01/1999

Academic bulletin 01/1999

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Resume

The highlight of this issue is the allocution by the president of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Professor Rudolf Zahradník, which he presented at the 13^th Assembly of ASCR, held on December 17^th, 1998. His oration was divided into three parts:

First Professor Zahradník evaluated the current state of research in the Academy.

Second he devoted attention to what he called "problems of generation gap".

And finally he expressed his own personal opinion that being a scientist entails responsibility: "We have no moral right to ignore significant problems of contemporary Czech society, because they go beyond anything related only to the state of science in this country".

RNDr. Antonín Holý, DrSc., lectured on "The Rational Development of Medicaments against Virus Diseases and its Perspectives at the End of the Millennium". He offered some hope for future: "I dare to predict that medicinal chemistry will have something to say about new possibilities in medicine thanks not only to new, more effective antiviral, new antimetabolites, but also the rational development of immunomodulatory substances.