Stephen E. Harding


Stephen E. Harding is a British biochemist specialising in biomolecular hydrodynamics. Harding is currently Professor of Applied Biochemistry at the University of Nottingham, has been the Director of the National Centre of Macromolecular Hydrodynamics since its foundation in 1987 and is a member of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age.
Besides developing and applying hydrodynamic methodology to biomolecules, Harding's notable work includes finding remarkable protein-like behaviour of carbohydrates and the discovery of high levels of Scandinavian genes in the ancestral population of coastal North West England. He is now part of the Saving Oseberg research team - finding natural polymer consolidants to replace the decayed cellulose and lignin in all the perilously fragile artefacts of the Oseberg Viking ship and in August 2017 appointed an adjunct Professor of the .
In 1991 he became a junior medallist of the Royal Society of Chemistry and in 2002 awarded a DSc from the University of Oxford. For his scientific and historical investigation of the Vikings in North West England, where he hails from, he was, in 2011, made a Knight of the 1st class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit by King Harald of Norway for his "outstanding service in the interests of Norway". He gave the 2016 Hakon Hakonsson Lecture at Largs, and the 2017 Svedberg lecture.

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