Sherlock Holmes granted honourary fellowship

LONDON: Victorian supersleuth Sherlock Holmes has
become the first fictional character to be granted an
honourary fellowship by Britain's prestigious Royal
Society of Chemistry.


The pipe-smoking detective, a creation of novelist Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, was honoured in a ceremony on
Wednesday near his famous London address -- 221b Baker
Street.


"What he did was bring scientific methods into
detective work as well as being a good honest cop,"
the society's secretary general David Giachardi told
Reuters.


"He was probably the first truly scientific
detective."


The Society awarded Holmes a medal, which they hung
around the neck of a statue of the detective. The man
chosen to convey the honour was Doctor John Watson, a
present day fellow of the society and namesake of
Holmes' hapless sidekick.


With his pipe, deerstalker hat and razor-sharp
intuition, Holmes became a household favourite
following his debut in Conan Doyle's 1887 novel "A
Study in Scarlet".


Over the next 40 years, he appeared in 60 novels and
short stories, solving dozens of baffling crimes.


In 1893 Conan Doyle killed off Holmes in his story
"The Final Problem", but the detective resurfaced nine
years later in perhaps the best known tale: "The Hound
of the Baskervilles."


The Royal Society of Chemistry, established in 1841,
said the honour was unlikely to be extended to other
fictional detectives.


"Honorary fellows have to be people with distinctions
in chemistry or related scientists, and I don't think
Tintin quite qualifies," Giachardi said.


CONGRATULATIONS to our favorite detective...

abhishek
MSFE
Umich

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