Daniel Boutros received GUF-100 prize

The Faculty of Science & Engineering had to choose from 53 nominations for the GUF-100 award this year. Although the three nominees selected by the faculty selection committee could all be considered excellent, it is worth mentioning that the GUF jury was very unanimous in selecting Daniel Boutros as the final winner.

Daniel is a third-year student in the double Bachelor’s degree programmes in Physics and Mathematics. The average mark he has achieved so far is 9.2 for Physics and 9.4 for Mathematics.

These are, of course, very high marks, but it is interesting to see that apart from his degree programmes in Groningen, Daniel also takes several other classes at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. Not just classes in the field of mathematics, but also and especially in the humanities (history, archaeology, Middle Eastern studies, religion and philosophy).

Parallel with these academic activities, Daniel is interested in the numerical description of the movements of celestial bodies. This interest started in the fifth year of the VWO and resulted in an award-winning profile assignment about the existence of the ‘ninth planet’. Next, he was invited to present this work at the Conference for Young Scientists in Stuttgart and to further develop it into an article in the Dutch Journal of Physics. His current interest in this area is mainly based on the so-called three-body problem and he is currently writing articles about it.

At the moment, Daniel is a member of the Physics Programme Committee and will be doing a Master's degree in either Cambridge or Oxford next year. These and other universities are eager to have him as a student.

According to the jury, he is quite rightly ‘spoiled for choice’; the jury wishes him good luck.