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Professor Des HIggins, UCD. Jason Clarke Photography

This professor is the most highly cited Irish scientist of all time

Professor Des Higgins was named the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds this year.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN Professor Des Higgins wrote one of the top 10 most cited research papers, making him the most highly cited Irish scientist, and amongst the most highly cited scientists in the world.

The research paper, which set the international standard for DNA sequence analysis, has been cited over 100,000 times by other scientists and is listed in the latest edition of Nature News on the top 100 most cited research publications. 

Top 10 

Professor Des Higgins, a Professor of Bioinformatics at the UCD Conway Institute, UCD and a Principal Investigator at Systems Biology Ireland, is the only Irish scientist included in the top 10. He also has a second paper in the top 30.

He has been working in the areas of bioinformatics and molecular evolution since 1985, predominantly on methods and software for DNA and protein sequence alignment.

unnamed (13) Prof. Des Higgins, Professor of Bioinfomatics at the Conway Institute, UCD. Jason Clarke Photography Jason Clarke Photography

In 1988 he developed the original Clustal programme for aligning protein sequences, which has made an exceptional impact in the field.

The programme he developed allowed the algorithm designed to work on personal computers, which greatly increased its use among scientists and has meant it could be used in laboratories everywhere. Today it is considered the industry standard.

Professor Higgins has published 10 papers with over 1,000 citations. Earlier this year he was named on Thomson Reuters’ list of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014.

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    Mute orla
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    Oct 30th 2014, 9:55 PM

    A truly amazing man,a gift to the world

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    Mute David Carino
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    Oct 31st 2014, 3:13 AM

    But can he put a fruit pastille in his mouth without chewing it ??

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    Mute Tom Collins
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    Oct 31st 2014, 7:19 AM

    Yes but how is he staying up all night with a sick cow?

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    Mute Abdul Ahmed
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    Oct 31st 2014, 1:07 AM

    I had the opportunity to be mentored by Dr.Higgins while I was a PhD student at UCD.A truly great man, the world needs more people like him.

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    Mute mad_scientist
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    Oct 31st 2014, 12:19 AM

    He’s actually also a really nice man, some academics can be stuffy and arrogant but not Prof. Higgins!

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    Mute George Salter
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    Oct 30th 2014, 9:44 PM

    The grammar in the article looks like machine translation!

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    Mute Mark Miller
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    Oct 30th 2014, 9:54 PM

    If you read it in Stephen Hawking’s voice, it’s a great article.

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    Mute Chewey Bacca
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    Oct 30th 2014, 11:55 PM

    And he’s nailed the professor look as well with beard, fingers on chin but wait a minute check out that watch. A sky blue watch .. Is this man from the future ?

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    Mute Tommie Brennan
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    Oct 31st 2014, 2:16 AM

    ha! that caught my attention too… +1

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    Mute Tomboktu
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    Oct 30th 2014, 11:01 PM

    So, all those citations of Boyle’s law or boolean algebra or, in advanced maths, hamiltonians don’t count!

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    Mute Ron North
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    Oct 30th 2014, 11:52 PM

    It’s the “list of the worlds Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014″. Sadly Hamilton hasn’t been very active this year although his quaternions have been busier than ever.

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    Mute John B. Reid
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    Oct 31st 2014, 4:44 AM

    Ireland has a history of producing pioneering scientists. It’s good to see that tradition continue.

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    Mute Don Juan
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    Oct 30th 2014, 10:03 PM

    Ah stop with these stroke inducing articles!!!

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    Mute John R
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    Oct 30th 2014, 10:26 PM

    Ah go back to chasing the ladies Don Juan and leave the science stuff to the grown ups. With your attention span … !

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    Mute Don Juan
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    Oct 30th 2014, 11:56 PM

    What science stuff?

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    Mute Niall Waters
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    Oct 31st 2014, 8:52 AM

    Fair play to Des Higgins for being at the top of his game. (Waters 2014)

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    Mute John Kinsella
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    Oct 31st 2014, 11:18 PM

    Proud of him.

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