On Tuesday, July 4, 2023, in the SANU Grand Hall, the Institute of Physics Belgrade organized the extraordinary awarding of the prestigious “Marko Jarić” prize for the year 2019, which is awarded by the “Prof. Dr. Marko V. Jaric” Foundation. Namely, it is about an award that couldn’t be awarded in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The jury awarded the prize for 2019 to Prof. Dr. Mark Lončar, professor at Harvard University in the United States of America.
As stated in the jury’s announcement, the award goes to prof. Dr. Mark Lončar “for an exceptional contribution to the development of nanophotonics, applied physics and integrated optics”.
Academician Nebojša Lalić, secretary general of SANU, greeted the guests on behalf of the host during the ceremony organized by the Institute of Physics, which financially supports the award,.
Dr. Marina Soković from the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, addressed and greeted the audience and expressed the Ministry’s support for the tradition represented by this award.
Dr. Aleksandar Belić, president of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, reminded the audience of the figure and work of the physicist Marko Jarić, and spoke about the awarding procedure and the activities of the Foundation.
Dr. Milutin Stepić, Full Research Professor at the “Vinča” Institute of Nuclear Sciences, addressed the audience on behalf of the jury, and explained why this prestigious award for 2019 was awarded to prof. Dr. Mark Lončar.
The award was presented by Dr. Aleksandar Bogojević, the director of the Institute of Physics, who reminded that the “Marko Jarić” award is often called the “Serbian Nobel”. Dr. Bogojević expressed his desire for it to become a “precursor” for the most prestigious prize in physics.
The prize was also awarded to the laureate for 2021, Dr. Stevan Nagy-Perge, assistant professor at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, at the same ceremony, who gave his speech via the Internet during the pandemic, and gave the traditional colloquium at the Institute of Physics on Tuesday, June 20, 2023.
The award consists of a diploma and a monetary part. According to tradition, laureate prof. Dr. Marko Lončar, gave a popular lecture after awarding the prize, in which he presented to the audience the work of his team and the importance of studying the optics of diamonds.
The program host was Slobodan Bubnjević.
Photo by: Bojan Džodan