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Journalism of Courage
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Victorian supersleuth Sherlock Holmes has become the first fictional character to be granted an Honorary Fellowship by Britain’s prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry.
The pipe-smoking detective, a creation of novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was honoured in a ceremony on Wednesday near his famous London address — 221B Baker Street.
‘‘What he did was bring scientific methods into detective work as well as being a good honest cop,’’ the Society’s secretary-general David Giachardi said. ‘‘He was probably the first truly scientific detective.’’
The Society awarded Holmes a medal, which they hung around the neck of a statue of the detective. The man chosen to convey the honour was Doctor John Watson, a present day fellow of the society and namesake of Holmes’ hapless sidekick.
The Royal Society of Chemistry, established in 1841, said the honour was unlikely to be extended to other fictional detectives.
