The Neuron Foundation supported Fyziklání 2024

More than a thousand competitors from 22 countries came to Prague's Letňany to compete for victory in the largest team physics competition in Europe — Fyziklání 2024, organised by FYKOS and the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University. And Neuron was there for the third time.

Another edition of Fyziklání is behind us! A record number of competitors were again met with a rich supporting programme, from lectures by leading Czech scientists to excursions to research institutions. The secondary school students visited the largest science centre in the Czech Republic, iQLANDIA, for instance, and at the Evening of Nations got to know the traditions and typical national dishes of the other competitors. But above all the team competition awaited them — solving tricky physics problems within a three-hour limit.

And who finally won? The competition itself was won by the Romanian team DARIUSUS from the Liceul Teoretic International. The best team from the Czech Republic and Slovakia was M&M&M&IBDP from Bratislava, from the Grösslingová Grammar School and the Jur Hronec Grammar School. Congratulations!

Neuron supported Fyziklání thanks to a Neuron Award laureate

A focus on young talent and support for it on the path to a scientific career is among the Neuron Foundation's key missions.

"A passion for science is usually awakened in young people by superb teachers. They point them towards olympiads and knowledge competitions, where they can then develop their talent to the full. This pattern repeats itself regularly, as more than one laureate of the prestigious Neuron Awards, which we present to outstanding scientists for their research, confirms. Success in a secondary school olympiad is often a springboard and the first clear impulse towards a scientific career," Monika Vondráková said of this year's edition.

And it was precisely the connection with the Neuron Awards, specifically with the laureate Lenka Zdeborová, who in 2021 received the Neuron Award for promising scientists in physics, that started it all. This outstanding scientist decided to give the personal financial premium attached to the award to support the activities of FYKOS, which she once organised herself.