Science - November 17, 2010

Lentink appointed to Young Academy

David Lentink has been appointed to the Young Academy of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. An experimental zoologist at Wageningen University, and winner of this year's Annual Academic Prize, Lentink was one of nine young researchers appointed to the academy.

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The young researchers, aged between 25 and 45, are selected on the basis of their academic excellence, interdisciplinary approach and broad scientific interest. Lentink (35) won the Annual Academic Prize for 2010 for his Aviators project. He is fascinated by flying and swimming. His main research question is how the combination of Newtonian motion and Darwinian evolution bring about various forms of forward motion in the natural world. He discovered that the helicopter motion of the maple seed, just like that of insects and bats, generates extra lift thanks to a powerful vortex above the wing. His word got onto the cover of the leading journals Science and Nature.

The young academicians will be officially installed on 17 March 2011 in the historic Trippenhuis at the KNAW's headquarters.