The anniversary – 15 years from the start of preparatory work on the ELI Beamlines laser centre project in Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic.
Thanks to this anniversary, a meeting of researchers standing at the beginnings of this ambitious project took place at the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences on February 21, 2023. The President of Czech Academy of Sciences Eva Zažímalová, the former director of ELI Beamlines Vlastimil Růžička and many scientists standing at the birth of the ELI Beamlines project have participated on this event.
The lecture, summarizing the main milestones of the project, was given by the director of ELI Beamlines for science and operations, Daniele Margarone. The lecture also included many historical pictures, which brought the audience closer to the important moments from the construction of ELI building, the installation of research technologies and ultra-intense laser systems.
A discussion about the importance of the project for Czech science was on the programme as well. The discussion was led by the director of ELI Beamlines facility, Roman Hvězda, and the other participants were: former directors of the Institute of Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences Jan Řídký and Karel Jungwirth and laser physicist Josef Krása.
