The Czech Astronomical Society awarded Professor Miloslav Druckmüller of the Brno University of Technology with its highest prize – the František Nušl Prize. The Brno mathematician was awarded for his world-renowned results in the mathematical processing of solar eclipse images. On Monday evening, he received the award from the hands of the President of the Czech Astronomical Society, Petr Heinzel, at the Brno Observatory.
That evening, Miloslav Druckmüller became the forty-first recipient of the František Nušl Prize. The prize aims to recognize important individuals for their lifelong scientific, pedagogical, popularization or organizational work in astronomy. The prize was awarded between 1938 and 1949 and, in a renewed form, again from 1999.
Miloslav Druckmüller is a world-renowned expert in the field of numerical methods of processing images of the solar corona obtained during total solar eclipses or with the help of space probes. Since 1979 he has been working at the Department of Mathematics of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Brno University of Technology. He is also involved in the popularization of science and teaching, winning the student poll for the best teacher of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering multiple times.
"I appreciate the award of the Nušl Prize of the Czech Astronomical Society very much. When I read the list of people who have received this award in the past, I almost can't believe that I belong to this list. I am not an astronomer, but a mathematician, and I am an amateur in the field of solar corona research, I did not originally look for any science in it," said Druckmüller about his achievement.
| František Nušl was a Czech astronomer, co-founder of the Ondřejov Observatory and long-time Chairman of the Czech Astronomical Society. He was born in Jindřichův Hradec on December 3, 1867. After graduating from the local grammar school, he studied mathematics, physics and astronomy at Charles University of Prague. In 1904 he habilitated at Charles University in astronomy, and from 1908 he worked as a professor of mathematics at the Czech Technical University in Prague. In 1922 he was appointed director of the State Observatory in Prague and Chairman of the Czech Astronomical Society. In 1928 he also became a professor of astronomy at Charles University. František Nušl died on September 17, 1951 in Prague. Among his pupils were two generations of Czech astronomers. More information about the award, including a list of Nušl Prize winners, can be found at www.astro.cz |
"The results of the observations and the subsequent numerical processing of images of the solar corona using the technique developed by Professor Druckmüller are now recognized by the entire professional community in the field of solar physics. The application of his numerical filters to a series of images with different exposure times has brought fundamentally new insights into the fine structure of the solar corona, the interconnection of individual rays and jets, and the dynamics of evolution. The results published by Professor Druckmüller in professional journals have gained respect around the world and confirmed a high standing of Czech science and the Czech Astronomical Society," the society says on its website.
Professor Druckmüller is a laureate of many awards, including the Gold Medal of the Brno University of Technology, the Prize of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic, the Prize of the City of Brno in the field of natural sciences, and he was also elected the Personality of the South Moravian Region for his contribution to science. In 2018, the International Astronomical Union approved a proposal to name asteroid 6263 in his honor.
Professor, congratulations on another beautiful award!