This year is the 125th anniversary of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Today’s Academy continues the efforts of its several predecessors. Its origins date to 1770 with the founding of a private society of mathematics, history and the natural sciences.
The Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences, founded in 1784, evolved into the Bohemian Academy of Sciences and the Arts in 1891 with significant financial support by Josef Hlávka. It became the Bohemian Academy of Sciences, Literature and the Arts in 1918. Its aim was to promote the development of Czechoslovak science and the arts. It engaged in publishing, providing scholarships and financial aid to small research units. In 1952, under the previous regime, it was renamed the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.