Astrophysicist and science popularizer Jiří Grygar from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences received the Neuron Foundation Award for promoting a love of science at the Prague Planetarium.
"I can't believe it," said Jiří Grygar in response to the news that he would receive this prestigious award from the Neuron Foundation. "But it's true that I've sent a lot of people on a scientific career path," he added.
Jiří Grygar, CSc., is an astronomer, astrophysicist, and long-time popularizer of science. Since 1966, he has been compiling and publishing an overview of events and new discoveries in astronomy and astrophysics from the previous year under the title Žeň objevů (Harvest of Discoveries). From the early 1980s, he presented the popular science program Okna vesmíru dokořán (Windows to the Universe Wide Open), which aired for a decade. In addition to books on astronomy, he is also the author of the autobiography Dvě století v životě pozorovatele (Two Centuries in the Life of an Observer).
"It is wonderful and I am personally delighted that Jiří Grygar has received the Neuron Award for promoting a love of science. If there is anyone in the Czech Republic who deserves such an award, it is certainly Jura Grygar. I am convinced that he himself has attracted thousands of people to science and astronomy in particular. It is nice that he received this significant award just before his 90th birthday. As one of his many grateful students, I congratulate him warmly!" says Michael Prouza, director of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, about the award.
After working at the Astronomical Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Jiří Grygar began working at the Institute of Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, later the Czech Academy of Sciences. He has previously received several awards for popularizing science – from UNESCO (1996), the Czech Academy of Sciences (2012), and the Government Council for Research, Development, and Innovation (2016).
