The Royal Dutch Zoological Society (KNDV) has awarded dr. David Lentink the Dutch Zoology Prize 2009 at a special symposium held in Wageningen, Netherlands. The researcher, who is temporarily as a postdoc at the Concord Field Station at Harvard University, Boston, receives the award for his PhD research at Wageningen University on the dynamics of swimming and flying animals.
In his research project David Lentink studied the fluid dynamics of swimming in larval zebra fish and the aerodynamics of insect and bird flight theoretically by applying scaling analyses. He experimentally used very sensitive force sensors and particle image velocimetry to measure the flow field. In this way he investigated the complex fluid flow around biological objects that continuously change in shape. The thesis of his study is much interlarded with a lot of his own illustration material in a very attractive lay out.
As a boy David Lentink (1975) became fascinated by flight, he joined a model airplane club in Enschede, and learned how to design and build model airplanes. David studied Aerospace Engineering in Delft. He developed a genuine interest in both engineering and biology. He is fascinated by biofluid dynamics en bioinspired designs of micro air vehicles.
David Lentink completed his PhD in less than four years, cum laude. He worked in the Experimental Zoology Group at Wageningen University and the Insect flight group of Prof. Dickinson in Caltech. He collaborated also with Prof. Van Heijst (Applied Physics TUE). His work is not only top science. He has published already a remarkable number of papers in very high impact journals like Science (2nd author) and Nature (first author, with cover), both on the flight performance in swifts.
Directly after his PhD, David Lentink has been appointed as assistant professor in the Experimental Zoology Group in Wageningen. Currently, he works for one year in Harvard on bird flight, and will continue his work as assistant professor in Wageningen in 2010. Within a remarkably short time, he has obtained a very high international profile.
The Dutch Zoology Prize is an annual prize of the Royal Dutch Zoological Society (Koninklijke Nederlandse Dierkundige Vereniging, KNDV). It is awarded to an author of one or a series of scientific publications in the field of zoology. The prize (€ 2000 and a symposium) is awarded to the best research in the field of integrative zoology. This is defined as zoological research in which results from molecular, cellular, organismal, and population levels are integrated as much as possible.