‘Sophie’s World’ author Jostein Gaarder and TCD Medical Officer for 30 years among distinguished recipients of Honorary Degrees at TCD

Posted on: 16 December 2005

Norwegian author and teacher Jostein Gaarder, the man behind the astonishingly successful ‘Sophie’s World’ is among five recipients to receive honorary degrees at Trinity College Dublin today (December 16). ‘Sophie’s World’ was written especially for young people and has been known as an international literary phenomenon. It has succeeded more than any primer in opening up western philosophical thought to the general reader. Also receiving an honorary degree is Dr. David Thomas, who was for more than 30 years the College Medical Officer and the chief architect of the Student Health Services at the College.

The other recipients of honorary degrees are:

Winter Commencements, 16 December 2005

Michael Adams Litt. D.
The most active and most influential of Irish academic publishers, he is founder of the Four Courts Press which has now become the principal Irish imprint for scholarship in the humanities, producing some sixty titles a year.

Jostein Gaarder D. Ed.
Norwegian author and teacher of philosophy and theology, he has achieved world renown with Sophie’s World, a novel that has succeeded more than any primer in opening up western philosophical thought to the general reader.

Jane Roberts Litt. D.
Professor Emerita of Old English at King’s College London and a graduate of this university, she is a trail-blazer in the field of Anglo-Saxon studies and a leading scholar on the origins of the English language.

Wilson Sibbett Sc. D.
Professor of Natural Philosophy in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St. Andrews and Chief Advisor on Science to the Scottish Executive, he is a world leader in pulse-laser science and technology.

David Thomas M.D.
College medical officer for some three decades and now about to retire, he has been chief architect of the student health services as they now exist, and a caring physician for both staff and many generations of students. He has served widely on hospital boards and on related professional bodies.