The Otto Wichterle Award will support 24 talented young scientists

Alloys for better implants, research on lightning, cancer treatment, but also modern paganism and medieval universities. These are but a few of the research focuses of young researchers from the Czech Academy of Sciences who received the Otto Wichterle Award on 21 June 2023. The ceremony took place at Villa Lanna in Prague, where the awards were presented to the laureates by the President of the CAS, Eva Zažímalová.

In her opening remarks, Eva Zažímalová, President of the CAS, pointed out that this year at the end of October, 110 years will have passed since the birth of Otto Wichterle, whose name the award bears. “Professor Wichterle is an example of a very talented and prolific researcher as well as a strong personality. He should inspire us not only because his inventions were able to improve our society, but above all due to the fact that during his entire life, he placed emphasis on the fundamental importance of the freedom of research,” she remarked.

In her view, it is not just new discoveries that are most important in science. “As researchers, we should not be driven by a mere desire to rewrite textbooks. I would say that what’s far more important is a degree of love and humility for the field, a willingness to keep learning, and a sense of responsibility for the research results.”

All three scientific areas were represented: (1) Mathematics, Physics, and Earth Sciences, (2) Life and Chemical Sciences, and (3) Humanities and Social Sciences. The diplomas for the first area were presented by Ilona Müllerová, Vice President of the CAS, for the second area by Vice President Zdeněk Havla, and for the third area by Vice President Ondřej Beránek.

The Otto Wichterle Award was awarded by the President of the CAS, Eva Zažímalová.

First scientific area:

Petr Hauschwitz works at the HiLASE Centre at the Institute of Physics of the CAS, focusing on efficient laser surface structuring for improving the biocompatibility of implants. In 2021, Forbes magazine included him in its “30 Under 30” list.

Filip Křížek works at the Department of Spintronics and Nanoelectronics, Institute of Physics of the CAS, where he focuses on developing new spintronic materials. His work may lead to a better understanding of magnetism and the development of highly scalable magnetic digital and neuromorphic IT devices.

Tomáš Neuman from the Institute of Physics of the CAS, contributes to the current understanding of the interaction of light with matter. His theory describing the process of light emission in a scanning tunnelling microscope is a generally accepted theory in the scanning tunnelling microscopy community.

Andrea Školáková works in the Materials with Controlled Microstructure Research Group at the Institute of Physics of the CAS, where she has established research on high-entropy alloys that are suitable for things like bioapplications as well as aerospace and automotive applications.

Gwladys Steciuk works in the Department of Structure Analysis at the Institute of Physics of the CAS and is one of the world’s best in the analysis of specific structures of microcrystalline minerals. Her main focus is on structural characterisation of secondary mineral samples using 3D electron diffraction.

Veronika Brychová works at the Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS in a research group that focuses on radiocarbon dating. She is involved in building a new accelerator mass spectrometry laboratory.

Giovanni Ceccio joined the Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS five years ago. There he got involved in research and the development of new nanomaterials using ion beams. He is particularly interested in thin lithium ion batteries and ternary compounds with their unique radiation resistance.

Michal Kamrádek works at the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the CAS, where he represents the head of the research group involved in the preparation of glass fibre optic preforms. For instance, he was involved in work on the original method of preparing nanoparticle-doped active fibres.

Kateřina Novotná is involved in water quality and water treatment. At the Institute of Hydrodynamics of the CAS, she heads the Department of Hydrochemistry and Technology and works on detecting and describing water pollutants. She also addresses how to remove the pollutants using water treatment technologies – most often via coagulation.

Kamila Hrubanová from the Institute of Scientific Instruments of the CAS is working on advancing research on the ultrastructure of complicated hydrated objects. She heads the Core Facility of Electron Microscopy and Raman Spectroscopy.

Jana Popová from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the CAS focuses mainly on researching electricity in the atmosphere and the origin and prediction of lightning. The main tools of her work comprise modelling using actual cloud models or numerical weather prediction models and analysis of radar-measured data.

The Otto Wichterle Award has been awarded since 2002 and comes with a stipend of 330,000 CZK spread over three years.

Second scientific area:

Jan Hynek from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the CAS is currently researching porous coordination polymers, focusing in particular on their proton conductivity. Proton-conducting materials are an important component of membranes in hydrogen fuel cells, which represent one possible source of clean energy.

Pamir Nag joined the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the CAS in 2018 after completing his PhD studies in Kolkata. His focus is on the topic of electron collisions – he has designed and constructed a unique instrument for studying electron-induced chemistry (a spectrometer for imaging ions produced in electron collisions).

Eva Randárová from the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the CAS works on connecting science and medicine. She is researching new (water-soluble) polymeric materials that could be used in cancer treatment and anti-inflammatory therapy.

Dominika Luptáková works at the Institute of Microbiology of the CAS on clinically important bacterial and fungal diseases of the central nervous system, lungs, and urogenital tract.

Jaroslav Semerád from the Institute of Microbiology of the CAS is working on discovering new organic pollutants and anthropogenic particles, testing their toxicity and their interactions with (micro)organisms. More generally, his research includes toxicology, environmental chemistry, and decontamination methods.

Kristýna Kárová, who works at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the CAS, focuses on neuroscience, especially gene therapy in the stimulation of axon regeneration after spinal cord injuries.

Marek Šmejkal from the Biology Centre of the CAS studies how fish behaviour and adaptation strategies change and what sort of impact human-induced environmental changes have on fish ecology and reproduction. He is involved in a number of projects, for instance, a project with the Prague Zoo and other institutions to save the critically endangered crucian carp.

Stanislav Juráň from the Global Change Research Institute of the CAS – CzechGlobe is involved in plant physiology and atmospheric chemistry, focusing mainly on ground-level ozone fluxes and biogenic volatile organic compounds.

The award is intended for researchers who are under 35 years of age at the time of submission.

Third scientific area

Aleš Kudrnáč from the Institute of Sociology of the CAS conducts research at the interface of sociology, political science, and social psychology. He has a long-standing interest in the formation of political attitudes in adolescence and how school and the environment in which adolescents grow up shape their behaviour, prejudices, and perceptions of politics.

Tomáš Gecko works at the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the CAS and focuses on the history of science, business, and social policy. He participated in the founding of the research team Transformation of the State and Society in Economic and Social Perspective and is involved in a number of important research projects at the Institute.

Pavel Horák works in the Department of Critical Heritage Studies at the Institute of Ethnology of the CAS researching alternative religions and spirituality. He combines religious studies and anthropological perspectives in his research on magic, witchcraft, the occult, and esoteric movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Lukáš Lička is a historian of philosophy and science at the Institute of Philosophy of the CAS. He is interested in the cultural transfer of philosophical ideas, texts, and manuscripts from Western European centres of university education (Paris and Oxford) to Central Europe (especially Prague and Vienna) and in the ways in which philosophical and natural science issues are transferred from university lectures into discursive practice.

Jiří Dynda from the Institute of Slavonic Studies of the CAS focuses on the religion of the Slavs in the pre-Christian period in a broader cultural and historical context. His research combines new insights from scholarly literature and historical sources with his excellent knowledge of a number of old European languages (Old Slavonic, Ancient Greek, Latin, and Old Norse).

Text: Leona Matušková, Division of External Relations, CAO of the CAS
Photo: Jana Plavec, Division of External Relations, CAO of the CAS
The text and photos are released for use under the Creative Commons license.

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