Abstract
Professor Leonas Valkunas is one of the founders and leading practitioners of the rapidly-developing, multidisciplinary field of re- search that aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms of light-harvesting and conversion in biological and synthetic systems. The field spans the intersection of biology, chemistry, and physics, where the exciton concepts together with the relaxation theory have been applied to both theoretical and experimental spectroscopy.
Leonas has been involved in scientific activities at the Institute of Physics and Vilnius University in Lithuania, at New York University, Free University of Amsterdam, Lund University, University of California Berkeley, Queen Mary University in London, and CEA Saclay. His influential book, Photosynthetic Excitons (World Scientific, 2000) written in co-authorship with Herbert van Amerongen and Rienk van Grondelle, continues to be a must-read for both newcomers and experienced researchers in the field of photosynthesis.
His recent volume Molecular Excitation Dynamics and Relaxation: Quantum Theory and Spectroscopy (Wiley, 2013), written together with Darius Abramavicius and Tomáš Mančal, has also re- ceived wide recognition among specialists.