The winner of the Grand Pythagoras Award for lifetime contribution to science is Prof. Radostina Stoyanova of the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The official ceremony for the Ministry of Education and Science’s highest scientific honours took place on 14 October and was opened by the Minister of Education and Science, Krasimir Valchev. It was held for the seventeenth consecutive year, with 52 scientists applying across the eight categories.
Minister Valchev presented the award to Prof. Radostina Stoyanova, whose work laid the foundations for a new field of research in Bulgaria: the chemistry of materials for clean and affordable energy storage. Her publications have been cited more than 5,000 times and she holds an h-index of 42. The winner received a certificate and a cash prize of 12,000 leva.
Associate Professor Martin Ralchev of the Institute of Robotics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences received the Pythagoras award for a young scientist in the natural and engineering sciences. He contributes to the development of new types of highly sensitive sensors and measurement methods.
The ceremony was attended by the Vice-President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Shtelian Shterionov, and the Chief Scientific Secretary, Prof. Neli Koseva.