Prof. SantolÃk graduated with honors from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University in 1990. Here, in 1995, he also defended his doctoral dissertation in the field of plasma physics and ionized media. In the same year, he also received the highest degree in physics from the University of Orleans in France. From 1999 to 2001, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Orleans and as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Iowa. In 2007, he worked as a visiting professor at the University of Orleans after a habilitation in 2004 at Charles University. In 2014, he was appointed professor here.
He is currently the head of the space physics department of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the ASCR. He continues to teach at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University, conducts student work and is a member of the Board of the doctoral study field of Plasma Physics and Ionized Media.
He specializes in cosmic plasma physics with a focus on his experimental research using satellite measurements. He focuses mainly on plasma wave research. His areas of interest include wave emissions in the Earth's magnetosphere and planets and their interactions with plasma and energy particles. He is the author or co-author of 300 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals with 8200 citations and an h-index of 47.
He is a member of international teams of several ongoing space projects of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the US NASA, and is also leading the preparation of new scientific instruments for measurements on satellites in the Earth's magnetosphere, on the probe to the icy moons of Jupiter and on a probe to land on Mars. He is active in international scientific organizations and is a member of the ESA scientific advisory structure. In 2014, he received the Academic Award of the ASCR. In 2017, he was elected Vice-President of the Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale (URSI) and in 2017-2021 he served as Vice-Chairman of the Scientific Council of the ASCR.