News: Institute of Physics

This year we will be looking forward to everyone at VědaFest, the 13th annual fun science festival, which takes place under the open sky at Vítězné náměstí in Dejvice. 

For the second time this year, we will visit a family weekend event called ABC Festival, which will take place again this year in the premises of the National Agricultural Museum in Prague!       

Want to learn what the physics of the future looks like? Or solve puzzles and try out our exhibits? At the stand of the Institute of Physics at the Science Fair, we will transport you to the world of modern materials or cosmology.      

Dear colleagues,we would like to invite you to the seminar of Division of Elementary Particle Physics of Institute of Physics, presented by Jakub Vícha.For more info, please see invitation.

Update 1. 1. 2025 A new comet was spotted on the night of 24–25 December 2024 by scientist Martin Mašek from the Institute of Physics over the western horizon in Argentina. He operated the telescope online from Liberec (city in the Czech Republic). This is the first Czech discovery of a comet where the observer was not physically present in the observatory, and the first Czech discovery from the southern hemisphere. The comet will not appear above our horizon until late February or early March. 

In the time of advent, for the second time we organized a collection to support the Klokánek in Prague 8, which helps children in difficult life situations. Thanks to the generous involvement of colleagues across all the divisions, we managed to collect a large number of toiletries, hygiene products, non-perishable food and other useful items that Klokánek will use in its daily care for children. Thanks to the financial donations, we were able to give Klokánek vouchers for the purchase of drugstore and food items that they can use throughout the year. 

The family of magnetic materials has been traditionally divided into the ferromagnetic branch known for several millennia and the antiferromagnetic branch known for nearly a century. Researchers from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences have recently made a discovery of a new branch of the magnetic family, termed altermagnetic. 

In December, a new mural dedicated to the only Czech winner of the Nobel Prize in the field of natural sciences, Jaroslav Heyrovský, was ceremoniously unveiled at Ládví. In their work the authors, Josefína Jonášová and Štěpán Jílek, interconnected science, history and the local community.

On Monday, December 2, 2024, it was exactly 50 years to the day since a single issue of Physical Review Letters (Volume 33, Number 23) published three articlesExperimental Observation of a Heavy Particle J Discovery of a Narrow Resonance in e+e- AnnihilationPreliminary Result of Frascati on the Nature of a New 3.1-GeV Particle Produced in e+e- Annihilation,announcing a discovery that fundamentally impacted the further development of our understanding of the laws of the microworld. The first reached the editors on November 12, 1974, the second a day later, and the third on November 18. I will get back to this time sequence later.

We invite you to a seminar by Professor Yasunori Nawa from Japan's Kwansei University on the topic Development of Optical Microscope for Cell Function Imaging.It will take place on December 11 at 10:00 in the Dvořák Hall (main FZU building Slovanka).

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.

On 18th and 19th November 2024, a traditional workshop organized by the Department of Spintronics and Nanoelectronics of FZU took place in Villa Lanna. The program was divided into thematic lecture blocks encompassing not only the recently discovered family of altermagnetic materials but also superconductivity and terahertz and antiferromagnetic spintronics from both theoretical and experimental points of view.

After two and a half years of intensive work, scientists from the Laboratory of Biophysics of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, led by Oleg Lunov, have presented a breakthrough DNA nanostructure based platform, which allows for the targeted influence of lysosomal functions in cells. This research opens up new possibilities for the development of advanced therapeutic methods which in the future could be used, for example, in the treatment of cancer, neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases. The research results, achieved in collaboration with colleagues from Arizona State University, the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, were published in the prestigious Chemical Engineering Journal.

In the presence of Her Excellency Ms Jarmila Povejšilová, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Argentina, her deputy Filip Kanda and the Head of Unit for Research Infrastructures of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic Marek Vyšinka, the Director of the Institute of Physics Michael Prouza signed an agreement to extend the operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory for another 10 years.

As part of the Week of the Academy of Sciences the staff of the Institute of Physics present groundbreaking research to students and the curious public. This year was no exception. The opportunity to get a glimpse into the world of scientific experiments and cutting-edge technologies that scientists work with on a daily basis has been taken by 1348 visitors. 

Laser technology is now permeating all areas of industry, science, and everyday life – which is why it is important that education in this area provides comprehensive and up-to-date information. Quality education and reliable knowledge enable not only the effective application of laser technology, but also a safe and responsible approach to its use, which is essential for the further development of the field and its contribution to society.