5 euros gold coin 2016 Lithuania – coin dedicated to Physics

Description

The reverse of the coin features a stylised reflection of a laser light impulse. There is the inscription LIETUVOS MOKSLAS (Lithuanian Science) at the top and Fizika (Physics) at the bottom of the coin.

At Vilnius University, physics has been taught since its founding in the 16th c. However, when Vilnius University was closed, the development of physics was suddenly cut off. The evolution of the
science of physics began anew in Independent Lithuania, when the Lithuanian University was founded in Kaunas in 1923. The Physics Department was established by Vincas Čepinskis, who
was also the author of the first Lithuanian physics textbook. The younger generation of experimenters in physics — Povilas Brazdžiūnas, Antanas Žvironas, Antanas Puodžiukynas, Kazimieras Baršauskas and Adolfas Jucys, who independently studied atomic quantum theory — began their scientific work at this university and defended their doctoral theses abroad. It was these physicists and Henrikas Horodničius, who worked at the Polish Vilnius University, that after the war became key in organising the teaching of physics andscientific work at Lithuanian schools of higher education. P. Brazdžiūnas began experimental studies of semiconductors; he initiated work on nuclear physics and supported studies of laser physics. A. Jucys developed quantum atomic theory and directed his students towards studies in the fields of solids, atomic nuclei, molecules. K. Baršauskas initiated research in ultrasound and other technical physics at the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute