Former Robert Gordon’s College pupil Professor Michael Kosterlitz, Class of ’61, returned to his Schoolhill roots today, 23 November 2017 to speak to the Gordon’s community about his fascinating career in Physics which led to the ultimate accolade in Science.
Professor Kosterlitz (age 74), originally from Cults, was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2016 for his pioneering work on ‘revealing the secrets of exotic matter’ (along with two other British-born scientists). During his visit to the school Professor Kosterlitz delivered a lecture to S5 and S6 Science pupils entitled ‘A Random Walk through Physics to the Nobel Prize’. Touring The Wood Foundation Centre for Science and Technology he spoke with pupils and staff commenting, ‘how the facilities have changed since his time at school’.
Speaking about his journey from his childhood days at Gordon’s to becoming a Professor of Physics at Brown University, Rhode Island in USA, Professor Kosterlitz said: "Do what you love and have fun with it."
Mr Simon Mills, head of College said: “We are privileged to have had professor Kosterlitz visit and speak to our pupils, staff and the wider school community. He is not only world class in his field of work but also an inspirational scientist and role model as a former pupil and Aberdonian.”
Professor Kosterlitz works on research in condensed matter theory, one and two dimensional Physics; in phase transitions: random systems, electron localization, and spin glasses, in critical dynamics and in melting and freezing. He joined Primary One at Robert Gordon’s College in 1948 and left at the end of S4. At Gordon’s Professor Kosterlitz was involved in tennis, the Scientific Society, the Debating Society, Youth Hostelling, skiing and hillwalking. These interests developed in later life to include a passion for mountaineering and climbing in expeditions and routes around the world.
He is the son of the famous Biochemist professor Hans Kosterlitz. The family came to Aberdeen to escape the Nazi régime in Berlin and Hans worked at the University of Aberdeen alongside Professor J J R McLeod on the co-discovery of insulin. After his retirement, aged 70, he discovered the enkephalins - a ground-breaking discovery that led to the discovery of endorphins, the natural painkillers produced by the brain. He received several gold medals for his work in his 70s and 80s and was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. Today there is a Kosterlitz Centre for Therapeutics at the University of Aberdeen named after his father for his groundbreaking research.
