St Edmund’s Fellow and Individual Merit Scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, Professor Richard Horne, has been elected as Fellow of the Royal Society.

Richard was elected for his work on space weather– changes in the near-Earth space environment that disrupt modern technology and endanger human health.

He is distinguished for his work on wave-particle interactions in space, showing that plasma waves accelerate charged particles to very high energies and play a major role in the formation of the radiation belts of Earth, Jupiter and Saturn. Between 2011 and 2017 Richard led two EU projects to turn this basic research into a forecasting system that is now used by the European Space Agency, satellite operators and insurance underwriters to help protect satellites from radiation damage. He now runs the Rad-Sat and Sat-Risk projects to develop this system further for the UK Met Office.

Richard expressed his elation at the news: “I am absolutely delighted to be elected as Fellow of the Royal Society. It is our country’s most prestigeous scientific organisation. I look forward to promoting scientific research and international collaboration as much as possible – two of the most important themes of St Edmund’s College.”