Extreme light pulses in the service of science and society – Nobel Laureate Gerard Mourou’s lecture in English on video

Shortly after the news was announced, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist gave an interview to mta.hu. We asked Ferenc Krausz about the research that led to the prize, his donation to the victims of the war in Ukraine, the early detection of cancer, diabetes and other health problems, and why a young researcher would choose the field of attosecond physics.

Risto Kalervo Näätänen, internationally renowned Finnish researcher in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, and the most cited psychologist of his lifetime, died in October 2023, having turned 84 on 14 June 2023. He was elected by the General Assembly in 2019 an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. A great figure among the pioneers of psychology and an enthusiastic and unstinting supporter of Finnish-Hungarian scientific relations has left us.

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their shared biochemical discoveries that enabled the development of an effective mRNA-based vaccine against COVID-19.

At the annual general meeting of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) on 9 October, Katalin Solymosi, a habilitated assistant professor at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and former alumna and co-chair of MTA’s Hungarian Young Academy (FKA), was elected president of the organisation.

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics was and awarded jointly to Ferenc Krausz, Pierre Agostini and Anne L'Huillier “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter.”

Natural gas is not cleaner than other fossil fuels, and using it instead of coal or oil would lead to little or no reduction in greenhouse gas effects, concludes the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) in its recently published report “The Future of Gas”. In the EASAC working group preparing the document, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was represented by Professor Attila Imre, Doctor of MTA, and Head of Department of Energy Engineering in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME).

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is deeply saddened by the passing, at the age of 70, of Professor Benő Csapó, a prominent science education researcher and a passionate advocate of the cause of science education development in Hungary.

Drawing on my forthcoming book manuscript Theory and Explanation in Geography – forthcoming with the RGS-IBG Book Series for late 2023/early 2024 publication –, this presentation reflects critically on the normative stance of theory building and epistemological practices in contemporary human geography.

The full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has been awarded the Dimitrie Cantemir Medal for her support of the European integration of Moldovan researchers, her significant contribution to the training of young researchers and her high quality lectures and scientific activities.

Lucky physics of supernovae, rapid technological advances of the 90s, and a brilliant young astrophysicist. These were the ingredients of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. We had the opportunity to ask one of the laureates, what happened after that? And what is this tension that seems to mount around dark energy lately? Click for the video recording of the lecture and the interview!

As a follow-up to its initial report on the subject in 2015, the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) has just published its second report on the agricultural use of the group of pesticides known as neonicotinoids. The public event presenting this latest report took place at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on 29 March 2023. Should we allow the use of these substances in sustainable farming? Do they have anything to do with the loss of pollinators? Is there a role for this group of chemicals in Europe in the future? Here is a summary of the event which addressed all these questions, together with a link to the video recording.

On Tuesday, at the 196th General Assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Assembly of Academicians once again elected Tamás Freund, a neurobiologist and full member of the Academy, as President of the scientific body, by a large majority. In addition to the President Tamás Freund, Secretary-General Péter László Kollár, a civil engineer, and Deputy Secretary-General Anna Erdei, an immunologist, were likewise appointed for another three-year term.

The search for planets beyond the Solar System has been underway for three decades now, and Didier Queloz has been behind the telescopes and spectrographs from the beginning. The Swiss astrophysicist guided participants and guests through this period, from the discovery of “hot Jupiters” that orbit their own stars in just a few days to the search for signs of life. You will find a recording of his presentation in this article and on the MTA’s YouTube channel.

In view of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the goal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ 2023 charity fundraising campaign is to assist the social support programme of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College. In line with its fundraising efforts of 2022, the Academy would again like to express its solidarity with those most directly affected by the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The European Climate Conference, co-organised by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), took place in Warsaw between 15-16 May 2023. The inaugural European Climate Conference brought together 90 scientists from 45 countries across Europe and Central Asia to assess climate change and progress towards reaching climate neutrality.

Magdolna Hargittai discusses her latest book which focuses ont he achievements of female sicentists and the importance of role models in promoting and supportint more women in STEM.

We had the honor of hosting Adam Riess, one of the recipients of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, as a guest in the Ceremonial Hall of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he not only presented the story of his groundbreaking discovery that stirred the scientific community, but also talked about the far-reaching consequences of it in astrophysics. The video recording of his lecture is available in our article.

The new leadership of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences will be elected by its General Assembly on 9 May 2023. The preparations for the election of the Academy leadership due in 2023 have been completed by the 22-member Nomination Committee, composed of members delegated by the eleven scientific sections, who are either members of the Academy or non-member representatives delegated to the General Assembly, in line with the provisions of the Academy’s Statutes as well as the Committee’s own Rules of Procedure.

In this interview, Professor Istvan Hargittai discusses his motivation for writing his latest book ‘Brilliance in Exile,’ which explores the lives of Hungarian émigré scientists who have made significant contributions to science after leaving their country of birth.

What is the benefit for us urban dwellers of encountering wildflower meadows or vegetable gardens on our way home? Does sex reversal in a significant number of urban frogs help in adaptation? Are urban birds any smarter than those living in their natural habitats? These were some of the questions discussed at the special session organised by the Academia Europaea Budapest Knowledge Hub on 22 March 2023, which focused on the conservation and restoration of urban habitats.

Vera T. Sós was born on 11 September 1930 in Budapest. She completed her university studies in the Mathematics and Physics Department of Eötvös Lorand University (ELTE). She was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1985 and a full member in 1990.

By unfolding the enigma of the exceptional success of Hungarian emigrant scientists and telling their fascinating life stories, Brilliance in Exile combines scholarly analysis with stimulating portrayals of uncommon personalities. Istvan and Balazs Hargittai discuss the conditions that defined five waves of emigration from the early twentieth century to the present.

Eric Hanushek, professor at Stanford University, is one of the best-known and most influential scholars in the field of economics of education, having worked on a wide range of topics such as teacher quality, the effects of class size reduction, school accountability, and more recently, the relationship between economic growth and the skill levels in countries. Professor Hanushek gave a lecture at Hungarian Academy of Sciences about education in a changing world. On this occasion we asked him about the good teachers, optimal class sizes, talented and average students, the basic skills and the artificial intelligence.

Biosphere reserves are the outcome of a unique endeavour to integrate research, nature conservation and sustainable development. Their past, present and future were explored at a World Science Forum side event co-organized by UNESCO and MTA under the title “Biosphere Reserves: Shining Gems of Natural Ecosystems”.

To honour this year’s WSF motto of “Science for Social Justice”, all the speakers of the opening event urged the global scientific community with one voice to put science at the service of society, drawing on all the tools and means at hand, and to make a strong commitment to fighting against social inequalities and all the evils they bring. The World Science Forum in Cape Town officially began on 6 December with the Opening Ceremony, where the co-organising states were represented by their respective Heads of State and Ministers, with the international partner organisations represented by their top executives.

A side event co-organised by the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO), the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Science and Innovation of South Africa, looked into the current availability of and future potential for large research facilities at the service of basic science working towards the fulfilment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The Wednesday afternoon plenary session “Science for climate justice – How can science, working with civil society, lead the way in correcting the failure of climate policy?” was one of the most interesting sections of the whole World Science Forum thus far. Africa is the most authentic location for the discussion of this topic because, unfortunately, the low-income states of the continent will be harshly affected by climate change. Therefore, climate justice will be one of the most important scientific and political problems of the coming decades.

The most prestigious global forum for science diplomacy is reaching a new milestone in its history this year: it is visiting the African continent for the first time. The 10th World Science Forum will be taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 6 to 9 December 2022. Convened under the main theme “Science for Social Justice”, this year’s forum calls on decision-makers to recognise the vital role that science must play in solving the world’s worsening societal, economic and environmental crises.

The delegations of the V4 Academies started their two-day forum with a workshop dedicated to the performance of V4 countries in the grant schemes of the European Research Council. Below is a summary of the main messages of the workshop.

Few are those among contemporary researchers who will have a number named after them. Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at Oxford University and Honorary Member of MTA, Robin Dunbar is actually one of them. The number he introduced has come to feature in each and every book on human evolution. One of the best-known anthropologists of our time, Professor Dunbar. We spoke to him on this occasion, asking him, of course, about the origin and scope of Dunbar’s number.

After three years, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has returned to the influential scientific advocacy organisation as a research funding institution.

The Visegrad Group Academies Forum held its annual meeting at the Headquarters of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on 26-27 May 2022. The focus of the two-day meeting was on the success of European Research Council (ERC) grants, the V4 academies’ uniformly outstanding epidemiological research and communication activities, help for Ukraine, young researcher initiatives, and cooperation in the use of European-level research infrastructures and in the application of advanced therapy medicinal products. At the forum, the academy presidents issued a joint statement on the aggression against Ukraine and support for Ukrainian scientists.

The application of the latest scientific advances and testing techniques, and greater participation by people, could significantly reduce cancer mortality in the European Union, according to a report presented in Hungary at the Headquarters of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Watch a video of the conference and read the full report.

The Hungarian Academy of Scinces announces an open call for research proposals to finance research projects for 4 years (between 1 September 2022 – 31 August 2026), which aim to lay the foundations for the development of education and training by providing new scientific findings and to carry out research on how to renew the pedagogical perspectives and methods for knowledge transfer and the transmission of values.

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), on the basis of the recommendation of the Qualification Council for Research Centres (KMT), has given the MTA Centre of Excellence Award to 95 Hungarian scientific workshops and institutions in recognition of their outstanding scientific work. The representatives of the research centres that have won the prestigious award received the certificates at a ceremony at the Széchenyi tér headquarters of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

In addition to the award ceremonies and toasts, this year’s recipient of the Young Researcher Award has posted a video message from the front in Eastern Ukraine. MTA Vice President György Kosztolányi, meetings chairman of the External Members’ Forum and representative of Hungarian Academy members living abroad, called the viewing of Viktor Traski’s video a historic moment that will be written into the golden book of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

“The changes in the external environment and, thus, in the situation of the Academy have forced it to revitalise itself, but MTA has consistently been able to act as a proactive partner and is now more of a master of its own fate than it was two years ago”, said Tamás Freund in his President’s Report at the 195th General Assembly of the Academy. The President of the Academy also announced the launch of several research programmes linked to social and national strategy priorities.

Avram Hershko, a Hungarian-born Israeli scientist, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004, gave a presentation at the 195th General Assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

According to the latest report of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Academies (EASAC) on regenerative agriculture, not only is ecologically sensitive agriculture not an enemy of food production but, due to climate change and environmental degradation, it will, in a few short decades, represent our only chance of being able to feed humanity. To explore the background of the report presented at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on Wednesday 6th of April, we interviewed two Hungarian members of the scientific community who were behind it – Orsolya Valkó and András Báldi.

Prof. Tamás Freund, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, received Prof. Tarmo Soomere, President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, who arrived in Budapest for a meeting of the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC).

The coronavirus pandemic demonstrated that vaccines based on radically new techniques could be more effective than previous ones. They can be developed faster and protect against those infectious diseases where previously there were no vaccines. However, it is not only mRNA that could be the basis of a new type of vaccine: peptides can also be used for this purpose. Kata Horváti, from the HAS-ELTE Research Group of Peptide Chemistry, Department of Organic Chemistry, Eötvös Loránd University, received the Lendület (Momentum) grant to develop peptide-based vaccine strategies. An overview of her research is the next step in the introduction of the researchers who are the latest recipients of the HAS’s programme of excellence.

An eminent European Earth scientist’s talk on Europe as a “Natural Laboratory for Frontier Research in Earth Sciences”