KFU physicists among winners of the 2025 Zavoisky Prize for Young Scientists
The ceremony is held every year around September 28th, the discoverer of electron paramagnetic resonance Yevgeny Zavoisky’s (1907 – 1976) birthday.
Seven candidates competed in the in-person round of the competition, presenting their work in physics and mathematics. Preference was given to projects in which the nominees independently posed original problems and demonstrated innovative approaches to solving them.
The laureates were congratulated by Guzel Sagitova, Deputy Mayor of Kazan; Dmitry Tayursky, First Vice-Rector and Vice-Rector for Research; and Sergey Khantimerov, Head of the Kazan Physical-Technical Institute. Irina Romanova, Acting Director of the Institute of Physics of KFU, attended the event as well, and colleagues, students, and relatives came to support the nominees.
“They say truth is born where persistence meets curiosity. I believe your work is exactly that. This is the result of your hard work, creativity, and perseverance. We are happy that the younger generation is ready to make such discoveries,” Sagitova noted.
The year 2024 marked the 80th anniversary of Yevgeny Zavoisky’s discovery of electron paramagnetic resonance.
“This year’s competition for the prize is special; it is being held in the year of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory. You are all now in this hall, which is the University History Museum. Before the Revolution, this was the chapel of the Imperial Kazan University, and during the difficult years of the war, the families of academicians and employees of the academic institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences lived here. Can you imagine, in these years, while working in this very building, Yevgeny Zavoisky made a world-class discovery! It’s a very important discovery, both philosophical and ideological in nature, because for the first time in the world, humanity was able to look at condensed matter, at a solid body, from the inside,” emphasized Dr Tayursky. “This curiosity, this inquisitive mind, is something we should learn from such great people. Despite all the difficulties of that time, Zavoisky was able to make a discovery.”
The first place went to Almaz Gazizov, Assistant Lecturer of the Department of Optics and Nanophotonics and Junior Research Associate at the Hybrid Optical Sensors Lab. Almaz Zinnatullin, Research Associate of the Advanced Platforms for Spin Quantum Manipulation Lab, was second. The bronze was obtained by Timur Petrov, Chair of the Department of Industrial Power Supply of Kazan State Power Engineering University. The prizes were 100, 75, and 50 thousand rubles for first, second, and third place, respectively.
“None of us were told the results. It was unknown until the last second, and when my name was announced, it was a huge surprise. I’m extremely pleased that my work was so highly rated,” shared Gazizov. “It was about cooling a solid object using light, so that it not only heats but also acts as a cooling agent. While heating isn’t a problem—at least, that’s intuitively clear—cooling has always been. The solution is Raman scattering, which results in inelastic scattering of light, meaning light particles—photons—increase their energy due to the temperature of the cooled object.”
For those just starting out in science, Gazizov recommends loving their work, choosing their supervisor and team wisely, and continually improving their skills.
Almaz Zinnatullin admitted he was fortunate to have achieved a successful result in such a competitive field. This was his second participation.
“Most communication methods work using radio, television, and mobile phones, but there are cases where they are not applicable. Let’s say a spacecraft descends, covered in a thick layer of plasma. Radio waves don’t penetrate it, but communication with the descent vehicle must be maintained. To do this, we need to switch to other, higher-energy photons that can penetrate this plasma layer. We have developed a new type of communication based on gamma photons; it allows us to overcome this problem,” the winner explained.
The Zavoisky Prize for Young Scientists is organized by the Children and Youth Affairs Committee of the City of Kazan, Kazan Federal University, and Kazan Physical-Technical Institute.
Another eponymous award, International Zavoisky Prize, this year went to Vice Minister of Education of China Du Jiangfeng for outstanding achievements in spin-qubit magnetic resonance spectroscopy.