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The SAS Scientific Council awarded prof. Miroslav Zeman the 2024 SAS International Award for Technical Sciences. The award ceremony will take place on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. in the Hall of Mirrors of the Primate's Palace.

Prof.  Miroslav Zeman belongs to the top scientific capacities in the field of technical sciences, he is an expert in photovoltaics as a renewable energy source and a recognized university professor at Delft University of Technology. Despite his long-term professional stay in the Netherlands, he has an extremely positive relationship with Slovakia. In 2006, he founded a non-profit organization Slovak Renewable Energy Agency, the purpose of which is to support the implementation of solar energy in Slovakia.

Professor Zeman has been working at Delft University of Technology since 1990. In 2009, he was appointed full-valued professor, teaches at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science and heads the Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy. From the beginning of his work at Delft University of Technology, which is a top scientific institution, Miroslav Zeman became a member of a group of scientists who researched solar cells. Since then, he has led more than 30 Dutch and six European projects dealing with the development of thin-film solar cells and their production technologies. He focuses on improving the performance of thin film silicon solar cells and modelling devices based on amorphous semiconductors.

The cooperation between the Delft University of Technology and the Slovak Academy of Sciences began in 1998 when the Delft University of Technology purchased a unique measurement system developed under the leadership of Dr.  Thurzo from the Institute of Physics SAS. From 2002 to 2004, Ing. Vojtech Nádaždy, CSc., participated in the Dutch Helianthos project at Delft University of Technology, which supported the development of amorphous silicon solar cells and modules. Dr. Nádaždy was the first researcher in the solar cell group of prof. Zeman who produced an amorphous silicon solar cell with an efficiency above 10%, which was a top world achievement at the time. The experience from this period was invaluable in introducing research into organic and perovskite solar cells to the Institute of Physics SAS. Prof. Zeman became a member of the CEMEA SAS advisory committee under the leadership of RNDr. Eva Majková, DrSc. His mission was to facilitate the development of tandem solar cells based on a combination of crystalline silicon and perovskite solar cells.

The successful work of prof. Zeman and his excellent research in photovoltaics are evidenced by his awarding of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Knight) by King William Alexander in 2019 and the 2nd Class Ľudovít Štúr Order for extraordinary merits for the development of the Slovak Republic in the field of science and technology, as well as for spreading the good name of Slovakia abroad. President Zuzana Čaputová presented the state award to prof. Zeman on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Slovak Republic.

Edited by Andrea Nozdrovická

Foto: archiv