Prof. Zdeněk Bittnar was one of the pioneers of computational structural mechanics in Czechoslovakia, using numerical methods in the design of structures such as bridges, the nuclear power plants Jaslovské Bohunice II (in Slovakia) and Temelín, or the new stadium of the Slávie football club from the 1960s. At the beginning of the 21st century, Professor Bittnar's interests expanded to a multi-level approach to experimentally based modelling and characterisation of cementitious materials. Prof. Bittnar's scientific articles have had a significant impact in the world literature, as evidenced, for example, by the 1103 citations of his results in the Scopus database and the corresponding h-index of 16. At the same time, Prof. Bittnar has mentored 21 PhD students in a wide range of topics including computer multiphysics simulations of materials and structures, software development, as well as testing and characterization of advanced materials. Along with this, Prof. Bittnar has also been long active in the national and international communities of computational mechanics, structural engineering and engineering sciences in general.
The Prof. Zdeněk P. Bažant Prize is awarded annually by the Czech Society for Mechanics for an article or a series of articles on the same original topic, a book or a published dissertation or other work in Czech or English. It must be an original application of mechanics, an interdisciplinary study or a work that has brought or clearly promises to bring progress in practice. Both theoretical and experimental works are accepted, especially in combination.
The founder of this prize, Prof. Zdeněk P. Bažant, is a graduate of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague and is widely recognized as one of the world's leading figures in the field of mechanics of rigid and flexible bodies and environments. He has been based in the USA since 1968. He was elected a member of three American academies - the National Academy of Engineering in 1996, the National Academy of Sciences in 2002, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008 - as well as national academies in Austria, Italy, Spain, and the Czech Republic.