Fyzikální ústav Akademie věd ČR

The former head of the Department of Dielectrics, Dr. Jan Petzelt, was awarded a prestigious award of the scientific community. During the recent international scientific symposium in Darmstadt (ECAPD-ISAF-PFM 2016 (2016 Joint IEEE International Symposium on the Applications of Ferroelectrics, European Conference on Applications of Polar Dielectrics & Workshop on Piezoresponse Force Microscopy), 21-15.8.2016), he became the first holder of the newly created Award of the ECAPD International Committee. He was recognized for his lifelong contribution to understanding ferroelectric materials through broadband spectroscopy of ferroelectric, relaxor and low-loss dielectric materials.

The award was announced during the important conference in the field, ECAPD-ISAF-PFM 2016, attended this year by almost 500 scientists and students engaged in fundamental and applied research into ferroelectric and polar dielectrics.

Dr. Jan Petzelt studied Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague. His scientific career started in 1963 in the Department of Dielectrics, Institute of Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences where he accepted the offer to work on a new Fourier infrared spectrometer. In collaboration with Vladimír Dvořák he participated in studying improper ferroelectrics and incommensurately modulated crystals. Jan Petzelt was also engaged in infrared spectroscopy of one- and two-dimensional conductors, ion conductors, dipolar glasses, ceramics for microwave applications, thin ferroelectric films, relaxation ferroelectrics and incipient ferroelectrics, nanocomposites of ferroelectrics and conductive materials etc. Almost every time it was a pioneering work in the field. For example, he was the first to study phonons in thin ferroelectric films. He is an author of more than 350 scientific publications. He was the head of the Department of Dielectrics, Institute of Physics, CAS between 1993 and 2008.

The photograph shows the Czech delegates sharing their joy of the award plaque.