Slovak astrophysicist Norbert Werner, who works at the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University, has been awarded the Ignaz L. Lieben Prize, also known as the “Austrian Nobel Prize”. The award, given annually by the Austrian Academy of Sciences to young scientists in the field of molecular biology, chemistry or physics, has been awarded to Werner for his contribution to X-ray astronomy. Owing to the current epidemic measures, the award ceremony took place online on Thursday 25 March.
“This award, which I value highly, is not only for me and the whole team but also for the whole field of X-ray astronomy, which has a great future ahead of it”, said Werner. The development of this field now allows scientists to study the vast majority of the universe, which primarily made up of a hot, strongly ionized, low-density, X-ray-emitting plasma.
It is the space between galaxies and clusters of galaxies, an intergalactic gas that cannot be observed with optical telescopes but only with the help of X-ray telescopes. These must be placed above the Earth’s atmosphere as it absorbs the X-rays.
Werner won the award for his achievements to date, which include the first detection of X-ray-emitting intergalactic gas in a fibre connecting two clusters of galaxies and his finding that hot plasma was evenly enriched with heavy elements by supernovae more than 10 billion years ago. His previous studies have also shown that black hole activity can lift relatively large amounts of cooling gas from the innermost regions of host galaxies, preventing cooling and star formation.
More recently, Werner’s efforts have focused on demonstrating that nanosatellites can be used to critically monitor gamma-ray bursts caused by neutron star collisions or the gravitational collapse of very massive, rapidly rotating stars.
Werner is 40-years-old and comes from Rožňava, Slovakia. After studying at Pavel Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, he received his Doctorate from Utrecht University and the Netherlands Institute for Space Research. From 2008 to 2016, he worked at Stanford University and led the Hot Space Research Group at Loránd Eötvös University in Budapest. Since 2016, he has been an associate professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Faculty of Science, MU. In 2020, he received the MUNI Award for Science and Humanities, an extraordinary grant from the MU Internal Grant Agency.
Translated by Kevin Roche
Ten graduates from the MU Faculty of Science, along with their supervisors and consultants, have received Masaryk University Vice-Rector’s Awards for excellent results in their doctoral studies. Congratulations.
The Rudolf Lukeš Prize, awarded by the Czech Chemical Society in cooperation with the Experientia Foundation, goes this year to Martin Marek from the Faculty of Science at Masaryk University in Brno for his significant contributions to the field of bioorganic chemistry related to marine luminescence. In his work, the award-winning scientist focuses on protein catalysts responsible for the production of light by living organisms, a phenomenon known as bioluminescence.
