UCT applied mathematician and fisheries scientist Emeritus Professor Doug Butterworth has been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun (Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon) by the Emperor of Japan for his contribution to the sustainable management of that country’s fisheries, particularly its valuable southern bluefin tuna. Previous recipients include actor and film-maker Clint Eastwood and French civil engineer Gustave Eiffel, who designed and oversaw construction of the Eiffel Tower. “I am very honoured to be recognised in such company and pay tribute to the colleagues who have assisted with my work,” he said. Professor Butterworth is also a past recipient of South Africa’s Order of Mapungubwe (Silver).
Meanwhile, Professor Shadreck Chirikure, head of UCT’S archaeology department, has become the first African to win the Antiquity journal of archaeology’s Antiquity Prize twice. Professor Chirikure won the award for best paper of 2018. Elites and Commoners at Great Zimbabwe: Archaeological and ethnographic insights on social power appeared in the August 2018 issue. “The important thing is for us in the global south to demonstrate that we have what it takes to compete at the highest level possible,” he said. Last month, Professor Chirikure won a Global Professorship from the British Academy for his work dating historical artefacts and the study of pre-colonial urban societies in Africa.