal comes with a grant of DKK 20,000.
It is the Society for the Dissemination of Natural Science (SNU) that awards the H.C. Ørsted Medals in silver to the two honorary professors.
Andreas Mogensen receives the medal after an eventful year where he participated in his second space mission, Huginn, and conducted a number of Danish experiments and technology trials. In addition to the Huginn mission, in 2015 he was on his first 10-day space mission, Iriss, to the International Space Station ISS.
SNU President and Professor of Astrophysics Anja C. Andersen praises Andreas Mogensen, who is the first Dane in space:
“Andreas Mogensen has an extraordinary talent for communication, which has enabled him to capture all age groups and get them to follow the experiments he conducted on his space journeys - not least the last, very long one.
He manages to hold the attention of both young and old, whether he's broadcasting from space or standing in an auditorium. And with his solid professional background, he has managed to secure Denmark a unique place in space research.”
In addition to Andreas Mogensen, SNU also awards Henrik Stiesdal a silver medal. Henrik Stiesdal is known as one of the pioneers of Danish wind power, and he developed one of the first wind turbines that kick-started the Danish wind energy adventure.
Today, Henrik Stiesdal is CTO and board member of Stiesdal, which develops and provides technological solutions within wind energy, CO2 capture, and CO2 storage.
SNU's vice president and provost at DTU, Rasmus Larsen, explains that Henrik Stiesdal receives the medal because of his eminent communication skills:
“Henrik Stiesdal has never endeavoured to obtain an official engineering education. Nevertheless, his entire field of interest, creativity and work has constantly revolved around engineering issues, especially based on the vision of utilizing wind power.
He has independently acquired both the exact scientific background and developed engineering skills to such an extent that in 2024, he was awarded what is considered the Nobel Prize in Engineering: The Queen Elizabeth Prize.
Henrik Stiesdal is a brilliant communicator. He has the courage to reduce a complex problem to simple, tangible messages and clear, understandable analogies, delivered with wit, and humour. His communication is always captivating, whether it is for small or large gatherings, TV or popular science articles in ‘Ingeniøren’.”
The medal and grant are sponsored by the TICRA Foundation. The award ceremony will take place on Friday 8 November 2024 as part of a joint anniversary event for Ungdommens Naturvidenskabelige Forening (UNF) and SNU itself. The event takes place in Glassalen in building 101 at DTU Lyngby Campus from 14-17. The event is fully booked.
