From the 2014 Blavatnik National Awards to the 2025 Soljačić Prize
A former Blavatnik National Awards Laureate has paid it forward with a prize recognizing scientific excellence in his home country.
Published August 6, 2025
By Kamala Murthy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist and 2014 Blavatnik National Awards Laureate Marin Soljačić established the Soljačić Prize in his home country of Croatia. He used part of his $250,000 unrestricted prize money from the Blavatnik Award to create a prize that recognizes exceptional Croatian high school graduates in mathematics and physics, awarding $5,000 annually to outstanding students.
“When I established this prize, there were few such award programs in Croatia, especially for young students – in the USA they are much more common,” said Prof. Soljačić. “The Blavatnik Awards and other prizes played an important, encouraging role in my growth as a scientist, and I wanted to establish something like that for Croatian students. I also wanted to inspire other institutions and individuals to establish similar prizes in Croatia.”
The 2025 Soljačić Prize was awarded to Pia Pilipović, a graduating student from the XV Gymnasium, a school in Zagreb. The school has now produced seven Soljačić winners in the 11-year history of the award. Soljačić is also a graduate of the XV Gymnasium.
Pia delivered extraordinary results on the Croatian national high‑school exit exams (državna matura). She scored a perfect score on the physics and mathematics (A‑level) exams, while also achieving 91.82 % in Croatian language and 85.5 % in English. Her flawless performance in the most complex quantitative subjects earned her the Soljačić Prize.
The prize was formally presented during an award ceremony held at the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth in Zagreb on July 29, 2025. Pia stood among other top graduates receiving various honors.
