Spreading information throughout the world
Lithuanian satellites are found floating through outer space; Lithuanian lasers are used in state-of-the art research laboratories worldwide, along with robots, innovative information technologies, biotechnologies and medical advances. Lithuanian scientists, physicists, engineers, IT specialists, biologists and medical doctors work at research centres along with some of the world’s most talented researchers. Scattered across the world, they nevertheless remain part of our country, Lithuania.
Virginijus Šikšnys: part of the global science elite
A scholar who has come close to being awarded the Nobel Prize; and a Lithuanian whose discovery will help pave the way for new opportunities in global medicine, agriculture and industry. Virginijus Šikšnys, a professor at Vilnius University, and his colleagues, Dr. Giedrius Gasiūnas and Tautvydas Karvelis, were one of the world’s first research groups to elucidate how the Cas9 protein can be used for precise DNA editing. For his discovery, the professor was granted the prestigious Warren Alpert award from Harvard University. Virginijus Šikšnys has personally received an award for his scientific achievements from the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė.
Birutė Galdikas: protector of the orangutans
A woman who lives in the jungle. Birutė Galdikas, a world-renowned anthropologist, environmentalist and orangutan specialist, is said to have become a citizen of Indonesia merely because the orangutans she cares about are from there. This is nothing more than a joke; however, she would do anything within her power to help the orangutans. The researcher, who lives in the jungles of Borneo, has been recognised as one of the most prominent scholars of the century worldwide, with the results of her research becoming one of the most extensive studies on any single species of wild mammal. In Los Angeles in 1989, the professor founded Orangutan Foundation International, she travels all over the world presenting her studies and explaining the importance of preserving tropical rainforests.