Institute of Molecular Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences

On 17 October 2024, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Poznań Branch of the Polish Physical Society (OP PTF). The ceremony was a great celebration of the physics community from Poznań. This unique event was honoured by the presence of the President of the OP PTF - Prof. Teresa Rząca-Urban and by the speeches of eminent scientists connected with Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznań University of Technology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, and the Institute of Molecular Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The event was attended by young physics entrants (PhD students, undergraduates, and members of scientific societies), as well as physics teachers and many schoolchildren. The latter were able to participate in a number of interesting demonstrations prepared by the staff and doctoral students from various research centres, including scientists from the IMP PAS.

We would like to thank Prof. IMP PAS Andrzej Łapiński (the President of the OP PTF) and the entire Organising Committee, headed by Mikołaj Baranowski (the Member of the Council of the OP PTF), for their efforts in organising the event.

This year's Nobel Prize winners in Physics are John J. Hopfield (physicist of Polish origin) and Geoffrey E. Hinton (computer scientist) for discoveries and inventions enabling machine learning using artificial neural networks - the announcement.

At the IMP PAS, the research project entitled “Searching for free rare earth and rare earth free permanent magnets using machine learning” is conducted by Dr. hab. Mirosław Waerwiński, prof. IMP PAS. In this project, one of the tasks concerns the use of machine learning algorithms. Based on a prepared database, a practical model will be developed to predict new permanent magnets - read more about the project.

On September 27, we invite you to the Institute of Molecular Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences for the next edition of the “Researchers’ Night”. This unique event brings the world of science closer to anyone curious about the surrounding world and wants to discover its mysteries in an inspiring way. This year, we have prepared fascinating demonstrations, workshops, lectures, and interactive experiments from various areas of physics. This is a great opportunity to bring together scientists and people who don’t engage with scientific work in their daily lives. The event is open to everyone, regardless of age – children are welcome under adult supervision! This night will be full of inspiration and discoveries!

On August 29, 2024, a ceremonial presentation of nominations to new members of the Academy of Young Scientists of the Polish Academy of Sciences (AMU PAS) took place at the Palace in Jabłonna near Warsaw. Our researcher Dr. Krzysztof Ptaszyński took part in the ceremony.

We warmly congratulate Dr. Ptaszyński on his appointment to AMU PAS and we wish him fruitful work. The choice, made by the General Assembly of the Polish Academy of Sciences, honours the Doctor's previous successes and scientific achievements.

Among the research projects that received funding from the National Science Centre (NCN) under the OPUS-26 LAP/Weave competition is the grant entitled “Magnetoelastic materials without rare earth elements for efficient and environmentally friendly magnetic cooling technology”, which will be led by Prof. Dr. hab. Tomasz Toliński from our Institute. The project was developed in consortium with the Włodzimierz Trzebiatowski Institute of Low Temperature and Structural Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (allocated funding: 2.879.660 PLN, including 2.313.180 PLN for IMP PAS). The foreign partner is the IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center at VSB – Technical University of Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

The proposal was reviewed in the ST (Physical Sciences and Engineering) division, within the ST11 (Materials Engineering) panel, where 13 out of 112 submissions received funding.

We sincerely congratulate Professor Toliński and the entire team on securing funding for such fascinating research, which holds great potential for practical application – read more about the project.

On the basis of the application No. P.439502, the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland has granted a patent to the Polish Oil and Gas Company-Odolanów Branch, the Institute of Molecular Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. The patent is for an invention entitled "Method of separating liquid or gas in a rectification installation, backfilling the rectification shelf and using superconducting materials".

The co-authors of the patent from our Institute are: Prof. Dr. hab. Wojciech Kempiński, Prof. Dr. hab. Zbigniew Trybuła, Dr. Jakub Niechciał, and Dr. Piotr Banat.

Patent document.

We are pleased to announce that two of our employees were among the winners of the SONATA-19 competition, which is aimed at scientists with a doctoral degree obtained up to 7 years before the year of submitting the grant application:

• Dr. Eng. Krzysztof Ptaszyński:
  "Nonequilibrium phase transitions, synchronization and chaos in thermodynamically consistent models" (funding: 1 201 820 PLN) – read more,

• Dr. Krzysztof Wójcik:
  "The theory of surface quantum criticality" (funding: 864 492 PLN) – read more.

Both grant applications were evaluated within the section of ST (Science and Engineering) in the ST3 panel (Condensed Phase Physics). In this panel, out of 25 submitted applications, 5 received funding from the National Science Centre.

We congratulate the winners and wish them further successes in implementing their projects.

We are happy to announce that Dr. hab. Konstantin Tretiakov, prof. IMP PAS, by the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland, received the title of professor of natural sciences in the discipline of physical sciences.

We congratulate the Professor on his promotion and wish him many further scientific successes!

From March 16 until June 15, 2024, the Hydrogen Exhibition organized by our Institute was opened at the Poznań International Fair. This is the first exhibition of this type in Poland open to the general public. The aim of the project is to build a bridge between science and society in the context of the role of hydrogen in industry and the economy and to raise awareness of its importance in a "green" and sustainable future. Over 200 square meters of exhibition space contains a wealth of information and exhibits, thanks to which exhibition visitors have access to reliable and up-to-date knowledge and can see why the energy transformation is so important for the security of our planet. As a part of the event, an information and consultation point was also created with access to the opinions of experts in the field of hydrogen.

 Read more...

On April 20, the "Poznań Science Slam 2024" conference will be held at the Biocentre of the Poznań University of Life Sciences. This event will enable science enthusiasts and young science students from all over Poland to develop their interests and create a unique opportunity to present their own research, analyses and innovations.

The Institute of Molecular Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences took honorary patronage over this unique conference. The winner of the main prize will be able to complete a research internship at our Institute, and another outstanding speaker - as part of our special award - will be able to take part in this year's Scientific Workshops "Summer with Helium".

We wish all conference speakers successful speeches.

In the last quarter of this year, two scientific activities have received funding from the National Science Centre under the MINIATURA competition. The originators and implementers of these projects are:

• Dr. Eng. Roman Strzelczyk:
  "Explanation of the origin of triplet centres in glassy carbons using low-temperature electron paramagnetic resonance studies" (implementation period: 12 months)

• Dr. Eng. Adam Mizera:
  "Research on carbon nanocomposites of quantum dots with conductive polymers for applications in electrochemical supercapacitors" (implementation period: 12 months).

In the first case, the scientific activity involves conducting preliminary research, while in the second one – a research internship is organised.

We congratulate the beneficiaries on their success and wish them good luck in implementing their projects.

We are pleased to announce that two science popularisation activities conducted at our Institute have received funding from the Minister of Education and Science under the "Social Responsibility of Science" program. The funding covered:

• a series of lectures entitled"Fizyka Warta Poznania" (coordinator: Dr. hab. Maria Pugaczowa-Michalska; funding amount: 93,360 PLN; implementation period: 2 years) which has been run by our employees since 2019;
• a campaign called "Hydrogen – scientists' response to energy, climate and environmental challenges" (coordinator: Dr. Eng. Łukasz Lindner; funding amount: 362,934 PLN; implementation period: 1 year) which is undertaken to popularise topics related to hydrogen technologies.

Congratulations to the coordinators and all persons involved in the implementation of these projects.

On September 17, 2023, the Polish Community Picnic, organized by the Polish Embassy in Ljubljana, took place in the picturesque Pokljuka region in Slovenia. This unique meeting was opened by Krzysztof Olendzki – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland in Slovenia. Dr. Magdalena Wencka from IMP PAS actively participated in the organization of the event and conducted scientific workshops on the occasion of the 550th anniversary of the birth of the great Pole and scientist – Nicolaus Copernicus. The main theme of the shows was "super cold forms of gases" available both on our planet and in space. Dr. Wencka also took part in a radio broadcast by Slovenian Radio SI during which cultural and linguistic similarities and differences between Poland and Slovenia were discussed.

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The project entitled "Energy and Climate - Voivodeship knowledge competition on the impact of energy on climate" received funding from the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Poznań and the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in the amount of 135,000 PLN. The originator and principal investigator of the project is Dr. Eng. Magdalena Knapkiewicz.

On September 1, 2023, we hosted Professor Klaus von Klitzing at the Institute – the Nobel Prize winner in Physics “for the discovery of the quantized Hall effect”. During the meeting, our researchers had the opportunity to take part in a conversation with the eminent guest, talk about research conducted at the Institute, and listen to a short presentation by Prof. von Klitzing. The meeting took place in a great atmosphere, conducive to interesting discussions and information exchange. We would like to thank the world-renowned scientist for his time and interest in our Institute. We would also like to thank everyone who was involved in the organization of this unique event.

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