Sir Paul Nurse confirmed as President Elect of the Royal Society

Nobel laureate, Sir Paul Nurse has been confirmed as President Elect of the Royal Society. The result of a ballot of the Fellowship was confirmed at a meeting of the Society’s Council today. He will take up the post of President on 1 December 2010.

Nobel laureate, Sir Paul Nurse has been confirmed as President Elect of the Royal Society.  The result of a ballot of the Fellowship was confirmed at a meeting of the Society’s Council today.  He will take up the post of President on 1 December 2010.

Paul Nurse is a geneticist who works on what controls the division and shape of cells. He was Professor of Microbiology at the University of Oxford, CEO of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and Cancer Research UK, and is presently President of Rockefeller University New York. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2001 and the Royal Society Copley Medal in 2005. He will be returning to the UK at the end of the year and will become President of the Royal Society on 1 December 2010.

There have been 59 Presidents of the Royal Society since it was founded in 1660. Previous Presidents of the Royal Society have included Christopher Wren, Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton, Joseph Banks, Humphry Davy, and Ernest Rutherford.