The young physicists Neuron supports were interested in science and in business

Clever girls, clever boys. In mid-March three dozen curious and successful solvers of the FYKOS physics correspondence seminar, which has been developing talent (and not only in physics) since 1987, gathered for their traditional camp. This spring meeting, where young physicists solve problems, discuss, play games and do sport, was held this time in Horní Sytová, below the mountains by the river Jizera and near Jilemnice. The Neuron Foundation has supported FYKOS's activities for years, so it is no wonder that Monika Řasa Vondráková, director of Neuron, together with board member Jaroslav Řasa, went to see the hopes of Czech science. They talked with the students about physics, science and business too.

"We are very glad to be here with you. We were introduced years ago by the physicist and computer scientist Lenka Zdeborová, a Neuron Award 2021 laureate, now a professor at EPFL in Switzerland, who decided to give her reward of 500,000 crowns back to the foundation, specifically to support FYKOS and physics olympiads," Monika Vondráková said by way of introduction, adding that the foundation continues to help FYKOS from the funds of private patrons. In the pleasant atmosphere of the Hotel Jizera she presented to the students the key ideas of the foundation, which has set itself the goal of supporting outstanding scientists, superb individuals who pull others forward — and open up new horizons and spheres of enquiry.

The Neuron Foundation's three pillars

"We stand on three pillars: we present the prestigious Neuron Awards, we look after the Neuron Junior activities, which include research placements, and we support the Neuron Expeditions with scientists heading into the field in search of discoveries," Monika told three dozen talented listeners. "We can see that scientists have the courage to take a different path. This year we presented the Neuron Rising Star award for the first time, to someone almost your own age, Václav Verner, who was already looking in his third year at grammar school for a way to start studying at the University of Chemistry and Technology. And he found it," the co-founder of the Neuron Foundation said.

The foundation is now launching the campaign Start with Why, aimed precisely at young people aged 17 to 25, to interest them in science and knowledge. "We also support the Junior Science Conference; we had a nine-year-old boy there, for instance, who loved black holes. And he wanted to go to CERN, so we sent him there with his parents and he became totally enthusiastic about physics! And for us it has become a tradition to choose one student there who 'shines'. Recently that was Terka Štěpánková, for instance, whose dream we made come true by sending her on a placement in the laboratory of Kateřina Rohlenová, one of our laureates," Vondráková recounted. Besides Terezie and the chemist Vašek, the four faces of the Start with Why campaign are completed by Claudie Haová and Václav Knapp, both of whom are interested in artificial intelligence (AI).

In the hall of the little mountain hotel, current secondary school students from Prague to the Zlín region and graduates of science-oriented grammar schools (such as Botičská) mixed with the organising university students, who after years of solving FYKOS problems often went straight to the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics (without entrance exams), where they now work on various parts of physics: particle physics, optics or magnetism.

What connects science and business

The Řasas also added a section that was not so expected but that attracted all the more interest from the audience. "This year we want to try a camp connecting science and business too. They tend to be somewhat separate worlds, and yet they have a good deal in common," they said in introducing their talks. Jaroslav Řasa, a successful entrepreneur, studied at the Czech Technical University, where he was interested in neural networks. He founded and led the company ABRA and then sold it well, but he is developing further start-ups. "Who likes physics? So do I. It is my favourite field! Physics led me to electrical engineering and neural networks. Back then, before 1989, you could not go into business in Czechoslovakia, so I could devote myself to understanding how things work," he recalled of the time when he and his colleagues built "beetles" in robotics, simple models that did interesting things.

After the Velvet Revolution he put a company together. That is how ABRA came about, a company that grew steadily. "And what mattered? There had to be people who could do something, who really understood something. Who think deeply. And those are the people you represent here too, and then you can turn it into something. That is the beginning of every successful business; money is not the cause, money is the consequence," Jaroslav Řasa told the young physicists, encouraging them towards enterprise.

And then came the discussion. What do you think is essential for success? "Diligence. Communication. Perseverance. Looking for connections," came the answers from the solvers of the 39th year of FYKOS. How do you start a company? What is needed for it? Where and how do you raise money? And how do you develop your ideas successfully? Both speakers from Neuron answered readily and inspired further questions, further Whys. Jaroslav Řasa said something quite essential in closing: "Usually the worlds of science and business do not meet, but at the Neuron Foundation they do. Do big things that reach beyond themselves — and take them out into the world."

Photos for Neuron: Filip Kolář (16), SŠPS Praha Smíchov