It is with great sorrow to share with you the sad news that the first president of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rudolf Zahradník, pased away
Rudolf Zahradník, one of the founders of Czech and Central European quantum chemistry, died at the age of 92. This was announced by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Zahradník was the president of the academy in its beginnings after the division of Czechoslovakia and a founding member and chairman of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic. He was also a trainer of the later German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"Professor Zahradník was not only a strong scientific figure, but he was also a very nice and charming man. We will miss his nobility, wit and always good mood. In addition, he was a very important person who did so much for the newly established Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic as no one else did, "said Eva Zažímalová, the current chairwoman of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
"Rudolf was a world-renowned theoretical chemist and a real gentleman with a huge charisma," said Zdeněk Havlas, vice-president of the academy and former director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Presidency of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Zahradník headed the Czech Academy of Sciences for two terms from 1993 to 2001. In this position, he became significantly involved in the fight for the future of Czech science. At the beginning of his career, the entire institution struggled with the legacy of its predecessor, the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CSAV).
By 1997, the academy had undergone extensive reductions, with one quarter of its institutes closed and the number of staff reduced from about 13,000 to half. Zahradník's presidency was not only met with recognition among scientists, for example, some members of the scientific community criticized him for one-sided views on social events.
Zahradník also devoted his term of office to the popularization of Czech science and its successes. In this context, he criticized the approach of the Czech media to scientific work. He claimed that they often gave space to various unscientific and obscure opinions, while the successes of Czech scientists, according to him, remained hidden from the public.
The great struggle was to improve the funding of the Academy of Sciences and science as such, often pointing to the government's "paternal" approach to the research community.
"We should be a country with maximum education"
Rudolf Zahradník often spoke about the problems of Czech education, drawing particular attention to the need for quality education for the young generation.
He also advocated improving the situation of young scientists, who often leave research due to poor material security.
"We should be the most educated country and then we will have prestige in NATO, the European Union and the world. If we think that education is something that only a part of society needs, then we are mistaken and it will bring us disappointment "Zahradník warned.
As president of the Academy of Sciences, he actively participated in some media-monitored cases, for example, he opposed the idea of gold mining in Mokrsko in the Příbram region. Zahradník's critical statements about the representative of the Sudeten Germans, Franz Neubauer, and his reactions to articles on Czech-German relations brought an extensive exchange of views in the press.
Zahradník's general acquaintance also contributed to the fact that his name was mentioned in January 1996 before the election of the president by some senators as Václav Havel's opponent. However, the Zahradník rejected similar considerations, stating that his priority is science.
Explosion in the kitchen
Rudolf Zahradník was born in October 1928 in the family of a Czech officer serving in Bratislava. In his youth he was a member of the scout movement. Shortly after his first experiments, when he produced invisible ink, he decided to become a chemist.
"These were more boy's scams than, let´s say, proper experiments - firstly in the bathroom and then in the corner of the kitchen, where it was tolerated until red phosphorus with chlorate exploded," he later recalled.
At the beginning of the 1950s, he graduated from the University of Chemical Technology in Prague, and together with his teacher Jaroslav Koutecký he became the founder of Czech and Central European quantum chemistry.
His student Angela Merkel
From 1952 to 1961 he worked at the Institute of Occupational Hygiene and Occupational Diseases in Prague and then worked at the Jaroslav Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Prague.
In the 1980s, among his students was also the current German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was on an internship several times in Czechoslovakia at the time. She did not forget her mentor even after years, and in 2018, during a state visit to the Czech Republic, she also took part in a private celebration of his ninetieth birthday.
They met several times. Zahradník praised his former "student" as extraordinary person, and at the same time, he rebuked her for Germany´s decision not to continue using nuclear energy.
His students, leading Czech scientists
From 1990, Zahradník was the director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry and replaced Otto Wichterle at the head of the Academy of Sciences in 1993, and four years later he was confirmed as chairman of the academy by its Academic council.
According to his collegues, he was a popular teacher and colleague. His most successful students are Josef Michl or Pavel Hobza, both among the most cited Czech scientists.
Together with Wichterle, he also founded the Learned Society of the Czech Republic. Zahradník was its first chairman.
Zahradník contributed to more than 350 scientific articles and a number of books. He has also worked as a visiting professor at several Central and Western European universities. He was one of 120 members of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences and became a member or an honorary member of a number of domestic and foreign scientific institutions.
He received many awards for his scientific work and become an honorary doctor of several universities. In October 1998, the President of the Republic awarded him the Medal of Merit, and one year later, he was awarded the Austrian Honorary Cross for Science and Arts.
Source: Česká televize (https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/domaci/3218656-zemrel-vedec-rudolf-zahradnik-byvaly-predseda-akademie-ved-byl-mentorem-angely)
