Patron Saint’s Day 2020: KU Leuven presents five female honorary doctors
As part of its Patron Saint’s Day celebrations, KU Leuven traditionally confers a number of honorary doctorates in recognition of extraordinary scientific, social, or cultural achievements. Today, University will award honorary doctorates to Kimberlé Crenshaw, Liv Hatle, Mae Jemison, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, and Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Kimberlé Crenshaw
Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw (°1959) is an American lawyer and civil rights activist known for her pioneering theoretical work on equality and discrimination. She developed the notion ‘intersectionality’, which describes discrimination as a result of more than one vulnerability, such as a combination of race and gender. She showed that black women face a unique kind of discrimination that is different from, for example, white women's or black men's. Intersectionality has become a standard notion, and the idea behind it has been included in South Africa’s constitution and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Crenshaw is affiliated with Columbia Law School and UCLA.
Photo: © Mohamed Badarne
Liv Hatle
During her career as a cardiologist at the University of Trondheim (Norway), Professor Liv Hatle (°1936) developed various clinical applications of the Doppler technique – which measures the pace of blood flow – in combination with echocardiography. Worldwide, tens of thousands of examinations take place every day based on the methods that she developed and refined. Her book Doppler ultrasound in cardiology (1982) is still the work of reference in the field. Liv Hatle’s work has led to new insights into cardiac pathophysiology and has improved the diagnosis and treatment of the individual patient.
Mae Jemison
In 1992, Mae Jemison (°1956), who has a background in chemical engineering and medicine, became the first African American woman in space. Later, she was a lecturer in environmental studies at Dartmouth College, where she was also the head of the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries. Furthermore, she founded The Jemison Group, which uses technology to improve healthcare in developing countries.
Jemison investigates the possibilities and limitations of interstellar space travel from a STEM perspective. She is also an active promotor of the rights of women and minorities. In 1994, Jemison founded the Earth We Share programme for youngsters around the world, in which she links a social-educational objective to her scientific mission.
Valérie Masson-Delmotte
Valérie Masson-Delmotte (°1971) is a French palaeoclimatologist and one of the world’s most influential climate scientists. Her work focuses on the evolution of the climate over hundreds of thousands of years. Masson-Delmotte brings her research to the attention of the general public and manages to leave her mark on policy matters. She has a leading role within the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the UN organisation that paved the way for climate conventions such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. In 2014, Thomson Reuters recognised her as a ‘highly cited scientist’, and in 2018, she made it onto ‘Nature's 10’, an annual list of influential people in science, compiled by the journal Nature.
Photo: © Enseignement supérieur, Recherche et Innovation
Nasrin Sotoudeh
Nasrin Sotoudeh (°1963) is an Iranian lawyer and human rights activist. For years, Sotoudeh has been advocating for better compliance with human rights and a fair judiciary in her home country. She gained international recognition when she protested the incarceration of the political opposition in the aftermath of the presidential elections. She also supported various Iranian activists, including Nobel Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. After speaking up for women who protest the obligation to wear a headscarf in Iran, she was sentenced on 12 March 2019 to 148 strokes of the cane and 38 years in prison. By conferring the honorary doctorate on Ms Sotoudeh, KU Leuven wants to denounce her unjustified incarceration. Sotoudeh has been nominated for this honorary doctorate by the students.
Due to her incarceration, Nasrin Sotoudeh won't be able to attend the Patron Saint's Day celebrations.
This year, KU Leuven celebrates its Patron Saint's Day on Monday 3 February 2020.
