We feature an interview in this issue with Professor Josef Michl, acclained chemist, who received his Ph.D. at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1965 but left Czechoslovakia three years later. He became a full professor in 1975 at University of Utah. Professor Michl has held nearly one hundred visiting professorships and named lectureships, delivered hundreds of invited lectures at institutions and conferences, has served on many professional and editorial boards, advisory councils, and committees, and has organized several international meetings. Since 2006, he also has held an appointment at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the ASCR. He is a laureate of Wichterle Award, the Schrödinger and Porter Medals, the J. Heyrovský Gold Medal of the ASCR and Charles University, the Czech government Patria Award for Czech scientists working abroad, and the Marinus Smith Award from the University of Colorado for his work with undergraduates. He is also a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science and is an honorary member of the Czech Learned Society. and Sylva Daníčková.
V dalším z odborných seminářů, jež se zaměřují na význam vědeckých poznatků pro konkurenceschopnost naší země, diskutovali čeští experti na téma „Znečištění ovzduší v ČR a související civilizační dopady“. Záštitu nad sympoziem, které se konalo 22. května 2014 v Poslanecké sněmovně PČR, převzali nejvyšší představitelé pořádajících institucí - předseda Poslanecké sněmovny PČR Jan Hamáček a předseda Akademie věd ČR prof. Jiří Drahoš., Radim Šrám., and Sympozium konané v Poslanecké sněmovně 22. 5. 2014