ČT24: Neuron Awards went to Kubala Havrdová, Grygar and young talents

At the gala evening at the Prague Planetarium on the evening of 18 January, the Neuron Foundation honoured seven promising scientists working in the Czech Republic, presented the award for connecting science with business and the award for fostering a love of science, which went to the astrophysicist Jiří Grygar, and the main Neuron Award to the physician and scientist Eva Kubala Havrdová for saving human lives; it also presented the Rising Star award for an entirely exceptional talent for the first time, Czech Television reported in an extensive feature and in its news coverage. It also made the live broadcast available on ČT24's iVysílání.

This year's presentation of the prestigious Neuron Awards was held under the motto "Curiosity connects us" and had the patronage of President Petr Pavel, who opened the event. For the first time the foundation awarded the title Neuron Rising Star, which went to the student Václav Verner. Already at secondary school he was repeatedly a star of international chemistry olympiads; last year, after his school-leaving exams, he went straight into the second year at the University of Chemistry and Technology and already has his first paper in a scientific journal behind him. Neuron sent him on his way towards medicinal chemistry with a personal premium of one hundred thousand crowns.

For several generations now the astrophysicist Jiří Grygar has been an immense scientific inspiration in the Czech Republic, and he received the Award for fostering a love of science for it, which thanks to the foundation's patrons comes with a financial reward of five hundred thousand crowns. "I can't believe it," the eighty-nine-year-old scientist responded to the news that he would receive the award.

The Neuron Award 2025, presented for an extraordinary contribution to science, went this year to the professor of medicine Eva Kubala Havrdová. Thanks to her research and purposeful work, the lives of tens of thousands of patients with multiple sclerosis have improved and continue to improve. Thanks to private patrons the award carries a reward of CZK 1.5 million.

The Neuron Awards for promising scientists went to seven young scientists who are achieving significant international success in their fields and who, besides curiosity, share experience from elite institutions worldwide: from MIT, the University of California, Berkeley and ETH Zürich. Thanks to the patrons, these laureates receive a premium of five hundred thousand crowns in support of their further scientific work. The Neuron Award for connecting science and business went this time to the spin-off company Adalid Sciences, which has developed and is improving nanoparticles that may play a key role in the rapidly developing field of gene therapy.

For more than fifteen years the Neuron Foundation has been honouring outstanding scientists in the Czech Republic and supporting their work. The laureates are decided by the scientific council, which each year nominates and presents awards in seven fields. Neuron has so far spent more than CZK 150 million on supporting and popularising science, has presented more than 130 awards and has supported thirteen scientific expeditions with six million crowns.

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Watch the full report and profiles of the award winners here: https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/clanek/veda/ceny-neuron-dostali-kubala-havrdova-jiri-grygar-a-mlade-talenty-369319