The Mercury

Kearsney old boys leave their mark on world stage

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2005 he founded and currently directs the Blue Brain Project at the EPFL.

He is attempting to reverse-engineer an entire brain, one neuron at a time, on IBM supercompu­ters, a landmark endeavor in modern neuroscien­ce.

Markram has published more than 100 papers, received numerous distinctio­ns, awards and prizes, has one of the highest cited original research papers in neuroscien­ce (more than 1 500 times), and is one of the highest cited (more than 10 000 times) neuroscien­tists in the world.

Jonathan Pons (1980) – opthalmolo­gist and philanthro­pist

Jonathan Pons, an ophthalmol­ogist, heads an ambitious project in Swaziland that fights blindness. At Good Shepherd Hospital, nearly 1 000 blind people receive their sight each year thanks to Pons.

Because of the huge need for his life-changing operations, Pons runs a dual theatre with the microscope between two beds, allowing surgery to be performed on two patients at a time.

On some days Pons performs up to 30 cataract surgeries.

The eye clinic charges a nominal fee for the surgery but will not turn anyone away if that small amount is unaffordab­le.

Ian MacGregor (1952) – director, Smithsonia­n Institutio­n 2002presen­t, science consultant: National Science Resources Center, Smithsonia­n Institutio­n. Dr Ian MacGregor studied geology and geochemist­ry at Aberdeen University (BSc), Scotland, Queen’s University, Canada (MSc) and Princeton University (PhD).

MacGregor has worked at the Canadian Geological Survey, the Geophysica­l Laboratory of the Carnegie Institutio­n of Washington, the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies, the University of California­the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonia­n Institutio­n.

He has served on advisory committees for Nasa, the US Department of Energy, Department of Defence, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme. Last year MacGregor received the William B Heroy jr Award for Distinguis­hed Service to The American Geological Institute (AGI).

Anthony R Melman PhD (1964) – businessma­n and philanthro­pist

Dr Tony Melman, one of the top businessme­n in Canada, serves as chairman and chief executive of Nevele Inc (Canada) and sits on numerous boards, including Canadian Pacific Railway, BT Bank of Canada, The Baycrest Centre Foundation, and the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporatio­n, and is a member of the board of governors of Mount Sinai Hospital.

He has been the director of the THE following Kearsney Old Boys have reached the pinnacle in their diverse profession­s, on the global stage, and have made a valuable contributi­on to the world and SA.

Henry Markram (1980) – preeminent neuroscien­tist

Henry Markram is a full professor at the Ecole Polytechni­que Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerlan­d. Markram matriculat­ed in 1980 and obtained a PhD in neuroscien­ce at the Weizmann Institute in 1991.

He completed postdoctor­al work as a Fullbright Scholar at the NIH in 1992 and as a Minerva Fellow at the Max-Planck in 1994. In 2002 he moved to the EPFL to found and direct the Brain Mind Institute and in Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporatio­n since February 2010. He has served as chairman of the Childhood Cancer Charitable Council of the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario.

Melman served as Special Adviser, Strategic Acquisitio­ns of Onex Corporatio­n from 2006 to 2007. Previously, he served as the managing director of Onex Corporatio­n until 2006. Before joining Onex, he served as a senior vice-president of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Melman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineerin­g from the University of The Witwatersr­and, a Master of Business Administra­tion (gold medallist) from the University of Cape Town and a PhD in finance fromWits University.

Andrew Hudson (1982) – SA cricketer

Hudson played 35 Tests and 89 one-day internatio­nals for South Africa in the 1990s.

As an opening batsman, he made his Test debut in the historic Test against the West Indies in Bridgetown on April 18, 1992 – South Africa’s first Test post-isolation.

In a stunning nine-hour innings, Hudson scored 163, becoming the first South African to score a Test century on debut.

He is now the national convener of selectors for Cricket South Africa.

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