Czech Update

How have Czech values changed?

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:55:17 +0100

If you're wondering about what Czech views on this or that are, you could do worse than going to the excellent World Values Survey and use their read more »

Growth in Czech spending on science among fastest in Europe

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:32:59 +0000

Growth in Czech spending on science among fastest in Europe Brussels- The growth in spending on research and development in the Czech Republic is among the fastest in the European Union, Eurostat data out today have shown. ... More than half of the money spent on science in the Czech Republic comes from private resources, mainly from large companies.

Czech Republic has a very strong science and research tradition. Still, fast growth also means that there is a long way to go.

Still, read more »

„Estébák“ forced to return honor

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 17:00:40 +0000

„Estébák“ musí vrátit medaili, rozhodla Akademie - iDNES.cz Akademie věd vymazala jméno teologa Františka Jindřicha Holečka ze seznamu osobností, které získaly medaili profesora Jana Patočky.

Even though Charter 77 commands much less respect today than it did 15 years ago, some subjects are still sore. A theologian F. J. Holeček was asked today to return a medal awarded to him 2000 for achievements in theology and the study of Jan Hus. Unfortunately, it appears (the facts are as usual a little fuzzy) that he cooperated with StB (Státní bezpečnost - State police) in the early 1980s. And given that the award bears the name of Jan Patočka (a philosopher, the first signatory of the Charter, and the first victim of the subsequent prosecution) Holeček was asked to return it. This is still a sore subject for many Czechs and although revelations of somebody's communist past are not as common as they were not long ago, they still crop up at least once every few months. read more »

Prague's story: Center of learning as well as backwater

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:58:51 +0000

In May 1911, after arriving in Prague to take up his appointment to the physics department of the German University, Albert Einstein wrote to his friend Michele Besso: "Incidentally, the city of Prague is wonderful, so beautiful, that it alone would be worth a journey." (Einstein and Besso 1972: 20). from Toman, J. (1995). The magic of a common language: Jakobson, Mathesius, Trubetzkoy, and the Prague Linguistic Circle. Cambridge, Mass; London: The MIT Press.

I came across this quote recently in a book by a Czech linguist on the Prague Linguistic Circle which celebrated its 80th anniversary this year. It should also be added that Einstein who only spent three semesters teaching at the university, found it to be an "intellectual desert without conviction". This certainly wasn't the case 15 years later when Prague became one of the centers of world linguistics known today as the Prague school. read more »

Write for the BCSA 2006 prize

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 13:33:01 +0100

Fact or fiction – both are welcome in the writing competition run in 2006 by the British Czech and Slovak Association. A first prize of £300 and a second prize of £100 will be awarded to the best 1,500 to 2,000-word pieces of original writing in English on the links between Britain and the Czech/Slovak Republics, or describing society in transition in the Republics since 1989. Topics can include history, politics, the sciences, economics, the arts or literature. The writer of this year's winning entry will be presented with the prize at the BCSA’s annual dinner in London in November 2006. The piece will be published in the December 2006 issue of the British Czech and Slovak Review. read more »