Bjarne Holmbom Professor , Wood and Paper Chemistry, Process Chemistry Centre, Åbo Akademi University, Finland

Professor Bjarne Holmbom (b. 1943) is professor of Wood and Paper Chemistry at Åbo Akademi University. He gained his Doctorate of Technology at Åbo Akademi University in 1978. He has been working as Associate Professor (1981-1985), Full Professor (1985-1990, 1995-1998, 2003-) and Research Professor (1990-1995 and 1998-2003) at Åbo Akademi. During 1998-2003 he was appointed as Academy Professor by the Academy of Finland. He has been visiting scientist and professor in Canada, USA and France, altogether three years.

Professor Holmbom leads a research team on wood and paper chemistry at Åbo Akademi which is part of the Process Chemistry Centre, a National Centre of Excellence in Research appointed by the Academy of Finland. The common denominator for the four research teams comprising the Centre is to study and develop physical-chemical processes in complex industry-related environments.

Professor Holmbom's research career began with research on tall oil. Later he widened his interests to environmental chemistry, and fibre and paper chemistry. In recent years, he has concentrated on biorefinery research, with the main aim to develop environmentally benign processes for producing organic compounds and new chemical products, exploiting all the unique and valuable resources in wood.

In 2005 he received The Finnish Science Award which is conferred by the Ministry of Education in Finland in recognition of high-standard research of special significance and international relevance. This year he received the Marcus Wallenberg Prize, shared with Christer Eckerman, for their breakthrough research and innovation creating a platform for large-scale separation, isolation, purification and applications of chemical components in wood, especially from knots in trees.