We feature an interview with Professor Eva Za2imalova, a member of the Academy Council and the head of the Laboratory of Hormonal Regulation in Plants at the Institute of Experimental Botany of the ASCR. From 2007 to 2012 she was director of this institute. Her research is in the fields of auxin and cytokinins (mode of action of auxin. auxin binding site(s), regulation of levels of auxins and cytokinins in relation to cell division and elongation and themechanism of polar transport of auxin). and Marina Hužvárová.
We feature an interview with Prof. Zdeněk Herman, a renowned Czech chemist. In his research he focuses on the dynamics of chemical reactions or the collisions of ions that he calls "billiards with particles." Professor Herman studied chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University specializing in physical chemistry and radiochemistry. After completing his studies in 1957, he joined the Institute of Physical Chemistry (now J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry of the ASCR). He was Head of the Department of Chemical Physics, and Deputy Director and Head of the Scientific Council of the Institute. Only after the fall of the communist regime was he allowed to complete his habilitation and become a Professor of Chemistry in 1996 at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague. Since 1989, he has served on many ASCR committees and in the Czech Government. In 2003, he was awarded the Czech Head National Prize. Professor Herman is also a sculptor and painter. For the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the ASCR, he crafted a bronze bust of the Institute's founder, Professor Vladimír Bažant. and Marina Hužvárová.
This comment was made by Professor Jiří Drahoš a renowned physical chemist, interviewed for a feature article in this issue. The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR) has been observing this year the 20th anniversary of its inception, this one being another in the series. Professor Drahoš has been president of the ASCR since 2009. Since then, Professor Drahoš has been facing the government's decisions to cut the Academy's budget every year. He has worked at the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the ASCR since 1977, holding various positions, including research scientist, senior research scientist, Department Head, Deputy Director (1992-1995) and Director (1996-2003). His principal research interest is multiphase chemical reactors. He has published more than 60 original papers in impacted international journals and is a co-inventor of four international and holds 10 Czech patents. According to Science Citation Index and other sources, his scientific papers have been cited more than 700 times. In 1977 he was awarded the Medal of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CSAS). and Marina Hužvárová.
Soon after becoming the head of the Academy of Sciences in 2009, Professor Drahoš was faced with questions concerning the very survival of the institution and a crisis in funding caused by a wrong methodology of evaluation. During the past year, the Academy engaged in an evaluation of its 54 institutions. All of this involved a considerable amount of work. The electoral term of Professor Drahoš’s presidency is nearing its completion, so this affords an opportunity for a succinct recapitulation of his achievements. and Marina Hužvárová.
The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic has been observing the 20'" anniversary of its inception. This month we feature an interview with Professor Helena Illnerova of the Institute of Physiology of the ASCR, the first woman to be elected of the ASO? president of the ASCR. Professor Illnerova is one of the leading Czech scientists, having begun her work in the 1960s. Her main research interest is the time-keeping program of mammals, including man, and the synchronization of the circadian biological clock with the 24-hour-day and seasons of the year. In 1990, she received a DrSc. degree for a doctoral thesis entitled Regulation of Circadian Rhythms in the Rat Pineal Gland. and Marina Hužvárová.
We feature an interview in this issue with Professor Eva Semotanová, director of the Institute of History of the ASC R. As a research worker, she specializes in interdisciplinary fields of science on the intersection between geography and history, namely, historical geography, history of cartography and historical cartography. Professor Semotanová's study includes the history of Czech towns and cities in a historical-geographic context as she seeks to integrate this context into historical processes. She supervises the Institute's cartographic collection. Chair of the Committee for Historical Geography, she also lectures on historical geography. and Marina Hužvárová.
This was a comment during an interview with Professor Vaclay Pates, a renowned Czech biochemist, for a feature article in this issue. The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR) has been observing the 20m anniversary of its inception, of which this is a part. Professor PaOes was President of the Academy (2005-2009) and also of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic (2010-2012). His scientific speciality is genomics. His research group was among the first to completely sequence a genome, namely, the DNA of a bacterial virus. In addition, he discovered a specific enzyme involved in the catabolism of the plant hormone cytokinine. He co-authored of the first Czech synthetic gene (the precursor of the neurotransmitter enkefaline). and Marina Hužvárová.