The Alajos Kálmán Prize preserves the memory of the late Alajos Kálmán, an eminent scientist in the field of chemical crystallography. The Prize is established by the Hungarian Chemical Society and is endorsed by European Crystallographic Association (ECA). This year the prize goes to Professor Éric Collet from the Institute of Physics in Rennes, France.
Prof Éric Collet performs his inspirational interdisciplinary research at the interface of material science, chemistry and physics with crystallography at the very heart of his work. Prof Collet is one of the pioneers who paved the way for the subsequent studies in the greatly innovative field of X-ray free electron lasers science. He with his collaborators made high impact studies of ultra-fast femto second experiments, ultra-fast photo excitations like photo induced structural dynamics, phase transitions and molecular switching.
His outstanding achievement is based on the structural study of molecular complexes and new transition mechanisms, especially from the molecular to the crystal scale.