The Dream Chemistry Award is co-organized by the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, with the final alternating between Prague and Warsaw. Both editions award the winners with original trophies symbolizing the core idea of the competition in their own unique way.
Anyone who has made their scientific dream come true knows how vague and unsteady the vision is in the beginning. Only at the end of the process does the dream’s volatile nature change its phase and condense into a concrete shape.
The trophy portrays a chemistry dream as a vapor in the process of distillation, elusive on top and condensing at the bottom. Sometimes surprising and unknown substances in their volatile phase become visible only when forming the first drop of their condensate.
The trophy awarded in the Prague edition of the competition embodies the beauty inherent in scientific processes. The solid glass freezes the moment in time when an experiment begins to evolve, the changing form and colors depicting various states of aggregation.
The piece represents a work in progress, a transformation, a dream whose potential has yet to be fully realized.
