12/2003

Academic bulletin 12/2003

EVENT OF THE MONTH
Week of Science and Technology 2003, organized by the Academy of Sciences and its partners in early November, attracted some 2,000 people, primarily secondary school students, to the main building of the Academy on Národní Street in Prague. They came to take part in lectures, round-table discussions and an interactive programme presented by the British Council entitled ‘Meet the Mighty Gene Machine’. Hundreds of others visited individual institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences, which opened their doors to the general public.

SCIENCE AND EDUCATION
Close co-operation between the University of South Bohemia and the ASCR is an excellent example of fruitful contacts and teamwork between scientific institutes and University faculties.

TOPIC OF THE MONTH
The Road to and From DNA and an award to Tim Hunt
The series of 10 lectures, given in Brno by the world’s leading scientists to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the description of the structure of DNA, is coming to an end. One of the lecturers was Dr. Richard Timothy Hunt from the United Kingdom, who was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2001. He not only gave a lecture in Brno on cells and their division but also accepted the honorary doctorate awarded to him by the Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry Brno.

ANNIVERSARY
The Institute of Physics ASCR celebrated its 50th anniversary in October.
Its former and present researchers reminded those attending of its modest beginnings, the great successes it has achieved from those days to the present, about great scientific projects now being carried out as well about bold plans for the future.

SCIENCE AND RESEARCH
Laserlab-Europe
This is the name of the project developed by the European laser research consortium joining 17 laboratories from 16 countries. Laserlab-Europe won EU support within its 6th Framework Programme and was launched at the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry here in Prague last month.

Transmission of Food Culture in History
The International Commission for the Research into European Food History – ICREFH – held its 8th colloquium in Prague in late September and early October this year. The event was organized by the Institute of Ethnology ASCR and focused on the diffusion of food culture, cookery and food education in Europe since the 18th century.

Open History
Czech historians, history teachers, archivists and other experts as well as the general public are considering possible consequences of the new bill on the archives and records service as well as changes in teaching history at elementary and secondary schools, which are being discussed by the respective government authorities and legislative bodies. A press conference on this issue entitled ‘Open History’ took place in mid-October at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

A Czech-Romanian Symposium of Historians
The international symposium, Czechoslovakia and Romania within the Framework of the Versailles System, was staged in early October in Prague.

EUROPEAN UNION
Supporting the Participation of ASCR in EU Programmes
An independent section has been established within the Head Office of the ASCR to help scientific teams become involved in international projects supported by the EU.

Czech Days for European Research
was the name of the conference organized by the Technology Centre ASCR in Prague in late October. Representatives of Czech science and research, the European Commission and experts involved in European research discussed the participation of the Czech Republic in EU Framework Programmes and European research as a whole.

NEWS FROM THE ACADEMIC COUNCIL
A report on the 39th session of the Academic Council of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC
An account of the 182nd session the Czech Government Research and Development Council.

Madeleine Albright in Prague
On October 21, students and experts at CERGE-EI (which is a joint unit of the Centre for Economic Research and Graduate Education of Charles University and the Economics Institute ASCR) had an opportunity to meet Mrs. Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State, who was born in Prague. She took part in the debate on topical issues in Euro-American relations, which was arranged at the Economics Institute ASCR in co-operation with the New York University’s branch in Prague.

MADAME SECRETARY
A commemorative book by Madeleine Albright has been translated by former Czech Ambassador in the USA Michael Žantovský and published in the Czech Republic under the title: MADELEINE with subtitle ‘The Best of All Possible Worlds’.

AWARDS to leading Czech and foreign experts

PORTRAITS FROM THE ARCHIVES
Josef Mašek
This time the section commemorates the 95th birth anniversary of physician and scientist Josef Mašek. He made a significant contribution to the development of nutrition sciences after World War II. His research was focused on such fields as the overall influence of nutrition on human health, cholesterolemia, the use of vitamin C in the human body and others. He also became a WHO permanent expert on nutrition.

CULTURE AND SOCIETY
A key point in the History of Arts or an Independent Theory of the Preservation of Monuments.

FROM ACADEMIA PUBLISHING HOUSE
Specialized books from Academia Publishing House
A list of bestsellers

Doc. RNDr. Josip Kleczek, DrSc., of the Institute of Astronomy ASCR won this year’s Nušl Prize for his contribution to the development of astronomy.

The prestigious Littera Astronomica 2003 award was conferred upon RNDr. Jiří Grygar, CSc.