Physicist, pedagogue, social worker Dr. died unexpectedly at the age of 46. Audrius Alkauskas, reported the Physical and Technological Sciences Center (FTMC), where he worked in the Fundamental Research Department for the past few years.
The scientist with a bright memory was remembered by the director of FTMC, prof. Gintaras Valušis: “It is difficult to find words to express this loss…
Audrius Alkauskas, the head of the Laboratory of Electronic Structure Theory of the Fundamental Research Department and the ideological leader and founder of the informal group of theorists “Puntukas”, one of the most prominent theoretical physicists of the middle generation, left the Center for Physical and Technological Sciences.
Not only an exceptional Physics Talent, but also a multi-faceted personality, able to gather like-minded people, able to ignite curiosity, inspire Creation and scientific research… He also had the incredible erudition of a physicist and a subtle intuition, a penchant for music and creative writing…
Audrius’s scientific ideas shone extremely productively, colorfully and very inventively… Work with Meile ir Vijduota, which allowed to create many key articles and reports on the topic of electronic structure semiconductors, which allowed to prepare international projects and future guidelines for the ever-intensifying activities of the scientific group…
The calling of physics, the inner bliss of the Creative impulse and… the patient confrontation with oneself… Everything was so bright, but it lasted so short. Too short.
Rest in Peace, dear Audria!”
Biography
Audrius Alkauskas was an active and productive scientist throughout his life, who tried himself in various fields – from optoelectronics to quantum physics. He did not limit himself to scientific activities: he was interested in literature, philosophy, popular and classical music; he himself wrote short stories and composed songs, spoke on social issues. He knew English, Russian, French and German.
The scientist was known in the public sphere and appreciated for his erudition and ability to explain complex matters in simple language. He has repeatedly given interviews to the media, was nominated in the LRT 2020 awards in the “Discovery of the Year” nomination for the global scientific discovery – determining the nature of quantum emitters in two-dimensional semiconductors.
Audrius was born in 1978. February 8 In Anykščiai, in the family of agronomists Antanas and Vida Alkauskas. Twin brother – Giedrius Alkauskas, scientist and mathematician.
Audrius 1985-1993 studied at Anykščiai Jonas Biliūnas secondary school, 1993-1996. graduated from Kaunas University of Technology gymnasium. in 1996 in this gymnasium, A. Alkauskas was chosen as the laureate of the February 16 prize, awarded to the best gymnasium student. 1995 and 1996 he became the winner of the Lithuanian Schoolboy Physics Olympiad in 1996. awarded with a letter of commendation at the International Student Physics Olympiad in Oslo (Norway). Twice he became the laureate of the contest of Lithuanian young philologists.
1996-2002 he studied at Vilnius University’s Faculty of Physics, obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degree in physics, and completed part of the course at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). While studying, he sang in the Vilnius University student choir and wrote short stories.
2002-2006 A. Alkauskas was a doctoral student at the Institute of Physics of the University of Basel (Switzerland). in 2006 He defended his PhD thesis “Energy level alignment and site-selective adsorption of large organic molecules on noble metal surfaces” at the University of Basel.
2006-2010 he lived and worked in Lausanne, Switzerland, and was a researcher at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) for almost five years. He did research work at the Institutes of Theoretical Physics and Solid State Physics.
2011-2014 A. Alkauskas was a researcher at the University of California in Santa Barbara (USA).
Since 2014 Audrius lived and worked in Vilnius. 2014-2016 he was a senior researcher at the Terahertz Photonics Laboratory of the Optoelectronics Department of the Center for Physical and Technological Sciences, since 2016. – chief researcher, headed the “Puntukas” research group on electronic structure theory.
Since 2015 he was a lecturer at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the Kaunas University of Technology, a professor at the Department of Physics, taught a solid state physics course.
Areas of scientific activity of A. Alkauskas: materials science; physics of surfaces, interfaces and defects; density functional theory; solid state physics; physics of renewable energy sources; solid-state theoretical spectroscopy.
He gave presentations at international scientific conferences, together with co-authors he prepared and published more than 40 publications in the international scientific press, including scientific publications in the physics journal “Physical Review Letters”.
Since 2011 A. Alkauskas was a member of the American Physical Society.
While living in Switzerland, A. Alkauskas was a member of the board of the Swiss Lithuanian community, activity coordinator of the French part of Switzerland and organizer of cultural events.
He was a collaborator of the newspaper “Šveicarijos lietuvių žinios”, he prepared a study about the traces of the life and activities of the writer Jonas Biliūnas in Switzerland for the collection of sketches in Lithuanian and German languages ”On the Paths of Lithuanian Writers in Switzerland. Auf den Spuren litauischer Schriftsteller in der Schweiz” (Publication of the Lithuanian community in Switzerland, 2009).
