"This was the 2021 Neuron Awards: the gala evening, the debate and portraits of the laureates"
On 28 September 2021 the Neuron Endowment Fund presented the Neuron Awards to outstanding Czech scientists. It gave three awards for lifelong contribution to science, seven awards for young promising scientists, and new this year was the Neuron Award for the exceptional connection of science and business. The following day a debate with the new laureates followed. Revisit the most important moments of this celebration of Czech science.
The highest distinction, the Neuron Award for lifelong contribution to science, went to three names. The doctor Josef Prchal, a world-renowned haematologist; the physicist Václav Petříček, who significantly advanced Czech crystallography; and the mathematician David Preiss, a solver of fundamental mathematical problems.
The Neuron scientific board also honoured seven scientific hopes, and the 2021 Neuron Award goes to: Jan Hladký (mathematics), Lenka Zdeborová (physics), Jitka Palich Fučíková (medicine), Prokop Hapala (chemistry), Zuzana Musilová (biology), Martin Tancer (computer science) and Petr Sedláček (social sciences).
New this year was the Neuron Award for the exceptional connection of science and business, won by the scientists Vítězslav Bryja and Kamil Paruch together with the transfer specialist Radoslav Trautmann. They receive the Neuron Award for the academic spin-off CasInvent Pharma, which works on developing a drug against leukaemia.
On 28 September 2021 the Neuron Endowment Fund presented the Neuron Awards in the Pantheon of the National Museum for the twelfth time. The host of the evening was Karel Kovy Kovář, and alongside the scientists other globally successful Czechs such as Josef Průša, Jaroslav Beck and Klára Kolouchová also appeared.
A day later the new laureates met at Opero for an informal debate with supporters of the Neuron Endowment Fund and friends of Czech science, hosted by Ondřej Cihlář.
Prokop Hapala talked about his childhood longing to become a Verne-style inventor, Jan Hladký highlighted the teamwork with his wife, and Lenka Zdeborová recalled her scientific beginnings, when correspondence courses helped her.
The scientists from the spin-off CasInvent Pharma spoke about their research and its plans for the future. The debate then ended with a conversation with the laureates for lifelong contribution to science: Václav Petříček admitted that he does not mind being subordinate to his former student, David Preiss recalled his beginnings abroad and Josef Prchal announced that he would give the financial reward connected with the Neuron Award to students of haematology for their placements abroad.
WE THANK THE PATRONS AND PARTNERS OF THE NEURON ENDOWMENT FUND AND THE NEURON AWARDS
