On the occasion of the Dvořák Lectures organized by the Institute of Physics, the FZU Director Michael Prouza handed over decrees to appoint the Emeritus Scientists of the Czech Academy of Sciences to three researchers from the Institute of Physics. In his opening speech, he thanked the appointed researchers – namely Pavel Novák, Ivan Pelant and Antonín Šimůnek – for making a significant contribution to the development of physical research by fulfilling their scientific visions.
Ing. Pavel Novák, CSc., DSc., has worked at the Institute of Physics continuously since 1964. In years 1992, 1994 and again in 2002, 2005 he was appointed the Head of the Department of Magnetics and Superconductors, and he was the Group Head for magnetic spectroscopy in his Department between 1994 and 2020. During his career, he has published 232 publications with over 5000 citations, has received the Prize for Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (1987), the Medal for physics of Degree II by the Physical Science Division of the Union of Czech and Slovak Mathematics and Physics (1988), and the honorary Ernst Mach Medal for Merits in Physical Sciences (2021). He has been a peer-reviewer for APS (Phys. Rev. Lett., Phys. Rev. B), Eur. J. Phys. B, J. Phys.: Solid State Phys., J. Mag. Mag. Mater and others.
From the very start, he has focused on theoretical physics of solids. He has always closely linked theoretical analyses and interpretations and the results delivered by experimental groups focusing on magnetic resonance. Initially, his focus was on electron paramagnetic resonance, and since 1983 until now he has been dealing mainly with nuclear magnetic resonance. He has closely been working on this together with the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University, specifically with Low Temperature Physics Department.
Prof. RNDr. Ivan Pelant, DrSc., left the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University in Prague in 1994 for the Institute of Physics to study shining silicon crystals. At the Institute of Physics he has greatly contributed to setting up the time-resolved spectroscopy luminescence laboratory and the development of different methods for silicon nanocrystal growth. He was also the Head of the Luminescence Group. He has co-authored over 200 original scientific publications, six chapters in monographies and five books, with a total of about 3000 citations. He was a peer-reviewer for manuscripts in the following impact journals J. Appl. Phys., J. Non-Crystalline Solids, ACS Nano, J. Phys.: Condensed Matter, Phys. Stat. Sol.
In 2011 he received the Josef Hlávka Prize for scientific literature for his book named Luminescence Spectroscopy, which was published in 2012 by Oxford University Press (Luminescence Spectroscopy of Semiconductors).
During his career, professor Pelant has cooperated both as a researcher and a teacher with the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University and has successfully supervised a number of PhD students, many of which have shown great promise (Kateřina Kůsová won a scholarship for L'OREAL for women in science in 2014, and the Czech Grant Agency President Award two years later; Lukáš Ondič received the Josef Hlávka Prize for talented students in 2013 and the Otto Wichterle Premium in 2017.).
RNDr. Antonín Šimůnek, CSc., was the Head of the Department of Structure Analysis of the Institute of Physics for 23 years and the FZU Director Deputy for the FZU Cukrovarnická for 10 years. In 1990, 2009 he was a member of the Science Council and the Institute Council and, also, he was the chair of the Qualification Audit Committee (1996-2010). He was a member of the Czech Academy of Sciences Assembly, Science Committee of the Czech Academy of Sciences (2001-2009) and its Deputy Chairman for 4 years. He was a member of the coordination committee for the highest qualification degree of university educated workers of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and a member of supervisory boards of the Institute of Information Theory and Automation and the Institute of Informatics. He was involved in drawing up evaluations of individual institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In 2009 and 2010 he was the member of the evaluation steering committee.
In his research, he has focused on electron structure of solids, calculations and interpretation of X-ray spectra and calculations of hardness of solids. In 2000, he was elected Fellow of The Institute of Physics (FlnstP, UK) and was awarded the title CPhys. A year later, he received the Prize of the Czech Academy of Sciences for developing a method allowing the ab-initio calculation of crystal hardness. According to the WoS database, he has published more than 80 works with over 1000 citations, and presented 25 contributions at international conferences. He has been a peer-reviewer for Phys. Rev. Lett., Phys. Rev. B, Eur. Phys. Lett., J. Phys.: Condensed Matter, Physica Status Solidi, Acta Cryst. B, Physica Scripta, lnt. J. Refractory Metal & Hard Materials.