The G K Batchelor Prize for 2016 is awarded to Professor Raymond E. Goldstein FRS, Schlumberger Professor of Complex Physical Systems in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and Fellow of Churchill College, University of Cambridge.

The Prize was awarded after an international panel of experts considered nominations, over 150, received from researchers worldwide. This prestigious prize, sponsored by the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, is awarded every 4 years at the International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics to recognise the achievements of an active scientist who has made significant research contributions to fluid mechanics over the previous decade.

Fluid mechanics is pervasive and plays significant roles throughout most branches of science.  This was amply demonstrated by the broad range of disciplines spanned by the short-listed candidates for the Prize, which made comparisons between them very difficult but very interesting for the panel.  The Batchelor Prize is awarded for published work that is of great current interest, representing an emerging field of application of Fluid Mechanics or a significant breakthrough in an established branch of the subject.

The Prize is awarded for Professor Goldstein’s pioneering research into active matter fluid mechanics, including work on collective behaviour in bacterial suspensions, synchronisation of flagella in eukaryotic cells and the surface interactions of swimming microorganisms. In particular, the Prize acknowledges the extraordinary degree of experimental sophistication employed to measure flow fields around active suspensions, which, coupled with theoretical insight, has led to significant advances in the understanding of cell transport and the evolution of multicellular systems.

Professor Goldstein has served on various professional panels and committees as well as the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed journals. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and American Physical Society, and has received several prizes in recognition of his work, including the 2012 Ig Nobel Prize.

Professor Goldstein remarked on winning this prestigious prize:

“I feel very honoured to have been awarded this prize, and to be in the company of the great fluid dynamicists who have won it previously. It is especially gratifying to see that our work at the intersection of the physical and life sciences has been recognized in this way.  Although awarded to a single person, I consider the prize to be a testament to the fantastic collaborators I have had in Cambridge and beyond this past decade.”

Professor Raymond Goldstein will be giving his prize lecture during the International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Montreal.  Details of Professor Goldstein’s research can be found at www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gold

Access a collection of papers published by Professor Goldstein in Journal of Fluid Mechanics

Key articles from Professor Goldstein:

Flagellar synchronization through direct hydrodynamic interactions Douglas R Brumley, Kirsty Y Wan, Marco Polin, Raymond E Goldstein, eLife 2014;3:e02750

Fluctuations, Dynamics, and the Stretch-Coil Transition of Single Actin Filaments in Extensional Flows Vasily Kantsler and Raymond E. Goldstein, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 038103 – Published 19 January 2012

Membrane Viscosity Determined from Shear-Driven Flow in Giant Vesicles Aurelia R. Honerkamp-Smith, Francis G. Woodhouse, Vasily Kantsler, and Raymond E. Goldstein, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 038103 – Published 17 July 2013

Dancing Volvox: Hydrodynamic Bound States of Swimming Algae  Knut Drescher, Kyriacos C. Leptos, Idan Tuval, Takuji Ishikawa, Timothy Pedley, and Raymond E. Goldstein, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 168101 – Published 20 April 2009