Patrik Čechvala, our P4F fellow, took part in this year’s national finale of the international contest FameLab.
This year, the international FameLab competition celebrates its 20th anniversary worldwide and its 15th anniversary in the Czech Republic. The main gala evening takes the form of a stand-up science competition.
The contestants had three minutes to explain their scientific field in a clear and convincing manner. Thanks to their enthusiasm and energy, supported by excellent moderators, a lively and friendly atmosphere was created, transforming the evening into a truly entertaining scientific stand-up show.
In his introduction, British Ambassador Matt Field pointed out that popularizing science and communicating scientific findings are becoming increasingly important in today’s world of climate change, uncertainty, and misinformation. Building trust in scientific knowledge is therefore a very important task for scientists, and FameLab is one way to bring the world of science closer to the general public.
Michael Prouza, FZU director, said :„The presentations by all twelve FameLab finalists were excellent, and I agree with the expert jury’s assessment that choosing the best among them was a difficult and thankless task. For me, however, our Patrik Čechvala remained the favorite. In three minutes, he managed to brilliantly explain not only how we observe the most energetic photons from space and where they originate, but also how Cherenkov radiation imaging detectors work… And I would love to have an umbrella with a glowing particle shower, like he had!“
The entire evening was proof that science can be not only fascinating, but also entertaining and accessible, in the spirit of the FameLab motto: „Science that deserves applause.“