Inta was born in Valmiera, a town in the northern part of Latvia. She attended school in Sigulda and high school in Riga. While at high school, Inta decided to study natural sciences. After finishing the high-school in 1969 she entered the physics section of the Physics and Mathematics department of the University of Latvia and obtained her university degree in 1974.
In parallel with university studies, Inta started to work at Semiconductor Physics Research Lab at the University of Latvia. After graduation, she was offered a position at the Physical Energetics institute of Latvian Academy of Sciences, in the laboratory of prof. Edgars Siliņš, one of the most internationally known Latvian physicists. Inta started research of electronic and photoelectric processes in organic crystals and thin films. This was a novel field, pioneered both internationally and in Latvia by professors E. Siliņš, O. Neilands, and J. Freimanis. It may be stated that Inta stood at the cradle of this research field and stayed faithful to it all her life. Her work was highly successful and within a few years she advanced from research assistant to researcher and then leading researcher. The first scientific topic was studies of the mechanism of charge carrier photogeneration and separation in organic molecular crystals. In 1983, for a work titled "Charge carrier photogeneration and trapping processes in organic molecular crystals" Inta obtained her Ph.D. degree (USSR Candidate of Sciences degree).
The major part of I. Muzikante’s research activities have been devoted to the investigation of electronic states in organic thin films and multilayers. Studies of electrophysical properties and energy structure of the wide class of organic compounds, such as isolators, semiconductors and conductors have been done. During these studies, the complex application of conventional space charge limited current method (SCLC), differential method of SCLC, thermally modulated SCLC and the thermally stimulated current was provided for a local trapping state investigation. These investigations were of significant importance for application in studies of organic light-emitting diodes and organic solar cells. In I. Muzikante’s work, the existence and asymmetry of trapping states of quadrupolar origin in pentacene thin films was experimentally confirmed for the first time.
In the last decade, I. Muzikante had broadened her scientific scope. The organic materials with photochromic effects became an important part of her research because of their possibility of being employed in the optical storage of data and molecular switching devices. Reversible trans/cis photoisomerization of azobenzene and indandione derivatives in self-assembled monolayers, LB multilayers and polymer films were studied.
A turning point in Inta’s life was the re-establishment of independent Republic of Latvia in 1991: the previously tightly closed international borders opened, and she was free to visit and work in the most important international scientific centers. During this period, she stayed and worked at Potsdam University and the Center of Macromolecular Chemistry in Germany, South Bank University, London University, and Manchester University in the UK, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chemie Industrielles, Pierre and Marie Curie University, and Angers University in France, and at the Vilnius University in Lithuania.
After the passing away of prof. E. Siliņš in 1998, Inta took over the duties of the Head of Laboratory. Despite Latvian science going through ugh tough times due to inadequate funding, she managed to preserve the lab's core staff and further develop its scientific potential, while also continuing an active research work herself. In 1998, she obtained the Dr.habil degree for the work “Electronic processes and states in organic molecular crystals and Langmuir-Blodgett multistructures”. Inta’s research was recognized by awarding her the recently established and prestigious Edgars Siliņš Prize in Physics by the Latvian Academy of Sciences in 1999.
Inta’s research and organizational work gained even more momentum after her lab was transferred to the Institute of Solid State Physics in 2003. At her new home Inta rapidly acquired the respect and sympathies of her new colleagues. Her duties as the Head of Laboratory and the Leading Researcher were soon supplemented by the tasks of the Institute’s deputy director for research.
During this and the subsequent period, another of her many talents started to shine through: her special skill to find capable young people from the best high schools in Latvia and to motivate them for the research work. Several of these students had become researchers in her lab, and currently one of them, Dr. phys. Aivars Vembris, is the head of the laboratory. With Inta’s demise, 4 PhD students lost their supervisor.
In 2006, Inta was elected as Corresponding Member of Latvian Academy of Sciences, and subsequently elected as a full member of the Academy in 2008. She has authored more than 240 research papers. Inta started to give lecture courses to the physics students of the University of Latvia and took up even more duties. She served as a guest editor in international journals, as an expert in European Commission, and as a representative for Latvia in a number of European scientific programs and projects.
With the passing away of Inta Muzikante, the Latvian and international science community had lost an excellent scientist and a talented science organizer. However, more important and above all of her excellent professional achievements: all of us who knew her will remember her as a helpful and cordial friend.
