University of Helsinki to confer Riho Altnurme and Madis Noppel as honorary doctors  

On 20 March, the University of Helsinki announced that Riho Altnurme, Professor of Church History at the University of Tartu, and Madis Noppel, Specialist of Aerosol Physics at the University of Tartu, will be conferred as its honorary doctors.  

Riho Altnurme has been Professor of Church History at the University of Tartu since 2005. From 2003 to 2015, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Theology and has been the Vice Dean for Research at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities since 2016. He is the leading expert in Estonian church history and has written a wide range of research publications on issues such as Soviet religious policy in Estonia and the history of theological education in the country. He has mainly studied churches and society in the second half of the 20th century, the history of theology in Estonia, ecclesiological methodology, interreligious relations and secularisation.  

Riho Altnurme's cooperation with Finnish church historians goes back more than 25 years. "My first contact with Finnish colleagues was in 1996 when they attended a conference on Estonian church history in Tartu. My first conference presentation abroad was in Finland the following year. Since then, our good cooperation has continued in a number of projects, many of which have been successfully completed by now, and many are still ongoing. Paraphrasing the poet Juhan Viiding, "what you give is still less than what you receive"," said Altnurme. 

Madis Noppel has been Specialist of Aerosol Physics at the University of Tartu since 2018. From 2004 to 2018, he was Senior Research Fellow in Theoretical Problems in Aerosol Physics. His research interests have included the theory of electrical charging of aerosol particles, numerical simulation of electrical aerosol size spectrometers, and the theory of homogeneous and ion-induced nucleation.  

It is in the field of nucleation theory that Noppel has collaborated with the University of Helsinki. "Being nominated for an honorary doctorate at the University of Helsinki was a big surprise to me, and I greatly appreciate this recognition," said Noppel.  

For more information about the new honorary doctors of the University of Helsinki, see the university’s website.  

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On the left Riho Altnurme and on the right Madis Noppel. Photos Andres Tennus.