10/2003

Academic bulletin 10/2003

EVENT OF THE MONTH
The International Linguistic Congress held in Prague in late July attracted experts from 50 countries. Congress deliberations covered four main topics, namely, typology of languages, linguistic methodology, endangered languages and finally relations between language and the mind, language and consciousness, and language and the brain.

TOPIC OF THE MONTH
ATLAS Overview Week
Some 200 experts especially from CERN member states met in Prague to discuss the ATLAS experiment to be carried out at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the construction of the ATLAS detector.

The World of Numbers and Particles
One of the world’s leading theoretical physicists, Professor Frank Wilczek from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology participated in the recent conference ‘Physics at LHC’ in Prague. In an interview with the Academic Bulletin he focused on the world as a tiny scale of elementary particles and on what scientists expect from future experiments at the LHC.

SCIENCE AND RESEARCH
Participants in the international workshop entitled Electron Microscopy and Stereology in the Molecular Biology of Cells and Tissues, which was staged in České Budějovice in July, were able to work with leading experts in this field and test, among other things, the latest techniques of preparing samples for electron microscopes.

The 1st Summer Training Course, SUMTRAIC, attracted foreign students interested in nuclear fusion and work at the small, but flexible tokamak of CASTOR (Czech Academy of Sciences TORus). They were involved in measurements and processing data gathered at CASTOR.

The 16th International Mass Spectrometry Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland, attracted more than 1,400 participants. The Czech Republic will have the honour to host the next conference in 2006.

The 75th anniversary of the Czechoslovak Microbiological Society,
which ranks among the oldest organizations of its kind in the world, was the focus of a festive celebration at Villa Lanna in Prague.

Against Totalitarianism
The Institute for Contemporary History of the AS CR in co-operation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Prague has recently organized two interesting events: a specialized conference "Resistance against Dictatorship" and a colloquium marking the 50th anniversary of the uprising in the former GDR in July 1953.

"Germans and Hungarians in the Decrees of the President of the Republic. Studies and Documents 1940–1945. (Die Deutschen und Magyaren in den Dekreten des Präsidenten der Republik. Studien und Dokumente 1940–1945.)" This is the title of a book issued by the Institute for Contemporary History of the AS CR and the theme of a press conference on this issue.

More than 50 leading experts in logic and analytical philosophy from all over the world met at the Kravsko Castle near Znojmo during the 17th international symposium LOGICA 2003.

SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
This time the section introduces the Society of Clinical Medicine.

NEWS FROM THE ACADEMIC COUNCIL
A report on the 36th 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
Account of the 179th session the Czech Government Research and Development Council.

An Appeal from the 77th General Assembly of the International Academic Union

PORTRAITS FROM THE ARCHIVES
Jan Bedřich Novák
Seventy years have passed since the death of leading Czech historian and archivist Jan Bedřich Novák.

CULTURE AND SOCIETY
Global Changes or the Testimony of the Soil
Part II of an interview with Prof. Josef Rusek from the Institute of Soil Biology AS CR.

"Original Negative and New Copy"
Works by Josef Sudek from the collection of the Institute of Art History AS CR.

Professional Assistance from Saxony to the Institute of Archaeology AS CR has helped to save precious collections of glass photographic plates damaged by disastrous floods last year.

Specialized books from Academia Publishing House

PAST AND FUTURE

The Sazka Hall
Experts from the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics AS CR have contributed to measurements necessary for the construction of the unique steel structure of the Sazka Hall.

The Jubilee 20th Ebicykl
During their week long tour, astronomers-cyclists covered some 800 km in Slovakia.