03/2007

Academic bulletin 03/2007

RESUMÉ

INTERVIEW
We Need to Change Our Way of Thinking and We Need Quality
An interview with a remarkable hematologist and cancer specialist, Prof. Pavel Klener, who is a former minister of health, pro-rector of Charles University, presidential candidate, director of the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion and head of the 1^st Medical Department of the university's 1^st Faculty of Medicine. He presents his views on the relationship between Czech universities and the Academy of Sciences, as well as on the system of continuing education of doctors and funding of science projects.

SCIENCE AND RESEARCH
Leopold Katz and Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts
On the occasion of the 80^th anniversary of the death of an important patron and supporter of the Czech Academy of the Sciences and Arts – Leopold Katz (1854–1927) the Institute of Contemporary History arranged an excursion to the family vault at Olšany Cemetery. The text introduces some new details about this Jewish attorney who financially supported two generations of Czech painters and sculptors (for example, V. Hynais, M. Aleš, J. V. Myslbek, M. Švabinský and others) and was the most important personage of the Czech-Jewish assimilation movement in the second half of the 19^th century.

Nečtiny at the Crossroads
The 8^th interdisciplinary seminar, Nature and Culture on new crossroad, in Nečtiny from 15^th–18^th January 2007, under the patronage of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, welcomed the most renowned scientists in various branches as well as artists, the public and students.

Interest in Oral History increases
Constitutive meeting of the Czech Oral History Association took part on 8^th January 2007 in the Academy building. The method of oral history in Eastern Europe is less prevalent than in the West, so the meeting was some kind of breakthrough.

ACADEMIA
Painting the Jungle
Painting the Jungle, the amply illustrated publication of an excellent Czech author of scientific drawings, Jan Dungel, brings together fascinating photos and drawings of the jungle from his journeys through South America – Amazonian rainforests, savannahs (grassland with widely spaced trees), Llanos (extensive systems of grasslands on flat plains) or in Pantanal (the world's largest wetland area in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay).