Armstrong's small step a giant leap for humanity
25 Aug 2012
Czech nuclear research founder passed away
27 Jul 2012
Professor Čestmír Šimáně, Czech nuclear research founder, who focused on experimental nuclear physics, construction and use of accelerators, construction of radiation detectors and nuclear reactors technology, died on July 26, aged 93.
Euroscience Open Forum 2012
17 Jul 2012
The Euroscience Open Forum took place at the Convention Centre Dublin and it was officially opened by President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. More than 500 speakers addressed over 150 science, careers and business to business sessions including Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation & Science; Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director General of CERN, Charles F. Bolden Jr., NASA Administrator; and Mary Robinson Former President of Ireland and former UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights. The opening ceremony also featured the first keynote address of the conference by Nobel Laureate Jules Hoffmann entitled From Insects to Mammals, reflections on a European journey through basic research on immune defences. Professor Hoffmann is Research Director of the National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS), France and winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.
Czech world-renowned chemist Antonín Holý passed away
16 Jul 2012
Professor Antonín Holý from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the ASCR – the Czech researcher of world importance who discovered preparations that help heal millions of patients worldwide – died on July 16, 2012 at age 75. The preparations developed by Antonín Holý are part of the most efficient and also accessible medicines against AIDS, smallpox virus, shingles, eye inflammation and hepatitis B.
SVU and its role in the era of globalisation
12 Jul 2012
The Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences (SVU) was founded in Washington, DC in 1958. The main goal of the society was ‘to provide a forum for the free development of Czechoslovak culture in exile and make the world aware of Czech and Slovak cultural traditions, which date back more than a millennium.’ Since the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989, the Society has been instrumental in assisting the fledgling democracies in reestablishing the normal functions of a free society, through material assistance, lectures, seminars, and workshops, and most of all, through the personal expertise and experience of its members.
The Josef Hlávka Prize for 2011
9 Jul 2012
Foundation of Josef, Marie and Zdeňka Hlávka together with the Czech Literary Fund Foundation annually awards the Prize for an original book of the scientific literature published in the Czech Republic. The Prize is awarded in four disciplines (in the field of Social sciences, in the field of Medical sciences, in the field of Mathematics, Physics and Earth Sciences and Milan Sojka Prize).
The first Czech scientist to receive EMBO Gold Medal 2012
27 Jun 2012
European Molecular Biology Laboratory announced Jiří Friml of the Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB and Ghent University, Belgium and Central European Institute of Technology, University Brno, Czech Republic as the winner of the 2012 EMBO Gold Medal. Friml receives the award for defining how the plant hormone auxin functions to regulate plant development. He was also recognized for showing how the auxin-governed molecular processes optimise adaptation of plant development and growth to ever-changing environmental conditions.
Medal for Professor Johann Arnason
20 Jun 2012
On the 1th June 2012, Prof. Jiří Drahoš, president of the ASCR, awarded professor Johann Arnason the Palacký Medal for social sciences by the Czech Academy of Sciences. Prof. Arnason cooperates over a long period with the Czech scientists, especially the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Faculty of Humanities Charles University. Currently he is a visiting professor at the Institute of Philosophy ASCR, where he focuses on the specification of the concept of “multiple modernities”.
Expedition Svalbard 2012 starting on June 24th
19 Jun 2012
The expeditions and field work research on Svalbard take place each summer season approximately from the end of June to the end of September. This year's expedition led by prof. Josef Elster from the Institute of Botany ASCR will be held from 24th June 2012 to 1 September 2012. There will be about 20–24 students in total. Petuniabukta Station is situated in the High Arctic. Petunia bay is located in the central part of Svalbard archipelago, which is more continental and drier than the western part. In the meantime the laboratory and data analysis are carried out in the different research institutions in Czech Republic.
Izraeli Nobel Laureates in Prague
18 Jun 2012
Four laureates of the Nobel Prize from Israel – Ada Yonath (Weizmann Instiute, Rehovot, Nobel Prize 2009), Aaron Ciechaonover (Technion, Nobel Prize 2004), Avram Hershko (Rappaport Institute, Haifa, Nobel Prize 2004) and Dan Schechtman (Technion, Nobel Prize 2011) – visited Prague on the last days of May. They attended the conference Prague Nobel Get-Together at Prague’ National Technical Library (30–31 May), which was jointly arranged by the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the ASCR, The Academy of Sciences of the CR and the Embassy of the State of Israel in the CR.