Faculty of Physics and Astronomy

Meeting with Physics 18.06.2019 r. (lec. room 106, bldg. A29, ul. Prof. Z. Szafrana 4a)
- Welcome address 10:00
- Physical demonstrations  10:05- 11:15
- University presentation 11:30-11:45
- "How much is science in science-fiction movies?" - lecture 11:45-12:15
- "Do you have to be afraid of apocalyptic asteroid impact and other cosmic disasters?" - lecture 12:15-12:45

     On December 10th, 2018, a special celebration took place at the University of Vinh. For the first time in its history, the university has awarded an honorary doctorate. This honor fell to our professor Cao Long Van. The ceremony was attended by prof. Marek Trippenbach from the University of Warsaw who was the promoter of the honorary doctorate, prof. Dinh Xuan Khoa - rector of the University of Vinh (former PhD student of professor Cao Long Van), vice rectors, headmasters, lecturers and students. It is worth mentioning that the University of Vinh, which is one of the largest public universities in Vietnam (and the largest in the central part of Vietnam), has made great contributions to the science and education of Vietnam. For almost 60 years, hundreds of thousands of teachers in Vietnam, as well as many prominent Vietnamese scientists have been educating.

The project entitled Study of the inhomogeneity of the ionized interstellar medium using pulsar observations with the polish LOFAR stations was awarded the funding in the OPUS-15 call for proposals, organized by the polish National Science Centre. The project will be conducted at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Zielona Góra, in collaboration with the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, however of the 662,000 PLN awarded for the grant over 400,000 will stay at Zielona Góra. The principle investigator of the project is dr hab. Wojciech Lewandowski, and the project involves observations of radio pulsars using polish radiotelescopes which belong to the pan-european LOFAR network of radiotelescopes.
    LOFAR is an international network of radiotelescopes that are observing the Universe at low radio frequencies. Three of the network elements (stations) were built in Poland by the polish LOFAR consortium POLFAR.. These telescopes will work as a part of the international LOFAR telescope for 4 days a week, the remaining time may be used for other scientific projects. In collaboration with the station owners – the University of Warmia and Mazury, and the Jagiellonian university we  are using these telescopes for observations of pulsars.

 The aim of the contest of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education under the Regional Excellence Initiative program was to support particular groups of sciences in twelve regions of Poland. The selection of groups made by the Ministry was based on the so-called regional smart specializations, i.e. areas of the economy and science that have been identified as priorities for the development of a given region. In our region, within the group of exact sciences and engineering, the project called “Laboratory for Materials Research Engineering”, resulting from the cooperation between the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, will receive in the years 2019-22 a subsidy of approximately 12 000 000 PLN (including 8 500 000 PLN for the most modern research equipment). Dr hab. Mirosław R. Dudek (Faculty of Physics and Astronomy) is the project manager whereas the person responsible in the project from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering is dr hab. inż. Piotr Kuryło.

The project assumes the creation of “Laboratory for Materials Research Engineering” in the structure of the University of Zielona Góra, where research will be carried out in the field of nanotechnology, effect of vacuum and radiation on the properties of materials, methods of coating materials, properties of materials and metamaterials (including strength properties) and research by optical methods of meta, micro and nanomechanical systems. The project is to be used to increase the research potential of current research groups, to further develop international cooperation in the field of science, to develop methods of increasing innovation and greater effectiveness in obtaining funds for research. It is also intended to prepare young research staff to work in interdisciplinary teams.

Publons is a website and free service aimed to collect information, analyze and showcase peer review and editorial contributions for academic journals. It was established in New Zeland in 2012 and is currently developing rapidly. In 2017, Publons was acquired by Clarivate Analytics, the owner of the Web of Science database and service. The Publons’ partners are Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor and Francis, IOP Publishing, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Royal Society of Chemistry, MDPI, The Royal Society and others.

This month Publons awarded the most active referees working in various fields of science. Especially, the referees belonging to the groups of the 1% most active ones have been honored by Publions. It is our pleasure to inform that Publons has announced our colleague prof. dr. hab. Wiesław Leoński from the Institute of Physics UZ as belonging to the group "Top 1% in Field." His scientific interests concern the topics of widely understood quantum optics, quantum information theory, deterministic and quantum chaos.