News: Institute of Physics

The European Physical Society’s 2026 Europhysics Prize for outstanding contributions to condensed matter physics was awarded to Libor Šmejkal, Jairo Sinova and Tomáš Jungwirth for their discovery of altermagnetism, the third fundamental class of magnetic orders. Altermagnets combine the advantages of ferromagnets and antiferromagnets while exhibiting unique properties not found in either of those classes.

The 2026 EPS Europhysics Prize for outstanding contributions to condensed matter physics was awarded to Libor Šmejkal, Jair Sinov, and Tomáš Jungwirth for their discovery of altermagnetism. The prize has been awarded since 1975 (this year marks its 42nd edition) and is one of the most prestigious European awards in the field of condensed matter physics.

Inside every modern catalytic converter sits a soft, silvery metal called cerium. It absorbs and releases oxygen, helping to convert harmful exhaust gases into less dangerous ones. But this common metal has an odd trait: a small change in pressure or temperature is enough to make it suddenly lose 15% of its volume. Physicists were unable to fully explain the phenomenon for almost a hundred years.

On Sunday, July 5, 2026, Jan Hladký died at the age of 91, shy of his 92nd birthday. A physicist who devoted nearly seven decades to science, he made his mark on the international history of particle physics through his discoveries.