Czech history of science books of 2019

J. E. Purkyně: HERMANN, Tomáš, ed. a CÍLEK, Václav, ed.  Útržky ze zápisníku zemřelého přírodovědce: O duši Země a romantické vědě [Fragments from the Diary of a Perished Naturalist: On the Soul of the Earth and Romantic Science]. Praha: Academia, 2019.

The second edition of an interesting book devoted to a forgotten treatise by Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1787-1869). Diary of Perished Naturalist was originally published in 1850 and deals with issues like of evolution, including spiritual evolution and the questions if the Earth has some sort of a soul and what are its qualities and manifestations. It tries to solve the similar problems as some of the important streams of idealistic „Naturphilosophie“. According to the editors, this treatise did not get much attention, because it was published anonymously and outside the Habsburg monarchy. The current edition should rehabilitate its status. Authors of original essays put Purkyně's treatise in to the historical context of the development of evolutionary thinking, connect it with important period works and show parallels to some current biological concepts.

ŠTRBÁŇOVÁ, Soňa. Bohuslav Raýman: vědec, vlastenec a Evropan [Bohuslav Raýman: Scientist, Patriot, Europian]. Praha: Národohospodářský ústav Josefa Hlávky, 2019.

Bohuslav Raýman (1852-1910) was a Czech chemist, popular science writer and a foremost organizer of the linguistically Czech science at the turn of the 19th century. The monograph deals with both professional and personal aspects of his personality. Raýman studied with the leading European chemists F. A. Kekulé, Ch. A. Wurtz and Ch. Friedel in Bonn and Paris. In Prague he became dozent at the Czech Technical University (1878), then professor of organic chemistry at the Czech University (1890, 1897). His scientific research and university lectures encompassed organic chemistry, biochemistry and physical chemistry. As organizer of science he held leading positions in the Society of Czech Chemists, the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts and other institutions and edited several professional and popular journals.  His contacts included not only top notch Czech scientists and artists, but also scholars from several European countries and India. Among his important popularizing activities belong restoration of the Živa journal and numerous articles in Otto’s Encyclopaedia. The monograph presents not only new findings on Raýman’s life and work but also reflects his efforts to link up science and culture in the Czech society, eradicate nationalism and provinciality from the Czech science and integrate Czech science and culture  into international scientific currents.

KRAUS, Ivo et al. Věda v českých zemích. Dějiny fyziky, geografie, geologie, chemie a matematiky [Science in Czech lands, History of Physics, Geography, Geology, Chemistry and Mathematics]. Praha: ČVUT, 2019.

The book summarizes the development of five disciplines from the 14^th to the 21^st century. Important physicists, geographers, geologists and chemists from Czech lands are introduced, including those, who worked abroad. Each chapter is written chronologically and contains rich illustrative material.

Biografický slovník českých zemí. Sešit 22 (Han–Hau) [Biographical Dictionary of the Czech Lands. Vol. 22 (Han-Hau)]. Praha: Historický ústav – Academia, 2019. 

The Twenty-second volume (containing names Han-Hau) of a dictionary of biographical items of the leading, illustrious, or just remarkable men and women related to the Bohemian, Czech and Czechoslovak development throughout the history. An online version of the dictionary is accessible at http://biography.hiu.cas.cz/Personal/index.php/Hlavní_strana. Both versions are edited  by the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences. It is a useful tool for everyone looking for the basic biographical data of particular Czech scientists and other important figures of the social and cultural life.

SOUKUP, Martin. Antropologie. Teorie, koncepty a osobnosti [Anthropology. Theories, Concepts and Personalities]. Červený Kostelec: Pavel Mervart, 2019.

The book offers an explanation of the changes in the anthropological thinking from from its birth in the colonial period to postmodern discussions on the nature of field research and the validity of anthropological knowledge, that is from the 19th century to the present.. Written in a lively style, it is devoted to  important schools, directions and paradigms of social and cultural anthropology. The author expresses himself in the text through personal notes written as his alter ego, a woman anthropologist, who lived in the 20th century and met many classics of the field. Through letters to important anthropologists, she becomes a reader's guide through the history of anthropological thought. The book is intended for anthropologists, ethnologists, culturologists, sociologists and all others interested in anthropology as the science of man, society and culture.

HADRAVOVÁ, Alena, HADRAVA, Petr. Sféra Iohanna de Sacrobosco – středověká učebnice základů astronomie [The Sphere of Johannes de Sacrobosco – the Medieval Textbook of elementary Astronomy]. Praha: Akropolis, 2019.

The Latin treatise Tractatus de spera mundi (‘Treatise on the Sphere of the World’) was written by the early 13th-century English astronomer Johannes de Sacrobosco at the University of Paris where he spent his entire professional career. The treatise went on to become the most popular medieval textbook on the elements of astronomy and geocentric cosmology and was read and studied as such until the 17th century. The publication contains an edition of the Latin original of Sacrobosco’s Tractatus and an annotated translation into Czech together with a commentary to the text written by Wenceslaus Faber de Budweis (also Vaclav Faber z Budějovic, c. 1455/1460–1518) towards the end of the 15th century, as well the introduction of Philipp Melanchthon, that was included into the Wittenberg edition of Tractatus in 1531.

KOVÁČ, Ladislav et al. Listy o biologii: korespondence 1975-1990 a další texty [Letters on Biology: Correspondence 1975-1900 and other Texts]. Praha: Malvern, 2019.

The book provides insight into  lives of two extraordinary public intellectuals and personalities of the Czech and Slovak biology and philosophy. Zdeněk Neubauer (1942-2016) and Ladislav Kováč (*1932) who began their carriers as outstanding biologists but during the normalization period (after 1968) were forced to survive in semi-official structures, without the possibility to work and teach. However, they did not give up, and in 1990 returned with full force back to the public and academic life. The core of this book consist of letters Neubauer and Kováč exchanged in 1975-1990. The letters reflect their spiritual struggles, doubts and disputes. The letters are supplemented by a selection of articles written after 1990. To enable a better understanding of the historical context,  editors included memories, underground articles, biographies and literary references.

FASORA, Lukáš, HANUŠ, Jiří. Mýty a tradice středoevropské univerzitní kultury [Cultural Myths and Traditions of Central European Universities]. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2019.

The aim of this historical investigation into university culture is to show continuities and discontinuities in the development of Central European universities, from their ecclesiastical origins in the Middle Ages to the challenges they face in the competitive world of advanced education today. Through the study of the so-called ‘myths’, the authors have sought to uncover those issues that have historically been important to universities in the region, particularly those in the Czech lands. As distinguished historians, however, the authors go beyond this, seeking to address the following questions: What are these ‘continuities’ and ‘discontinuities’? What can we learn from the terms used to describe university education and research? How have these changed from the Middle Ages, through the nineteenth century to today? During the modern age and throughout the twentieth century, what are the drivers that have so entirely transformed the purpose and mission of universities themselves and of their faculties; and how have public expectations of universities changed? What effects have the evolution of mass culture at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and then the rise of mass university education in the second half of the twentieth century, had on universities’ social purpose? How have the lives of the participants in these events – the professors, readers, lecturers and other teaching staff, and, finally, the students – been affected by the changes? Have the structures of universities remained resistant to influence from the economy and politics? Are universities in crisis? Are their ideals and needs – their struggles for independence and autonomy, their efforts to be competitive, their search for meaningful performance criteria and their internal instability – in fact an expression of a deep crisis in which the universities find themselves today? Isn’t it the case that all we are left with today are the ‘myths’? These may be helpful to portray the university environment of yesteryear, but where are the equivalent terms we can employ to describe universities today?