The gas explosion on Monday in Prague has severely affected the building of the Academy
Photos: Archive SSČ AV ČR
The neo-Renaissance historical building of the Academy of Sciences of the CR was severely damaged on the morning of 29 April 2013 in connection with the gas explosion, which occurred in Divadelní Street on the ground floor of the building across from the side section of the Academy. A massive pressure wave shattered the window panes and damaged the interiors of not only the whole length of the building from the side of Divadelní Street but also broke the glass of the windows towards Krocínova Street, towards the courtyard and some towards Národní třída (National Avenue). The explosion inflicted the greatest damage, the amount of which is estimated at CZK 10 million, in the Library and Head Office of the Academy of Sciences.
News
2 Aug 2013 EUCYS 2013 in Prague
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic will be hosting the 25th edition of the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) which will take place in Prague from 20 until 25 September. The event is an annual exhibition of the finest work developed by young scientists in many different scientific fields; it enables the best young minds of different countries to compare ideas and admire each other’s work, as well as to compete with one another at European level. European Union Contest for Young Scientists is an initiative of the European Commission that was set up in 1989 with the goal of promoting cooperation and interchange between young scientists and guiding them towards a future career in science and technology. More information on http://www.eucys2013.cz.
The Spintronics and Nanoelectronics group from the Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic has completed another successful research project which opens new oportunities for future information technologies. The work which discovers and explains the origin of a new mechanism that allows to electrically control the velocity of domain walls driven across the magnetic medium was performed within the long term collaboration in spintronics research with groups from Cambridge and Nottingham in the UK. It was published on June 9, 2013 in the journal Nature Materials.
16 Jul 2013 FGMT 2013
The Institute of Physics, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic organizes the international conference that will take place in Prague on 29 July–3 August, 2013. Its main goal is to contribute to uncovering possible phenomenological (“quantum thermodynamic”) laws governing the behavior of mesoscopic systems and also to provide better understanding and insight into recent problems of the foundations, relying on theoretical and experimental methods of condensed matter physics and quantum optics. Special attention will be given to the dynamics of mesoscopic open systems and their relevance to problems of measurement of non-equilibrium quantum systems, thermal and quantum fluctuations, dissipation, noise, physics of quantum information and biological systems, in terms of both theory and experiment. FQMT’13 is follow-up to three previous conferences held in Prague 2004, 2008 and 2011. The FQMT'13 program will feature concerts of classical and jazz music performed by world-class musicians, held at outstanding venues of the city. Both the scientific program and the musical program are intended as a complement to one another, where scientists and musicians are encouraged to mingle and share their knowledge and experience. More information on http://fqmt.fzu.cz/13/.
Euroscience and the ESOF local organizers that provide young researchers with a unique opportunity to interact with leading scientists from various scientific fields wish to encourage and promote the participation of groups of graduate and PhD candidates. The groups will reach Copenhagen in Denmark (the next host of ESOF in 2014) by bus (ideally a low emission vehicle) or some other low cost transportation. Selected participants will have access to all ESOF 2014 programmes and to the specific sessions dedicated to Young Researchers. This project is based on the successful Barcelona and Torino Science Bus event, realized by the ESOF2008 and ESOF2010 Team that brought to Barcelona 40 and to Torino 30 students. The Science busses participants will be offered a very low conference fee (80€), the possibility to be hosted in low cost accommodations in Copenhagen and onsite help provided by the local organisers.
4 Jul 2013 International Workshop in Ceske Budejovice
Researchers, students, and interested public are invited to a 1-day workshop Plant-insect food webs along latitudinal and altitudinal gradients originating from lowland tropical rainforests bringing to Ceske Budejovice some of the leading scientists in ecology. The workshop will include oral presentation by 18 senior on biodiversity along ecological gradients, followed by an open poster session where you can present your own poster, and a general discussion with refreshments.
3 Jul 2013 Russian scientists defend their Academy of Sciences
Russian scientists and their foreign colleagues raise the alarm about the new law, that is about to radically transform the almost 300-years old Russian academy of sciences. It should be merged with two more specialized bodies – the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. The academy's real estate holdings and property should be managed by the newly established agency. Russian scientists protest against plans to ruin RAS by symbolic funeral of Russian science in the streets of Moscow in a similar way as Czech scientist did in 2009 in order to warn of the intended radical budget reduction of ASCR. President of RAS Vladimír Fortov is to meet with the president Vladimir Putin July 3, 2013, the same day the new law should be debated in Russia's parliament. The well-known scientists from all over the world draw the attention to the seriousness of situation in many open letters.
Russian scientists plan to protest daily at different places of Moscow.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is announcing that the names Kerberos and Styx have officially been recognised for the fourth and fifth moons of Pluto, which were discovered in 2011 and 2012. The names were submitted to the IAU by the leader of the team responsible for the discovery, who had called for the help of the general public in an open contest that attracted a substantial number of participants. More information on http://www.iau.org/public_press/news/detail/iau1303/.
The Network of atmospheric stations within the European Research Infrastructure ICOS has welcomed a new member. An atmospheric station in Křešín by Pacov in the Bohemian – Moravian Highlands was launched June 17, 2013 on the occasion of observing the 25th anniversary of the global environmental observatory in Košetice. The stations have been consolidated and it is a major research and monitoring infrastructure in the Czech Republic and Central Europe. It consists of two components – the observatory at Košetice, operated since 1988 by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute and the atmospheric station Křešín by Pacov, which began operations in June of this year. The atmospheric station was built and is administered by CzechGlobe, the Global Change Research Centre of the ASCR, and is situated 100 meters from the observatory.
Russian science journalists inform at various web portals about the new law that is about to radically transform the almost 300-years old RAS. The mentioned law should be adopted without a previous discussion with the scientific community in fast-track debate in Russia's parliament. This news comes only a month after the new reform-minded physicist Vladimír Fortov was elected RAS president. According to the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev who was speaking to the RIA Novosti news agency the new law and its outcome will enable scientists “to concentrate on research and will spare them the irrelevant function of managing”.
Three documentary videos produced in the Czech Republic were selected out of 80 participants as the final candidates for the top award at the European science TV and new media festival held in Dublin. One of them was interactive presentation of the Institute of Physiology AS CR, v. v. i., made by OAT Studios & The Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic. The presentation has 12 chapters, with each one representing a topic or problem that scientists of the institute deal with. Each chapter has three parts. The first is a short cartoon intro, featuring a young scientist and his pet rat, which introduce the theme. The second part is a video about a concrete experiment or specific job at the labs. The last part of every chapter is scientific text with more details about the topic. There are also contacts for a specific scientist or laboratoires. The other two projects from the Czech Republic were CSI Death on the Czech Sea Shore produced at the Charles University in Prague and Harnessed River made by Fontis TV produktion.
The prizes will be awarded on the 22nd November 2013 at Ciencia Viva Lisbon in Portugal.
At the Annual Meeting of The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) in San Francisco on 16 December 2012, a group of editors and publishers of scientific journals elaborated a collection of eighteen recommendations which should increase the quality of research assessment. Inter alia, they point out the fact that the Journal Impact Factor, which serves today as the primary parameter for the comparison of scientific outputs, was originally created as a tool to help librarians identify journals to purchase, not as a measure of the scientific quality of research in an article. The group agreed that the Journal Impact Factor, which has literally become an ‘obsession’ in global science, in fact deforms the assessment of scientific results. At the stimulus of its Scientific Council, the Academy of Sciences of the CR has joined the San Francisco Declaration of Research Assessment as one of the 78 original signatory scientific and research institutions and international scientific societies. You can find its full text here.
10 Jun 2013 Plant Biotechnology: Green for Good II
The Centre of the Region Haná cordially invites to attend the international conference Olomouc Biotech 2013: Plant Biotechnology: Green for Good II. From June 17 to 21, 2013, the conference will promote collaboration in the frontier areas of plant biotechnology research, development and innovations. During the conference, scientists from academic institutions and companies will have the opportunity to meet with students. A workshop strengthening the cooperation of the industry and academia will be organized. Conference language will be English. The conference is held under the auspices of the European Federation of Biotechnology and Biotechnical Society of the Czech Republic.
The Inauguration of Application Laboratories of Microtechnologies and Nanotechnologies (ALISI) was held May 30, 2013 in the Institute of Scientific Instruments in Brno. The aim of ALISI was to build a new research center with modern equipment achieving applicable R&D results and approaching the top world institutions. According to the Director of ALISI Professor Pavel Zemanek, the research activities are related to diagnostics and technologies using the methods of magnetic resonance, laser microtechnologies and nanotechnologies – especially interferometry and spectroscopy, measurement and processing of signals in medicine, electron microscopy and lithography, electron and laser beam welding, thin film deposition by magnetron sputtering, cryogenics, and construction of unique scientific instruments and systems. The existence of ALISI is supposed to be an impulse towards broadening cooperation with Czech as well as abroad industrial partners, universities, medical facilities and R&D institutes.
This year we commemorate the 1150th anniversary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia. Various projects have been prepared for this international event. On the national level is a historically oriented exhibition project titled, Cyril and Methodius – their time, life and work. This presents the cultural and social phenomenon of the Cyrillo-Methodian mission stressing its crucial importance for the establishment of the Czech national community. The exhibition presents historical and archaeological items collected during research lasting more than 50 years by the Moravian Museum and partner organizations and connected to the history of Great Moravia before, during and after the apostles’ mission. (The saints’ day is observed in the Czech Republic and Slovakia July 5.)
29 May 2013 The long journey to the Higgs boson and beyond at the LHC
Institute of Physics of the AS CR invites you to the 5th Dvořák Lecture by Professor Peter Jenni from the University of Freiburg, Germany and CERN, Geneva, Switzerland on June 12, 2013 at 3:00 pm in the Lecture Hall of the Institute of Physics, Na Slovance 2, Prague 8. Since three years the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), in particular ATLAS, investigate particle physics at the highest collision energies ever achieved in a laboratory. Following a rich harvest of results for Standard Model (SM) Physics came in 2012 the first spectacular discovery of a new, heavy particle, most likely the long-awaited Higgs boson. The latest results with the full data set accumulated over the first three-years running period of the LHC will be presented.
27 May 2013 L’Oréal For women in science
Remarkable Czech women scientists have received the L’Oréal Award. The ceremonial act took place at the beautiful auditorium of National technical library in Prague May 23, 2013. Three laureates were chosen by special committee in front with Professor Blanka Říhová. First laureate of this year For Women in Science is Ing. Lubomíra Balková from Department of Mathematics Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering Czech Technical University. As second the committee has chosen PharmDr. Martina Čečková from Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hradec Králové and the third laureate is MUDr. Eva Froňková from the 2nd Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague.
Americans will deliver one of the four unique lasers to the sophisticated scientific centre ELI Beamlines, now being built in Dolní Břežany near Prague, ELI Beamlines management said at a press conference that took place on May 24, 2013 in the main building of ASCR. The ELI Beamlines scientific team started working on its development along with one of the best known laser laboratories in the world, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
10 May 2013 The gas explosion on Monday in Prague has severely affected the building of the Academy
The neo-Renaissance historical building of the Academy of Sciences of the CR was severely damaged on the morning of 29 April 2013 in connection with the gas explosion, which occurred in Divadelní Street on the ground floor of the building across from the side section of the Academy. A massive pressure wave shattered the window panes and damaged the interiors of not only the whole length of the building from the side of Divadelní Street but also broke the glass of the windows towards Krocínova Street, towards the courtyard and some towards Národní třída (National Avenue). The explosion inflicted the greatest damage, the amount of which is estimated at CZK 10 million, in the Library and Head Office of the ASCR.
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