In August this year, the first Shpol’skii-Rebane-Personov medal and prize were awarded to Prof. Fedor Jelezko for the quantum optics experimental investigations of the single molecules and NV centers in diamonds and their applications for magnetometry and quantum informatics. The awarding ceremony was part of the 13^th International Conference HBSM-2018 (Hole Burning, Single Molecule, and Related Spectroscopies: Science and Applications).

In total, 144 participants from 17 countries joined HBSM-2018. It was held by the Institute of Spectroscopy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISRAS) and the Moscow Pedagogical State University (Department of Theoretical Physics of E.V. Shpol’skii) in both Suzdal (August 6-10) and Moscow. On August 11, the conference participants were invited to Moscow since this year, the 50th anniversary of ISRAS was celebrated. Highly respected and world-famous scientists were invited as speakers, e.g. Prof. William E. Moerner (Stanford University), Nobel Prize winner in chemistry in 2014, as well as Prof. Michel Orrit (University of Leiden), winner of many prestigious international prizes. After the plenary sessions and the awarding ceremony, Jelezko gave a talk about "Diamond based Quantum Technologies". Moreover, young scientists organized a poster session and a scientific reports competition. A diploma and money prize for the best report were awarded to Andrey Anisimov (St. Petersburg).

The next HBSM conference will take place in 2021 (HBSM-2021) in Germany, precisely Banz Castle, Bad Staffelstein, Bavaria.

More information see: https://hbsm2018.ru/