Feringa named Honorary Citizen

Nobel Prize winner Ben Feringa was named Honorary Citizen of Groningen by its mayor Peter den Oudsten on Wednesday afternoon.
By Peter Keizer / Translation by Sarah van Steenderen

The appointment took place during the Nobel Prize Lecture in the Martini church in Groningen, where the professor of organic chemistry was giving a lecture.
The mayor also awarded Feringa’s research group the Badge of Honour. ‘In bestowing the Honorary Citizenship and the Badge of Honour, the municipal board expresses its appreciation for the exceptional services Ben Feringa and his research group have provided to both the RUG and the city’, the mayor said in a press release.

Brilliant

Den Oudsten calls Feringa ‘a brilliant, inspiring, and passionate scientist’ and ‘a fantastic ambassador for science and the city of Groningen’.

Feringa was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in early October. He shares it with a Frenchman and a Briton. The professor built the first molecular motor in 1999, and in 2011 he built the first nano-car.

Honorary citizen

The Honorary Citizenship of the city of Groningen is awarded for ‘extraordinary selfless service to the city and its inhabitants over the span of many years’. Feringa can count King Willem-Alexander, Hans Alders, Jacques Wallage, and Max van den Berg among his predecessors.

The Badge of Honour of the city of Groningen is awarded for ‘excellent services to Groningen society’.

Super nano-car

As a tribute to Feringa, the municipality put a life-size nano-car at the Grote Markt. In reality, the nano-car is only one millionth of a millimetre in length: a nanometre. The large model at the Grote Marks measures 4 metres by 6.5 metres.

The nano-car will remain at the Grote Markt until Friday, after which it will be moved to the square in front of the Academy building. Finally, it will be taken to its permanent residence at the Zernike campus.

People busily build a massive model of the nano-car developed by Feringa. The model is temporarily on display on the Grote Markt. Photo: Sjef Weller

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