Awards

The Česká hlava (Czech Head) National Government Award has been presented by the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation to Tomáš Jungwirth from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He received the most prestigious scientific award for his contribution to spintronics research. The ceremony of the 23rd edition of the competition brought recognition also to David Vojna, who received the Doctorandus Award for Technical Sciences.

This year's photo competition of the Institute of Physics surprised the jury not only by the number of images submitted, but also by the variety of topics chosen by the contestants. This year's main theme was physical phenomena.

For Hana Lísalová, head of the Laboratory of Functional Biointerfaces from the Division of Optics, this year's fifth edition of the International Conference on Bioinspired and Zwitterionic Materials, which was held at Cornell University in the USA, meant a significant accomplishment. She received the prestigious Mid-career Award for her contribution to the development of a new generation of antifouling layers with biofunctional elements, biosensors and biomimetic systems.

This year's prestigious Erwin Schrödinger Gold Medal was awarded to Professor Karl-Heinz Ernst for his pioneering contributions to fundamental and applied aspects of surface science, stereochemistry, chirality and nanomaterials. The medal was awarded in February at the XXIV Symposium on Atomic, Cluster and Surface Physics (SASP) in Andalo, Italy.

"A scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid.” This quote by Nobel laureate Ernest Rutherford could be applied to the recent achievements of Libor Šmejkal. He was selected from hundreds of nominated scientists to be awarded the Breakthrough Scientific Discovery of the Year 2023 title in the Falling Walls competition for his theoretical work on altermagnetism and non-dissipative nanoelectronics. He was able to explain his discoveries to the general public by comparing a new form of magnetism to the dance of swans. His scientific career illustrates the importance of the role of teachers and mentors and symbolises a commitment to discovery and contribution to scientific knowledge.

The award for the best student lecture at one of the world's most important materials conferences was awarded to Filip Matějka, a PhD student working at the Institute of Physics. At the Fall Meeting of the Materials Research Society in Boston as part of a symposium on plasma technologies, he presented a lecture entitled "Unlocking the Limits of Plasma-Activated Liquids and Plasma Synthesis of Silicon Nanoparticles".