The naming of the new building for the Department of Biomedicine has now finally fallen into place. The building complex will be named after Jens Christian Skou, who received the Nobel Prize in 1997. Dean Allan Flyvbjerg and Department Head Thomas G. Jensen came by to convey the good news.

2014.09.05 | Mette Louise Ohana

A cheerful Jens Christian Skou receives the news that a building is to be named after him. Photo: Maria Randima Brauer Sørensen, AU Kommunikation

Popularly known as “the new building” until now, it will in future be called the 'Skou Building’ – named after Emeritus Professor Jens Christian Skou, who has been part of the Department of Biomedicine since 1954. And despite being 95 years old he still has an office at the department.

On Friday he received the news from Dean Allan Flyvbjerg:

"When we started thinking about a name for the building, the first name we came up was yours. Our hope is that people will come to talk about the Skou Building so that they remember you and your achievements again and again in the future." 

Touched Nobel Prize winner

Jens Christian Skou also certainly pleased to be honoured.

"I am touched that people will continue to remember me. I was always impressed with how Lauritz (the former rector, ed.) always mentioned that there was a Nobel Prize winner present every single time there was someone at the university. When a replacement for me comes along and gets a prize they can take over," joked Jens Christian Skou.

Jens Christian Skou was also very interested in the location of the new building and who was going to use it. As it happens, membrane research, which he started at Aarhus University, will be located in the Skou Building. 

Research of great importance

"Skou discovered the sodium-potassium pump which is a membrane pump that is necessary for the nerve cells to function, among other things. And since then researchers in Aarhus and many other locations all over the world have studied how the pump may be involved in a number of different diseases. Jens Christian Skou’s importance for health science research at Aarhus University as a whole and the Department of Biomedicine in particular has been immeasurable. We wish to thank him for that by naming the new building after him," says Thomas G. Jensen, Department Head at the Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University.

The groundbreaking for the Skou Building takes place on Friday 5 September with Jens Christian Skou as one of the guests.

On the same occasion the old anatomy complex will be renamed the Einarson Building after Lárus Einarson, the first professor at the Institute of Anatomy, while the Bartholin Building retains its name.