News

May 1st 2024 marked the 20th anniversary of the Czech Republic joining the European Union (EU). The past 20 years have profoundly changed the Czech research landscape, German-Czech research cooperation and the European Research Area. “Science has greatly benefitted from the possibilities that Europe offers during the last decades. Mobility is a striking example, funding opportunities are another,” says Max Planck President Patrick Cramer at the opening ceremony for the first three Dioscuri Centres in the Czech Republic on 17 May 2024. 

The highest energy cosmic ray particles are likely to penetrate much deeper into the atmosphere than previously thought. The incoming particles are therefore likely to be much heavier. New and fundamental insights emerge from a method that generalises the approach to predicting models of cosmic particle collisions with the Earth's atmosphere. The accuracy of Jakub Vícha's method has been confirmed by hundreds of international scientists at the Pierre Auger Observatory, as shown in a study published these days in Physical Review D.

Theoretical interpretation often steps into the spotlight first once breakthrough experiments have been finished. A much more exciting situation, especially in the realm of spectral properties of magnetic materials, is when a theoretical prediction persuades researchers to undertake a specific measurement approach, and subsequently, the collected data align precisely with the prediction. Research that resulted in a paper published last week in Physical Review Letters, where an international team reported that the way light is absorbed by a magnetic substance varies according to its state of polarization, followed just this less common line of development.

We experienced another successful participation in career fairs. This year we started on 4th April at the FJFI CTU at the proven event "Ulov mě na Jaderce" and continued on 24th April at "Dny firem na Matfyzu". In both cases, a considerable number of students, especially students of physics and mathematics who are already looking for job opportunities during their studies, arrived at the FZU stand. Together we discussed the possibilities of professional employment and the offer of internships at FZU.

Molecular computer components could represent a new IT revolution and help us create cheaper, faster, smaller, and more powerful computers. Yet researchers struggle to find ways to assemble them more reliably and efficiently.

We are pleased to announce the 21st IUVSTA Summer School on Physics at Nanoscale 2024, continuing the tradition of successful summer schools on nanostructures, surfaces and thin films.

Peter Ware Higgs, the British theoretical physicist known for his work on the Higgs boson and the Higgs mechanism, passed away on Monday 8 April at the age of 95.

Visitors to the exhibition of works created during the inaugural January workshop of the BeInspired project for lower and upper secondary school students, which aims to bridge the worlds of science and art, will find themselves in an artistic world inspired by elementary particle physics.

On Friday, March 8, scientists from the Institute of Physics explained the secrets of cosmic rays and how to measure them at the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina to nearly thirty high school students.