Events

Academician Gediminas Račiukaitis Receives the Baltic Award for His Significant Contribution to Science

19 05 2025

On 13 May 2025, the Baltic Awards were presented for the very first time at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga. The awards were bestowed to representatives of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia for their contribution to the development of art, science, and architecture, highlighting the importance of the region in the European context. In the science category, the award went to Dr Gediminas Račiukaitis, a full member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.

Academician Leonas Valkūnas, chair of the Division of Mathematical, Physical, and Chemical Sciences of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, who attended the award ceremony, welcomed the new initiative to honour outstanding scientists and artists from the Baltic countries, congratulated the laureates, and was very pleased at Dr Račiukaitis’s success.

 Dr Gediminas Račiukaitis, a full member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, is a well-known specialist and developer of world-famous Lithuanian laser technologies, the head of the Department of Laser Technologies of the Centre for Physical Sciences and Technology, and a chief researcher. He has co-authored 15 Lithuanian, five European, three American, two Japanese, and two Chinese patents for the generation, control, and application of laser radiation in materials processing. His current research activities are related to the application of short-pulse lasers for materials processing by forming micro- and nanostructures.

The Latvian composer Raimonds Pauls was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in the music category. Estonian architects Maarja Kask and Ralf Lõoke were honoured for their achievements in architecture. The Baltic Award for a Significant Contribution to the Arts went to Skuja Braden, an international artist collaboration between Ingūna Skuja and Melissa Braden.

The Baltic Awards is a new project of the Inesa Galante Foundation, which, in cooperation with public and educational institutions, professional associations, and diplomatic missions in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia aims to select and honour distinguished scientists, artists, and architects.

The nominees for the Baltic Awards 2025 were nominated by the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, the Latvian Performers’ and Producer’ Association, the Latvian Academy of Arts, and the Estonian Association of Architects. The winners were selected by a panel of experts including Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, a former president of Latvia, a politician and public figure, Valdis Zatlers, a former president of Latvia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, a former president of Estonia and politician, Ivars Kalviņš, the president of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, Jūras Banys, the president of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, and other public figures and representatives of culture and business of the Baltic countries. The opera singer Inessa Galante is the chair of the panel and the founder of this foundation.

Prof. Leonas Valkūnas, Chair of the Division of Mathematical, Physical, and Chemical Sciences of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences
Evelina Baronienė, Chief Assistant to the President of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences
Translated by Diana Barnard
Photography Jauns.lv/Mārtiņš Ziders