Lars Hansson, professor of wood technology
Everyone has probably worked with wood at some point, says Lars Hansson and refers to the fact that he already came into contact with his research subject as a child. At that time he had no research ambitions. Today he is researching wood with the help of tomography at Luleå University of Technology in Skellefteå.
He uses a computed tomography to examine the inside of the wood. It is the same technology used in healthcare to image patients in three dimensions. In this context, both researchers and industry can look for, for example, moisture, twigs and different parts of the log inside before it is sawn, in order to get more out of each log. The expertise and infrastructure they have created for computed tomography research for wood-industrial applications is world-unique. In addition, the university's research in wood technology in Skellefteå is the country's only academic group that conducts research and education that supports development in the entire wood mechanical industry's value chain.
It was curiosity that made Lars Hansson actually become a researcher and it is he who continues to drive him. What made Lars Hansson stick to wood in particular was its complexity. Today, the best thing about his job is to see the research benefit and be applied in industry.
Lars Hansson, born in 1964 in Vännäs, defended his dissertation in 2007 at Luleå University of Technology in Skellefteå with a dissertation on the treatment of wood using microwaves. He is extra proud of the time he spent educating his students. He likes to spend his free time in one of his holiday homes, but for the past four years he has also been running OCR obstacle course races (Obstacle Course Race). He has already had time to participate in two senior WCs.
