Stellenbosch University Prof Jonathan Jansen will walk in Einstein's footsteps

Stellenbosch University professor of education Jonathan Jansen will walk in the footsteps of intellectual and creative giants such as Martin Luther King, Georgia O’Keeffe, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill and Charles Darwin.

Jansen is president of the Academy of Science of South Africa but has now also been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts, considered one of the most prestigious academies on the globe.

Jansen has long been a thought leader on home soil, and his election to the academy, which took place earlier this week, places him in the company of leaders from “every field of human endeavour to examine new ideas and address issues of importance”, Stellenbosch University said.

In a welcoming letter from the president of the academy, David Oxtoby, Jansen was told “this honour signifies the high regard in which you are held by leaders in your field and members throughout the nation”.

Jansen, who will attend a formal induction in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 20, said it was an “incredible and unexpected honour” and he was “deeply grateful”.

“That one's peers around the world and in this prestigious academy of scholars believe you have something to say and your work counts for something is the ultimate reward for one's intellectual endeavours.” 

He said Stellenbosch University had made it possible with the “generous space, support and resources” it provided to make his research teams “so productive and impactful in the scholarly arena” and also “in the communities served by our research”.

As he joins, he will be counted among more than 250 Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners.

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