Dies Academicus 2010

Dies academicus 2010: Israël Finkelstein honoured by the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies

Professor Israel Finkelstein defends the freedom of archaeological and historical research in the face of doctrines of all kinds. He has contributed to a better understanding of the origins of Israel and the Bible.

Professor Finkelstein teaches archaeology at Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology, of which he is director. He is known for his excavations in Somalia, Megiddo and the Negev. He is the author of around ten books and has also written a large number of articles for prestigious journals.

Two of his publications, translated into French, have brought his work to a wide audience. La Bible dévoilée - Les nouvelles révélations de l'archéologie (Bayard 2002), for example, led to the production of a documentary film shot in part at UNIL, in particular at the Institut romand des sciences bibliques. Israel Finkelstein returned to UNIL in March 2009. He gave a lecture at the Anthropos Café on the theme of La Bible face à l'archéologie.

Dies academicus 2010: Sunita Narain honoured by the Faculty of Science and Environment

In 2007, Ms Narain was named by Time magazine as one of the most influential figures in the United States for denouncing abuses leading to serious environmental damage in India, where she is a well-known environmental activist.

Her Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), based in New Delhi, monitors air pollution and the effects of climate change. It has made a name for itself on the subject of the risks of deforestation. It is now tackling the problem of water pollution. Her aim is to push the authorities to introduce more stringent legislation in her country.

The magazine she founded, Down to Earth, is an important vehicle in her political struggle and is well known in scientific circles and among environmental opinion at international level. Ms Narain is a national and international opinion leader on environmental issues. She has forged a solid reputation thanks to her personal commitment, scientific mastery and independent spirit.

Dies academicus 2010: Douglas Richman honoured by the Faculty of Biology and Medicine

It is his qualities as a researcher, but also as a clinician, that distinguish Douglas Richman, known and respected in particular for his unwavering dedication to the vast field of investigation represented by HIV.

His recent stance in the journal Science, where he calls for a concerted effort to understand the latency state of HIV with the aim of radiating the internal provirus, a major obstacle to the treatment of AIDS, only confirms his leadership qualities.

Douglas Richman has historic links with UNIL as well as the CHUV. In particular, he has welcomed many researchers and clinicians from Lausanne and Switzerland to his laboratories. Douglas Richman studied medicine at Stanford University. Since 1994 he has directed the Center for AIDS Research at UCSD, a centre of excellence in AIDS research.

Dies academicus 2010: Heinrich von Staden honoured by the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Biology and Medicine

Professor Henrich von Staden, historian of medicine and philologist, stands out for his scholarship and the originality of his interdisciplinary approach.

Originally from South Africa, he studied at the universities of Yale, Vienna and Tübingen, where he obtained his doctorate and began his academic career, which he continued in New York and Yale. Since 1998, he has been Professor of Classics and History of Science at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study.

The excellence of Heinrich von Staden's career has earned him international renown, as has the body of his work, which constitutes a major contribution à the study of ancient médical literature as well as à the émological and cultural history of medicine and biology. His work employs a rigorous philological and historical approach, highlighting the cultural context of the intersections between medicine, technology, literature and philosophy. It was therefore only natural that the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Biology and Medicine should join forces to award a joint honorary doctorate. A first.

Dies academicus 2010: Abdou Diouf honoured by the Faculty of Arts

The successor to Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Abdou Diouf has been Secretary General of La Francophonie since 2002. He will be in Montreux from 22 to 24 October 2010 for the 13th Francophonie Summit. Abdou Diouf is respected by both the African and international communities.

All recognise him as a defender of the Francophonie and minorities, a humanist with a strong sense of human values, an advocate of cultural diversity and a great campaigner for peace and human rights.

Born in Senegal, Abdou Diouf began his law studies in Dakar, before continuing in Paris and graduating from the Ecole nationale de la France d'outre-mer in 1960. He became President of the Republic of Senegal on 1 January 1981, following the resignation of Senghor, and was re-elected in 1983, 1988 and 1993.

He also helped to make Senegal's voice heard in the world, taking part in numerous international summits, and fought for greater African unity. Abdou Diouf was defeated in the second round of the presidential election on 19 March 2000, leaving his place to be taken by Abdoulaye Wade. He has since resided in France.

Guido Cocchi, campus president

In this year, which marks the 40th anniversary of its establishment at Dorigny, UNIL has awarded its University Prize to the architect Guido Cocchi, who designed four of the buildings on the site, including the very first, inaugurated in 1970, the current Amphipôle.

Guido Cocchi, the architect responsible for the design of UNIL, saw the various buildings on the campus come into being, grow up and grow old. The father of the campus.

The architect speaks of his buildings as people in their own right. And not without a sense of humour: ‘Look at the library. Seen from above, it's a recumbent human body. Napoleon's great oak is the head, and the underground car park is the anus.

After a long professional career, Guido Cocchi retired in 1995. But nothing has really changed for him. The indefatigable architect goes to his office at Ferme de la Mouline every day. There, under the wooded roofs, he deals with specific mandates related to UNIL and files his archives.

Anne Cuneo: a free life

The Prix de l'Etat de Berne has been awarded to writer and journalist Anne Cuneo.

Awarded by the State Council of the canton of Vaud, the prize is financed by a donation from the canton of Berne to the canton of Vaud, in memory of the Berne cantonal day at the 1964 National Exhibition.

She publishes at least one book a year, travels and lives between Geneva and Zurich.

I might as well say it straight away: she hates the clichés spread by both sides, and rejects observations that seem unfair. Zurich, for example, seems to her ‘a lot more fun than Geneva, which can't compare on a European or international level’.

Anne Cuneo remembers above all a ‘marvellous Italian teacher’, Fredi Chiappelli, who taught at the University of Lausanne until 1969.

The Prix de l'Etat de Berne is awarded every two years by the Conseil d'Etat of the canton of Vaud, on the recommendation of the management of UNIL.