The European Space Agency has greenlit the LISA mission. The satellite construction is contributed to by Czechs

Abstract

The European Space Agency has approved the so-called adoption of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission with a budget of €1.75 billion. A mission adoption is an important milestone in the development of space projects, where the European Space Agency takes a project from the assessment phase to the actual implementation of concepts and technologies.

Eva Maria Martins dos Santos of the FZU received the Auger Impact Award 2023

Abstract

Dr. Eva Maria Martins dos Santos of the FZU received the Auger Impact Award 2023 on November 17 in recognition of the outstanding efforts on Monte-Carlo simulation coordination, which has a tremendous impact on the results published by the Pierre Auger Observatory but is not necessarily visible, and for her extremely responsive and service oriented attitude.

One of the brightest gamma-ray bursts was observed by Czech telescopes

Abstract

On the night of June 19-20, 2021, visible light from a source 10 billion light-years away from Earth was captured by three telescopes. Two of them – robotic telescopes – are operated by Czech institutions – the D50, located in Ondřejov, is managed by the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, while the other, FRAM-ORM, is located on the Spanish island of La Palma. The third telescope, Mini-MegaTORTORA, is installed in Nizhny Arkhyz, Russia. An international team has published a study of this extraordinary source in the May issue of Nature Astronomy.

IDPASC summer school in particle and astroparticle physics and cosmology for the first time in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Top lecturers from 6 European countries and the United States of America come together at the Joint Laboratory of Optics of the Palacký University in Olomouc and the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences to organize the 11th installment in the series of summer schools by the International Doctorate Network in Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology (IDPASC). 

FZU laser centres are celebrating their tenth birthdays

Abstract

This year marks a decade since the European Commission and the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports approved two unique laser research projects ELI Beamlines and HiLASE, which were both successfully implemented as part of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In celebration of the anniversary, an official meeting attended by the representatives of leading Czech and foreign institutions took place at ELI Beamlines in Dolní Břežany. In a video-call, it was also joined on-line by Gérard Mourou, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics and the initiator of the centre at the European level.

Opinion concerning the changes in physics education in elementary schools

Abstract

The amended Framework Education Programmes published on 1 February 2021 by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports introduced significant curriculum reduction for physics education in elementary schools. The Education Programme disregards, for example, Newton’s laws or the explanation of the transformations of different forms of energy.

Laser – From the Cradle to ELI

Abstract

ELI Beamlines is a European research centre operating the most powerful laser system in the world. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of laser discovery, we spoke about the details of the inception of and the planned research at ELI Beamlines with Professor Jan Řídký, who conceived the project in cooperation with his colleagues.