2004Eugene Kennedy elected as a member of the Royal Irish Academy

Professor Eugene Kennedy, Director of the National Centre for Plasma Science and Technology in DCU, was honoured today when he was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Dr Michael Ryan, President of the Royal Irish Academy, said ' Excellence is the only benchmark of the knowledge society. Those elected as Members of the Royal Irish Academy today have raised the benchmark of excellence in their respective fields internationally and bring honour on themselves and Ireland by their achievements'.

Professor Kennedy has a highly respected international profile in the field of Atomic and Plasma physics and is generally considered to be the most eminent experimental atomic physicist in Ireland. His work in DCU has concentrated on measurements using the dual laser plasma technique which he pioneered. Before his work was initiated, knowledge of the important area of the photoionization of atomic ions was largely theoretical. Approximately 50% of all measurements of ionic photoionization in the world to date have been made at DCU using his DLP method. He has over 77 refereed papers in leading physics journals, including ten in the premier journal, Physical Review Letters. His top five cited publications have received in excess of 300 citations. In 1997 DCU established his research group as one of its first University Designated Research Centres (UDRC).

Other Members of the Royal Irish Academy from DCU include: Professors Han Vos and Malcolm Smyth of the School of Chemical Sciences and President Emeritus, Dr Danny O'Hare .

The Royal Irish Academy is an all-Ireland, independent, academic body that promotes study and excellence in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. It is the principal learned society in Ireland and has approximately 320 Members elected in recognition of their academic achievement. For further information please see www.ria.ie

Well-known Academy members include: Dr Garret FitzGerald; Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney; Mr Dermot Gleeson ; Mr Peter Sutherland; Professor Joe Lee; Professor Ronan Fanning; Mrs Mary Robinson, Professor David McConnell (TCD Geneticist), Professor Richard Kearney; and President Mary McAleese.

For 217 years the Royal Irish Academy has been honouring Ireland's foremost academics by electing them as Members of the Academy.