After the success of Mgr. Hynek Němec, Ph.D., who received in spring 2015 the “Neuron prize for young scientists” in physics, was announced two further winners, who have close connections to Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences – prof. Petr Hořava, PhD and Mgr. Anna Fučíková, PhD.
For his contribution to world science, prof. Petr Hořava, PhD was awarded. He currently works at UC Berkeley in the USA, however, until 1991 he worked at the Institute of Physics, where he also received his PhD degree. More information about Petr Hořava and his work can be found directly on the web of Neuron Foundation.
Apart from the principal „senior“ Neuron Award acknowledging top scientists, there is also a “Neuron Impulses” category focused on young scientists in the Czech Republic. In 2015, Mgr. Anna Fučíková, PhD, has won this prize in the field of physics. Anna is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the Charles University in Prague, but at the same time, she has, for a long time, a part-time job at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Anna graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics in 2007 (MSc. in Chemical physics and biophysics). Then (2007–2012) she worked on her doctoral thesis at the same faculty under the supervision of prof. Jan Valenta; in parallel, at the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences her supervisor-consultant was prof. Ivan Pelant. In 2012 Anna defended her PhD dissertation „Bioapplications of novel nanostructured materials” and in 2012–2014 she joined, as a postdoc, prof. Jan Linnros’ group at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
On December 1st 2015, during the gala presentation of Neuron Awards in Prague, Anna Fučíková has received a 1-million Czech Crown cheque (approx. 37 000 Euro) to fund a project on an experimental study of semiconductor nanocrystals and their optical properties. The research will go down to a single-nanocrystals level: Anna will investigate the nanoparticles with the aid of a unique combination of optical micro-spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It is expected that the results may be useful e.g. to prepare new fluorescent marks in biology, to increase the efficiency of solar cells and also to implement novel phosphors in optoelectronics.