Ing. RNDr. Miroslav Zikmund, CSc., is 100 years old
The extraordinary personality of Slovak chemistry, one of the founders of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SAS and a long-term active member of the Slovak Chemical Society, Ing. RNDr. Miroslav Zikmund, CSc., is celebrating his wonderful 100th anniversary this year on December 26. Through his professional activities, he significantly influenced the development of basic research in inorganic chemistry and, with a large share of personal involvement, contributed to the establishment and development of research in inorganic chemistry at the SAS.
Dr. Zikmund worked at the SAS from 1953 until his retirement in 1990. Fully engaged in scientific work, he contributed to the organisational building of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SAS as the head of the Department of Synthesis and Structures. From 1982 to 1990, he served as its Director. He also fully exercised his scientific and management skills as a Vice-President of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (1970 to 1987) and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (1982-1988). He was elected a Correspondent Member of the SAS (1980) for his results in the scientific work. From 1966 to 1984, he was a member of the American Chemical Society. From 1978 to 1987, he was the national representative of the IUPAC Commission on the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry.
The main area of his scientific activity was the chemistry of coordination compounds. His scientific interest aimed to study the relationships between the structure and properties of coordination compounds and the problems associated with their synthesis. Dr. Zikmund is the author and co-author of nine book publications, more than 70 original works, 13 comprehensive papers, several prognostic and terminological studies, works on scientific information, 23 Czechoslovak copyright certificates for inventions (1965-1992) and eight foreign patents (1987-1990).
In 1947, he was at the birth of the Chemical News on the premises of the then Association of Slovak Chemists. Throughout his whole scientific career, he built the editorial board of the journal, created its background and educated generations of researchers as authors of original scientific works. He also arranged for the magazine to switch to English language publishing. Upon his retirement, Dr. Zikmund handed over to his followers a well-established current journal, abstracted or indexed in all major world journals.
The extensive scientific, pedagogical, scientific-popularisation and organisational work of Dr. Zikmund won a number of awards. We can mention, for example, the Hanuš Medal of the Czech Chemical Society (1971), the J. Heyrovský Gold Plaque (ČSAV, 1981), the SVŠT Gold Medal (1982), the PRIF UK Gold Medal (1982), the SCHS Gold Medal (1986), the Comenius University Gold Medal (1989), SAS Gold Medal (1990). In 2001, he was awarded the Honorary Member of the Slovak Chemical Society.
Edited by Katarína Gáliková
Foto: archiv