{"id":523448,"date":"2026-06-29T01:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T01:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523448\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T01:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T01:54:12","slug":"professor-robert-thomson-freng-wins-royal-academy-of-engineering-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523448\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Robert Thomson FREng Wins Royal Academy of Engineering Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced the winners of The Princess Royal Silver Medal, one of the Royal Academy of Engineering\u2019s most prestigious individual awards. Professor Robert Thomson FREng, Professor of Photonics at Heriot-Watt University, is receiving one of three 2026 awards for inventing the integrated photonic lantern. This lantern is a tool for astronomy capture starlight to look for evidence of exoplanets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Besides Professor Thomson, this year\u2019s winners of The Princess Royal Silver Medals are:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"related\">Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/orbitaltoday.com\/2026\/06\/28\/nasa-tests-new-on-orbit-cryocoupler-for-deep-space-missions\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NASA Tests New On-Orbit Cryocoupler For Deep Space Missions<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dr Ian Campbell, Co-founder of Breathe Battery Technologies, who has created software that makes batteries more sustainable, andDr Liucheng Guo, Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of TG0, who has applied AI to\u00a0make touch-responsive materials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The three will receive their medals on 8th July at the Academy Awards Dinner in London. The medals will be given by\u00a0HRH The Princess Royal, who is a Royal Fellow of the Academy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Professor Thomson said:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am delighted to receive the Princess Royal Silver Medal. Throughout my career, I have been motivated by the challenge of translating fundamental discoveries into technologies that create tangible benefits for society. I have also been fortunate to work with outstanding students, researchers, clinicians and industrial partners, and this award reflects their contributions as much as my own.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Professor Steve McLaughlin, Vice-Principal of Heriot-Watt University, said:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRobert Thomson\u2019s work in ultrafast laser microfabrication has redefined the art of the possible in photonics. His seminal inventions \u2013 the 3D waveguide interconnect and the integrated photonic lantern \u2013 are not only academic breakthroughs but transformative for industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/James-Hydzik.jpeg\"  class=\"lazyload avatar avatar-80 photo avatar-default webpexpress-processed\" height=\"80\" width=\"80\" decoding=\"async\"\/> Published by James Hydzik<\/p>\n<p> James Hydzik is a technology geek focused on the junction of engineering, writing, and coffee. He joined Orbital Today in 2020 to help make sense of the Johnson government\u2019s decision to buy OneWeb. Since then, he has taken on interviewing and editor-in-chief roles. James learned the ropes of editing and writing with Financial Times magazines, The World Bank, PwC, and Ericsson. Thus far, interviewing New Space movers has put the biggest smile on his workaday face.  The son of an Electrical Engineer, James understands the value of putting complex topics into clear language for those with a lay person\u2019s understanding of the subject. James is a European transplant from the United States, and as ex-KA3LLL, he now holds European amateur radio licenses. His next radio project is a portable 10GHz EME (moonbounce) station, as it combines his childhood interests in antennas and space.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/orbitaltoday.com\/author\/jameshydzik\/\" class=\"post-author__link\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">All posts by James Hydzik<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced the winners of The Princess Royal Silver Medal, one of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,43,82],"class_list":["post-523448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}