The University of Malta yesterday conferred honorary degrees on four men – Guido Lanfranco, Desmond Morris, David Trump and Michael Camilleri – for their significant contributions to the good of the Maltese nation and the global community.
Mr Lanfranco was made Master of Philosophy; Dr Morris (in absentia) and Dr Trump received the degree of Doctor of Literature, while Prof. Camilleri became a Doctor of Science.
Mr Lanfranco has contributed significantly to environmental awareness and the conservation of nature in the Maltese Islands, also serving as an inspiration for many students and scholars.
In his oration on Mr Lanfranco, Biology Department head Joseph Borg said one occasionally be-came acquainted with a person who spends a lifetime working for the benefit of society.
“The impact of such an individual on people from all walks of life is considerable, including inspiring others to take up a particular interest or, even more significantly, a life-long profession. Guido Lanfranco is an outstanding example of such an individual,” Dr Borg, said.
Another oration at the ceremony, held at the Church of the University in Valletta, was delivered by the head of the Sociology Department, Prof Mark-Anthony Falzon.
Referring to Prof. Morris he said: “The University of Malta has chosen to honour an ape of great distinction. Desmond Morris is a polymath who challenges and inspires us to observe and think again, and to do so in style and with impeccable wit.”
An archaeologist who has written the most significant bits of Malta’s history before history
Dr Morris is a zoology re-searcher who has published widely and held worldwide exhibitions of his paintings and collages. In 1967 he published what was to become his most well-known work, The Naked Ape, a zoologist’s study of the human animal.
Meanwhile, Dr Nicholas Vella from the Department of Classics and Archaeology spoke of Dr Trump’s commitment to lifelong learning and the values of reaching out to the world passionately and without prejudice and preconceptions.
“To know that we have in Dr David Trump a champion of those values and an archaeologist who has written the most significant bits of the Maltese Islands’ history before history, is a good reason to rejoice,” he said.
Dr Trump has visited Malta regularly to conduct fieldwork and research. His excavations at the prehistoric site of Skorba near Żebbiegħ uncovered the remains of a village established by the first Neolithic settlers.
It was there that Dr Trump used the novel technique of radiocarbon dating to reveal the human presence on Malta went back further than earlier believed, making the temples the earliest freestanding stone structures in the world.
About Prof. Camilleri, pro-rector Prof. Richard Muscat said: “It is indeed an honour and privilege to stand here before you today to recognise one of our own… who now walks tall among the giants of the medical field.”
Prof. Camilleri is the executive Dean of Development at the Mayo Clinic and was selected to be the 110th President of the American Gastroenterological Association, the world’s leading gastroenterology organisation.