A FORMER Atherton schoolboy has become the youngest person to be awarded the position of professor in his field.

Professor Jeffrey Robert Forshaw, who attended Hesketh Fletcher High School, is now a professor in theoretical particle physics at the University of Manchester at the age of 36.

After achieving a first class honours degree at Oriel College, Oxford, Prof Forshaw gained a doctorate at Manchester.

He worked at the Rutherford Laboratory in Oxford before returning to Manchester in 1995 as a lecturer.

Prof Forshaw was awarded the Maxwell Medal from the Institute of Physics in 1999 for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics.

He is a scientific associate of the world's largest particle physics laboratory in Switzerland, and has had over 80 papers published.