The great fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is to receive a posthumous Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

　　It comes 100 years after Holmes returned from the dead to solve the case of the Hound of the Baskervilles.

　　Usually such honours are reserved for Nobel Laureates and other distinguished academics and industrialists. Holmes is the first fictional character to receive the Fellowship, and a silver medal will be struck in his name.

　　Dr David Giachardi, secretary general of the Society, says: "Had Holmes really been a flesh and blood hero like Brunel or Livingstone, other Victorian greats, he would unquestionably have been honoured publicly. His creator was honoured by Edward VII in 1902 after the hound was tracked down."

　　"Now, a 100 years on in 2002, we are stretching the rules slightly, tongue very slightly in cheek, to say to the world, here was a great man who selflessly pursued bad people on behalf of the good, using science, courage and crystal clear thought processes to achieve his goals."

　　Holmes became a big success after he appeared in A Scandal In Bohemia in the Strand magazine in 1891, applying his unique blend of logic and intuition to solving the gruesome crimes of Victorian London.

　　He was the creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who partly based the character of Holmes on his own teacher at medical school in Edinburgh, a Dr Joseph Bell.

　　Super-sleuth Sherlock solved crimes with forensic chemistry.