Former minister for foreign affairs and emeritus professor of civil engineering at UCD, James Dooge was this week presented with a Royal Irish Academy gold medal.
President Mary McAleese presented the gold medal in engineering sciences to Prof Dooge, who was described as being widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern hydrology.
Also receiving a gold medal was James Peter Neary, professor of political economy in UCD, who, it was stated, was undoubtedly Ireland's most distinguished academic economist and a leading figure worldwide. His main research field is international trade theory, where he works on trade and industrial policy, globalisation and competition.
RIA president Prof James Slevin, said: "Profs Dooge and Neary are among a small elite of academics in Ireland that set the international hallmark of excellence in their fields."
The citation stated that Prof Dooge was professor of civil engineering in UCC before taking up his chair in UCD in 1970. "This is but the framework, however, for a life that has been marked by extraordinarily distinguished public service and by scholarship of the highest quality and originality," the citation said.
