Dr Wiktor Lewandowski from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warsaw (UW), has become this year’s winner of the Professor Stefan Pieńkowski Science Prize, awarded every two years to young scientists for significant scientific achievements in experimental physics, astronomy, chemistry and biology.

The research conducted by Dr Wiktor Lewandowski is interdisciplinary in nature. It combines chemistry, physics, biotechnology and nanotechnology. The scientist was recognised for his ‘research on reconfigurable and chiral liquid crystal nanomaterials for photonic technologies’.

The team led by Wiktor Lewandowski is working on creating chemical structures with plasmonic and emissive properties that interact strongly with light.

“While the 20th century was the century of ‘steam and electricity’, the 21st century will be the century of optics and photonics. Research into light seems to be crucial for the further development of communication, information or medical technologies” stressed the laureate.