In January the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania) awarded Prof. Herbert Danninger (Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics) an honorary doctorate. Danniger was honoured for his extensive research in the area of powder metallurgy. Furthermore he had made a significant contribution to the development of relations between Vienna University of Technology and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. 

In March the University of Salzburg awarded Prof. Peter M. Gruber, mathematician the Institute of Discrete Mathematics and Geometry, who has received numerous international awards, an honorary doctorate in science. Gruber is an expert in the areas of convex geometry, discrete geometry and geometry of numbers. He is globally one of the leading academics in all three areas and his contributions are groundbreaking.

At the presentation of the Dr. Wolfgang Houska Award in April Prof. Günter Allmaier (Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics) took 3rd place. His research work "Development of a polymer-based, microstructured matrix-supporting laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometer sample holder for Life Sciences" describes the successful implementation of a project he carried out during his many years of foundational research in bioanalytical measurement technology.

Prof. Georg Gottlob (Institute of Information Systems) was appointed a Fellow of the british Royal Society. This nomination is internationally recognised as one of the highest scientific honours.  Included in the list of Fellows since its foundation in 1660 are names such as Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz, Sigmund Freud, Tim Berners Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web) as well as a large number of Nobel Prize holders. 

In April Prof. Günter Blöschl was appointed a member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech). This recognition pays tribute to his international research work in the area of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management. His areas of expertise include flood predictions, new methods of determining design floods, process orientated modelling and he has also produced works on the effect of climate change on water management.

In May, Prof. Joachim Burgdörfer became an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in the "Section of Physical Sciences". This small group of foreign honorary members is currently made up of only 15 international individuals of scientific importance - including four Nobel Prize holders. Burgdörfer is internationally known for an extremely wide spectrum of research areas in atomic and surface physics as well as solid state physics. Extremely complicated processes in quantum physics such as the interaction of atoms with surfaces or the effect of ultra-short laser pulses on individual atoms are two of his specialist areas.

In May Prof. Peter Mohn (Institute of Applied Physics) was appointed as a foreign member of the Mathematical-Physical class of the Kungliga Vetenskaps-Societeten i Uppsala (Royal Society of Sciences, Sweden). The number of foreign members is limited to 40 and he is only the third Austrian to receive this honour.

Prof. Heinz Oberhummer (Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics) was nominated as the "Communicator of the Year" together with his colleagues from Science Busters from Public Relations Verband Austria.  In doing so the organisation is honouring someone, “who does not primarily work in the communication sector but is positively recognised as having especially high communicative qualities and does most of his work in Austria.”

His work ranges from ancient times to the space age: In December, Prof. Norbert Vana (Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics) was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art First Class.

Mathematics is still one of less popular school subjects but somehow he manages to make it interesting and exciting for both kids and adults: In December Prof. Rudolf Taschner (Institute for Analysis und Scientific Computing) was awarded the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria.